Compromise

When I learned yesterday that Terry Jones, the crazy preacher in Florida with big plans for a Quran-burning ceremony to mark September 11 and Feisal Abdul Rauf, the imam with big plans to build a Muslim-led interfaith community center in Lower Manhattan had reached a compromise, I was disappointed and appalled. The compromise is that Cordoba House will be built somewhere else, and in exchange, the Quran burning will be called off. To me, this seems like a massive victory for the forces of intolerance and hatred. I won’t go over all the reasons why I think not only that Cordoba House has an unqualified right to exist on Park Place, but also that it would be a great idea and a wonderful addition to the neighborhood and the city—I’m sure that most people reading this agree with me already.

I am having second thoughts, however, about my feelings about the compromise. We live in a world in which the most extreme positions seem to be the only ones that get attention. In this case, my own position on Cordoba House can perhaps be placed on the extreme end: Over the last few months, every time I heard someone say something like, “of course they have a legal right to build it wherever they want, but they should not build a mosque so close to Ground Zero out of consideration for the feelings of others,” I was enraged. And I still am. It is pure unadulterated racism to associate the attack on the World Trade Center with Islam. To feel offended or troubled by seeing a prominent Muslim building so close to this “hallowed ground” can only be based on ignorance and xenophobia, and I refuse to acknowledge the legitimacy of these feelings. To do so would be to compromise my principles.

Oops, there’s that word. Compromise. Sometimes, negotiation means that two (or more) people get together, talk sincerely about their principles and interests, and find that there is in fact overlap. They come to an agreement, and everyone walks away happy, having resolved their conflict without giving up anything truly important. But that isn’t really a compromise. Compromise is when one or both sides cannot or will not accept the legitimacy of the other’s position—and yet still agree to give a little, to compromise their principles, in order to achieve some other goal—perhaps a more important principle. This appears to be exactly what happened yesterday. So maybe we should be applauding both sides.

Imagine if the principle of compromise were put in action in other situations. One situation I’m thinking about is the talks that have just begun, again, between Israel and the Palestinian Authority. Everyone is all nicey-nicey so far. Sooner or later, though, one of the questions that will come up is Jerusalem. I imagine how this negotiation might progress. The two sides will agree on the principle of a two-state solution, and will start drawing lines. They’ll go back forth over the lines in the Galilee and along the whole border between the West Bank and Israel. They can get this far without too many people having to seriously compromise their principles. But eventually they’ll reach Jerusalem. They’ll put East Jerusalem on one side and West Jerusalem on the other. They’ll argue over the dividing lines, but they’ll get there—again, mostly without having to give up anything that truly makes either side feel aggrieved.

Then they’ll get to the Old City, and things will get a lot stickier. Maybe they’ll even divide up the Old City—putting the Muslim Quarter in Palestine and the Jewish Quarter in Israel. But they will eventually reach that one spot, where the Dome of the Rock stands atop the ruins of the ancient Temple, and it will no longer be possible to divide things up. Both sides believe they have an absolute right—given by G-d, no less—to absolute sovereignty over this little piece of land. There is no way to reach a settlement without one or both sides saying, “Even though your claim on this piece of ground is absolutely illegitimate and outrageous, I am willing to compromise my values in pursuit of a higher principle; living in peace with you is that important.” I hope that someday, the leaders of Israel and Palestine will exhibit the wisdom of Feisal Abdul Rauf and make that compromise.

Eid Mubarak.

[UPDATE: It appears that the news I heard was premature—Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf now says he has not agreed to move Cordoba House and Pastor Terry Jones now says he has not yet called off the Quran burning. So perhaps we have to view the “compromise” as a fictional parable. The lesson still stands.]