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Disney's Israel Exhibit Sparking Fireworks

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As part of a celebration of the new millennium, Florida’s Walt Disney World is planning a Millennium Village exhibition to be launched in October. Like many Disney celebrations, the event would promise to be an all out presentation with fireworks and much fanfare. However, the fireworks have already begun between the Israelis and the Arab and Muslim world over word of the inclusion of the ``Jerusalem: the Capital of Israel” exhibit. The Arab and Muslim world is alarmed that the so-titled exhibit could be included in such an exhibit when the status of Jerusalem has never been settled. The status of Jerusalem has been the most hotly debated issue of the Palestinian/Israeli conflict, because both the Palestinians and the Israelis claim Jerusalem as their capital.

As a result of the Arab/Muslim concern over the exhibit, the Disney Corporation announced on September 13 that it plans to meet and discuss the issue with a delegate of representatives from the Arab League, officials from U.A.E. and Morocco, as well as Arab-American organizations. At issue here is Disney’s endorsement of an exhibit called ``Jerusalem: the Capital of Israel’'. The Disney exhibit is causing concern because the city of Jerusalem is not the capital of Israel. Furthermore, the United Nations, the United States and the international community do not recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. During the 1967 war, Israel occupied the West Bank including Arab East Jerusalem. Under Resolution 242, the United Nations recognized East Jerusalem as an area under foreign military occupation and under Resolution 181 declared Jerusalem as a seperate entity under international control. Since its occupation, Israel has extended de facto military authority over Jerusalem. Its declaration of Israeli law over Jerusalem is in violation of several international covenants and treaties.

On September 15, the Israelis asked Disney Chairman and CEO Michael Eisner to resist Arab pressure to change the Israeli exhibit. The Israeli exhibit was in part developed and funded by the Israeli Foreign Ministry. Ariel Sharon, of Israel’s Likud Party, called on President Clinton to intervene to stop an Arab boycott of Disney because of the Israeli exhibit.

The inclusion of the exhibit ``Jerusalem: the capital of Israel’’ and the status of Jerusalem is not only a Palestinian/Israeli issue, but one that deeply involves the whole of the Muslim world. After Mecca and Medina in Saudi Arabia, Jerusalem contains the third holiest site in Islam. The area known as Bait al-Muqudis consists of the Al-Aqsa mosque and Dome of the Rock. The area known as Bait-al-Maqudis is significant to Muslims because it was the first Qibla or direction of prayer for Muslims until God ordered the direction of prayer to be changed instead toward the Kaaba in Mecca. Bait-al-Maqudis is also the area from which Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) in 620 AD ascended into the heavens, where he was given the command to pray 5 times a day.