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The Vatican & Jerusalemhad resulted from the inter-faith dialogue developed under the pontificate of John Paul II, have beenovershadowed under the influence of the new head of the Catholic Church. In particular, some controversialcomments he made on Islam during a lecture given on 12 September 2006 at the German University ofRegensburg, 203 which implicitly described the Muslim creed as being violent and irrational, sparked widedisagreement around the world, especially from Islamic politicians and religious leaders protesting againstwhat they saw as an insulting mischaracterization of their faith. In the aftermath of this episode, theSecretary General of the Organization of the Islamic Conference, Prof. Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu, notedbluntly how Muslims had “observed a change of accent in the Vatican in this regard, which constitutes adeviation from the path followed by the Pope’s predecessors in the past decades.” 204 Although BenedictXVI maintained that the commentary he had quoted did not reflect his own views and offered an apologyto the Muslim world, there is no denying that such declarations from the head of the Catholic Churchhave not served the interests of Christians in the Arab world. 205 Notably, in the Palestinian territories,where for centuries the relations between Muslim and Christian communities had been excellent, thepast decades have witnessed the appearance ofsome forms of inter-faith tension, 206 sometimesencouraged by the Israeli authorities. 207 In fact, someobservers (both Christian and Muslim) have warnedthat if the current negotiations between the HolySee and Tel Aviv fail to abide by international law,they may fuel the conspiracy theories accusing Jewsand Christian “Crusaders” of forming an allianceaimed at getting hold of Jerusalem, with possiblenegative repercussions on the relations between localChristian and Muslim communities.A Palestinian boy, dressed as Santa Claus,participates in a Sunday mass at the Latin Churchin Gaza. © AP / Khalil HamraConclusionConclusionToday, the failure to settle the issue of Jerusalem remains one of the main obstacles to the realization ofpeace between the Palestinians and the Israelis. So far, the holiness of the city, rather than being a bearerof peace, has proven to represent a primary source of discord. As Dr. Yitzhak Reiter explained:The adherents of a given faith sanctify a certain location, which subsequently acquires politicalsignificance to them. The faithful thus endeavor to preserve and develop this centre not only as adestination for pilgrimage but also as a focal point of political interests and concerns, or even ofspecific national aspirations and identity. Conversely, a political dispute can magnify the importanceof a particular holy place for adherents of one faith in the context of their political struggle withmembers of another faith. In the specific case of Jerusalem, the historic rivalry among the threegreat monotheistic faiths—Judaism, Christianity and Islam—has served to intensify the politicalimportance of the city. At the same time, the political conflict between Palestinian Arabs and IsraeliJews, which erupted when nationalism penetrated the Middle East, seems to have magnified thereligious importance of certain holy sites, thus further cementing the bonds between the political andreligious realms in questions concerning holy places. 208In a city where politics and religion are so intimately intertwined, a fair and realistic solution must takeinto consideration both the religious and national-political aspirations of the peoples. This point seems tohave been integrated by the Holy See, who several times declared that “peace and coexistence in the HolyLand and Middle East have no future, unless an answer is found to the political question of Jerusalem.”Like the Palestinians, and unlike the Israeli leadership, the Vatican believes that a viable political solutionentails that the city becomes the shared capital of the two national groups. Indeed, as expressed by itsformer Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Archbishop Tauran, “there is nothing to prevent Jerusalem, in itsunity and uniqueness, becoming the symbol and the national center of both the Peoples that claim it astheir Capital.” 209203 In the speech, Benedict XVI quoted the following words of the Byzantine Emperor Manuel II Palaiologos: “Show me justwhat Muhammad brought that was new and there you will find things only bad and inhuman, such as his command to spreadby the sword the faith he preached.”204 Cf. “Speech of Secretary General to the Annual Coordination Meeting of Ministers of Foreign Affairs of Member States of theOrganization of the Islamic Conference,” 25 September 2006, http://71.18.253.18/en/topic_details.asp?tID=84.205 See box “Muslims and Christians Together for Jerusalem’s Sake.”206 Cf. “Persecuted and Forgotten? A Report on Christians oppressed for their Faith,” op. cit.207 As exemplified by the rumors spread during the Second Millennium celebrations that a Christian sect intended to demolishAl Haram Al Sharif (Al Subah, op. cit.), or by the Nazareth mosque controversy, originated from a plan of the local Waqfof Nazareth to build a mosque next to the Basilica of the Annunciation. Despite Vatican’s concerns, the Israelis authorizedthe project, whereas the Palestinian Authority opposed it, accusing the Israelis of trying to fuel Muslim-Christian animosity(Kuruvilla, op. cit.).Nevertheless, for the Holy See, “the solution of a territorial dispute alone is not enough for Jerusalem,precisely because Jerusalem is an unparalleled reality: it is part of the patrimony of the whole world.” 210According to the Catholic Church, it is urgent to tackle the question of the religious dimension ofJerusalem, as “there will not be peace if the question of the holy sites is not adequately resolved.” 211208 Reiter, op. cit.209 “Vatican Foreign Minister Archbishop Jean-Louis Tauran, Address to the World Conference of Bishops, Jerusalem, 26 October1998”, op. cit.210 Ibidem.211 Cardinal Jean-Louis Tauran in “Cardinal: Jerusalem holy sites ‘need special status’”, op. cit.6667