What about Islam's holy sites? There are none in Jerusalem. Shocked?  You should be. I don't expect you will ever hear this brutal truth from anyone else in the international media. It's just not politically correct.

I know what you're going to say: "Farah, the Al Aqsa Mosque and the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem represent Islam's third most holy sites." Not true.  In fact, the Koran says nothing about Jerusalem.  It mentions Mecca  hundreds of times.  It mentions Medina countless times.  It never mentions Jerusalem! With good reason. There is no historical evidence to suggest Mohammed ever visited Jerusalem.  So how did Jerusalem become the third holiest site of Islam?  

Muslims today cite a vague passage in the Koran, the seventeenth Sura, entitled "The Night Journey."  It relates that in a dream or a vision Mohammed was carried by night "from the sacred temple to the temple that is most remote, whose precinct we have blessed, that we might show him our signs."  In the seventh century, some Muslims identified the two temples mentioned in this verse as being in Mecca and Jerusalem.  And that's as close as Islam's connection with Jerusalem gets -- myth, fantasy, wishful thinking.  Meanwhile, Jews can trace their roots in Jerusalem back to the days of Abraham.

The latest round of violence in Israel erupted when Likud Party leader Ariel Sharon tried to visit the Temple Mount, the foundation of the Temple built by Solomon.* It is the holiest site for Jews. Sharon and his entourage were met with stones and threats.  I know what it's like.  I've been there.  Can you imagine what it is like for Jews to be threatened, stoned and physically kept out of the holiest site in Judaism?

So what's the solution to the Middle East mayhem?  Well, frankly, I don't think there is a man-made solution to the violence.  But, if there is one, it needs to begin with truth. Pretending will only lead to more chaos.  Treating a 5,000-year-old birthright backed by overwhelming historical and archaeological evidence equally with illegitimate claims, wishes and wants gives diplomacy and peacekeeping a bad name.