The following passage is made up of extracts from the final chapter of a long letter published in book form in 1969 following the Six-Day War of 1967. It seems as relevant today 30 years on as it was then.
Yesterday we met again at Mahane Yehuda after the explosion of that bomb which ruined a whole neighbourhood, killing 12 persons and wounding many others. Again this time our eyes met, burning with the same anxiety. I was afraid of finding the familiar face of a woman, a child or some friend among the burnt bodies. A similar humiliation and fear disturbed both of us. The chain of violence has been set in motion as each assault provokes and accelerates the diabolical succession of repression and death.
And yet the Jews and the Arabs enjoy the new situation of a reunited city which is experiencing great prosperity, without precedent in its 3,000 year history. The city has been restored to life since the barriers dividing it were torn down. From every corner of the globe come Jerusalems admirers. Each one dreams of rebuilding his life and increasing the splendour of the city the Prophets called the model of beauty. Suddenly I became aware of how the tale of Sleeping Beauty could apply to a city. In a single night of blood and fire we were shaken from our lethargy and together we realized the urgency of our destiny. Beyond our personal limitations, beyond ourselves, we rediscovered the ancient epic. We had to become the heralds of Abrahams message again, movers of history, responsible for its fulfillment. For the first time, the history of Jerusalem depended on us, not on the Greeks, Romans, Byzantines or Arabs; not on the Crusaders, the Seljuks, the Turks, not on the Egyptians, Iraqis, Syrians or Lebanese, but on us alone
We were the legitimate children of this land you, the Palestinian deeply rooted in the soil of this city, and I, Israel back from my wandering. Both of us were faced with the horror of outrage and caught in the same web of humiliation.
Beyond the night, dawn can be seen as the city rises up again and is rebuilt in every direction. It must be the richest place in the world judging by the number of people coming as pilgrims and the amount of capital dedicated to the work of reconstruction. It is the land where in its most heroic dimension, the beauty of location and the beauty of man and his handiwork is displayed in its purest form blazing rocks, breathtaking cupolas, minarets and steeples, sloping streets built in sorrow through the ages. The city is waking up as if from the dead, but pierced with events from all the ages of mankind.
* * *
Will the friendship which binds us, developed in the days of our youth, allow me to take one more step and tell you that I think that Zionism and Arabism, so violently opposed to each other, also proceed from the same causes, present identical structures, are undergoing the same mutations, and have to serve the same ends? This is the crux of the matter. It will appear as a contradiction only to those who are not involved in the Israeli-Arab problem. We were reunited under the dome of the Mosque of Omar after 20 years of separation. During all these years, you the Arab, and I the Israeli, have served the two warring camps with our strength. We are able to communicate immediately. In spite of the turmoil of the 20-year struggle, at our first glimpse of each other none of the resounding conflict which had opposed us remains an embrace, some tears, the certitude that the past is dead (Eli fat mat, says the Arab proverb), and that we will have to build our future together. Neither of us has a choice except to live with one another, for one another, and build the future of peace which may exalt and continue the glories of the Arab and Jewish past, fulfilling the boldest dreams.
For 50 years the Jews and Arabs have been quarreling, brandishing their claims which they insist they have on the Holy Land. "Arab land," you say; "Hebraic land," we answer. The Jews base themselves on the Bible and age-old hopes of obtaining reparations for the misdeeds of Roman imperialism in the first century of the common era. For the Moslems there is the underlying theory that a land which has belonged to Islam, no matter when, remains a land of Islam forever "Besides, we are the heirs of the English and the Turks! If there is a prescription in matters of sovereignty, your rights are forfeited as you claim ours are!" Arguments proliferate and become so technical that they could be discussed to the end of time. To each Arab argument, Jewish thought counters with ten answers. To each of these a subtle mind could find a hundred definitive replies, to which a thousand reasons could be opposed, ad infinitum.
All the rationalizing in the world will not change the tragic realities of our conflict, so long as we do not learn how to transcend them and find a just solution for ourselves. Our dilemma consists first in choosing between the route to life and the route to death. If we can resist the temptation of nihilism and the pressures of those who would like to push us into it, we will have to define the conditions of our survival simply in order to exist. The Arab refusal and the interests of some great world powers would be helpless if we decided to unite as brothers to build the new city of Israel and Ishmael on the land of Abraham. All the conditions of a perfect solution to our impossible problem would be ours if only we knew how to recognize and fulfill them. To the absolute contradictions which separate us, we have to propose an absolute solution which can unite indissolubly in the framework of a land which belongs to both of us, of a message to which we both lay claim, and of two peoples who have been created and preserved because they are reserved for the accomplishment of the same saving mission. The essential lies in our will to resist the attraction of death and to impose on ourselves and the world a feeble chance for survival, for salvation.
Yes, it is possible to become reconciled on the indestructible basis of our reunion, in justice. We can ally ourselves forever to rebuild the Arab world and Israel and restore them to their vocation of eternal greatness, in the service of the ideals of peace and progress of which they were the first heralds. Peace will save us from everything which ruins and dishonours us, from everything which hurts and kills us. The question of borders, of Arab and Jewish refugees, of discrimination against Arabs in Israel and against Jews in the Arab countries, the psychological and social conflicts caused by our war would all be wiped away in the new order of peace. We must patiently build this peace which will be a safeguard for us and will be an unimaginable blessing for the world. "The nations of the earth will be blessed in your posterity," the Bible promised Abraham. That verse which contains a promise made to our common ancestor four millennia ago, could define the formal purpose of our reconciliation and henceforth be translated into revolutionary political realities.
In their fundamental similarity, Arabs and Jews can constitute a pole whose attraction may bring the near east and the world an answer to the most urgent questions which are presented by the survival of the human race.
* * *
My letter is coming to a close. The sun is rising and illuminating Jerusalems sky where the voice of the muezzins, the bells of the churches and the ancient rhythms of our Hebraic chants intermingle.
Although I am addressing myself to you, my friend, beyond you I see the horde of Arab poets, novelists, philosophers, essayists, and journalists who have taken upon themselves the wholesome and saving work of the regeneration of their language and their people. I see the multitude of young Arabs throughout Dar-el-Islam, and I beg let us combine our efforts, let us unite our wills to commit ourselves to the true battle of the new man in this cruel century.
Beyond the words, beyond the chants, the unexplored universe of silence opens up our deserts. There we may find the spirit which inspired Moses, Jesus, and Mohammed. It is there that the true resurrection of the dead is being prepared and announced. New horizons are being created in a new land, the land of men, around your walls, Jerusalem, in the light of our reconciliation.
* Andre Chouraqui, was born in Algeria in 1917 and came to Israel in 1957. A distinguished and prolific writer and biblical and Koranic authority, he has written widely in Hebrew, Arabic and French non-fiction, fiction, biblical commentary, translations, poetry, plays and essays. The recipient of many honorary doctorates and awards, he became a commander of the Legion dHonneur in 1984, and in 1997 received the Prix Renaudot.