How to Establish Peace in the Holy Land

us that Muslims extended this principle also to secular common ground. We find this example in the later history of Muslims in Baghdad, Cairo and Spain. Here Muslims and Jews worked in conjunction with each other, their common ground extended particularly to the secular field, that is, the translation of books on medicine, philosophy and scientific research — a great contribution to the then existing knowledge.11 In the present situation, the Arab leaders can adhere to this principle of finding common ground in Palestine as well. This common ground extends particularly to the fields of scientific education, agriculture and horticulture, etc. In this way the interaction between Muslims and Jews could yield great positive results. 9. The Arab leaders want to establish their rule throughout the whole of Palestine, just as in the past. But this concept is based on anachronistic thinking. In ancient monarchical times, the concept of political rule was that a single individual held sway without sharing power with others. But in the age of modern democracy, the concept of power sharing is prevalent all over the world. With this new concept, it should be entirely possible for the Arab leaders to participate in the political system on the principle of democratic sharing, without exercising any independent rule of their own. This is a new opportunity which the Palestinian Arabs can avail of in the full sense, should they opt for a peaceful course of action. A perfect kind of example exists for this kind of power sharing. In chapter 12 of the Quran, we learn that an idolatrous king ruled Egypt during Joseph’s time. Joseph accepted a ministerial post under his kingship and continued to hold this post for a long time. This was an