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Jerusalem, City of Universal Peace
The Editors

More than ever before in history, Jerusalem and the land of Israel are attracting world-wide attention. Whereas in the Bible, Jerusalem is the centre of the history of salvation, in modern times it seems to be becoming more and more the centre of political history. Is this a new way in which the importance and the centrality of this city are forcing themselves on the world? In different ways, Jerusalem is at the origin of the three monotheistic religions, spread throughout the world, which have had considerable influence on the course of history and the culture of a great section of humanity. The link with Jerusalem, place of divine revelation, has thus entered into the cultural and religious patrimony of many nations. However, the value of this link has been understood in different ways. Pilgrimages, religious veneration, political interests are expressions of attachment to this city and this country, where east and west meet.
Jerusalem and the land of Israel have always been the axis of Judaism's existence. Jerusalem has always been the only capital for Judaism. Throughout the centuries of diaspora, enforced or voluntary, Jerusalem has been the abject of profound yearning, expressed in liturgical feasts, daily prayers and a Tich literature.
The question has been complicated on an international level by the fact that Judaism does not look upon itself exclusively as a people with a religion, but as a people who have a religious link with a specific land, the land of Israel. While Jerusalem has primarily, even exclusively, a religious value far Islam and Christianity, for Judaism it has also a national significance.
Multiple religious and political influences throughout the years have given rise to an extremely complicated situation in the Holy Land
and Jerusalem. The many religious struggles, political and military battles have certainly been signs of attachment to the Holy Places, but at the same time they have demonstrated the extreme difficulty of living the common link with Jerusalem in peace and harmony.
According to the biblical conception, Jerusalem is the city of peace. In the tradition of the three monotheistic ~religions, it has remained the ideal of eschatological and messianic peace. However, it must be said, that in Christianity this eschatological ideal is no longer closely linked to the Jerusalem of history. Sometimes it symbolizes exclusively peace in another world, the peace of heaven, of the world to came. But at the same time, the link with the historical Jerusalem and the Holy Land, is maintained with veneration because of the events which took place there in the history of salvation. However, Jerusalem remains for the adherents of the three monotheistic religions, the expression of the hope for peace.
Today the situation is different. The return to biblical sources and a positive deepening of relations between Judaism, Christianity and Islam are evident. The differences in respective attitudes towards Jerusalem in its historical as well as religious significance are more clearly distinguished. Obviously, there are conflicting views and perspectives. This conflict can only be overcome by encounters, by mutual respect, and by trying to understand the others' real identity, and specific link with Jerusalem and the Holy Land. All those who, by their religion or their nation, have been influenced by Jerusalem, have a new responsibility to involve themselves in a thorough research for understanding about Jerusalem. Thus Jerusalem could in reality become the City of Peace, the symbol of universal and eschatological peace. Many efforts at understanding and rectification are still necessary to bring about such a new situation. The present number of Sidic offers, among other things, a study by Professor F. Delpech from the Lyons University, France, which by its clear outline of the background history of the present situation, contributes to the development of a climate in which Jerusalem can become the City of Peace for all who believe in the God of Revelation.