Sam Muhammad, Germantown
In reference to the March 19 letter “Tough love for Israel”: The conflict is not a religious one but rather one over territory.
Muslims/Arabs have had some conflicts with Jews in history, but they were minor compared to the millions of Jews killed in the European Holocaust and the Inquisitions. Omar the Caliph opened the doors of Jerusalem to Jews who had been banned for over 500 years from the city by the Romans. The Muslim Turks sent ships to Spain to transfer Jews to Turkey after they were threatened with death if they did not convert to Christianity.
In World War II, while millions of Jews were killed in Nazi-occupied Europe, fewer than 1,000 were killed in the Nazi-occupied Mideast. Muslims hid and protected their Jewish “cousins” from the Nazis.
Both people have more in common (including a shared lineage to Abraham, monotheism, dietary laws and circumcision) than differences. Solving the territorial problem would go a long way in restoring both peoples’ historical commonalities.
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