The End of Days: Fundamentalism and the Struggle for the Temple Mount

The new millennium dawned quietly, defying modern-day prophets of apocalypse. Yet for countless believers around the globe — Christians, Jews and Muslims — anticipation that the world is about to end burns more intensely than ever. God's kingdom is near, they believe, and the key to salvation is Jerusalem's Temple Mount, — the most sacred and contested real estate on earth. In "The End of Days, " leading Israeli journalist Gershom Gorenberg portrays how such faith has fueled the real-world struggle in the Middle East and reveals why, even in times of peacemaking, it continues to be a powerful catalyst for conflict.

Adroitly portraying former-hippies-turned-true-believers, American radio evangelists of the End, radical Palestinian sheikhs, and Israeli ex-terrorists, Gorenberg weaves a story that stretches from California churches to West Bank settlements. He explains why believers hope for the End, and why prominent American fundamentalists provide hard-line support for Israel, while looking forward to an apocalypse in which they expect Jews to die or else convert. He makes sense of the messianic fervor that has driven Israeli settlers to oppose peace, and describes the Islamic apocalyptic visions that cast Israel's actions in Jerusalem as diabolic plots. He examines, as well, what happens when secular politicians try to channel these religious passions for their own purposes.

At the center of this story is the Temple Mount, where Solomon and Herod built their Temples, where the Dome of the Rock now stands — and where both Jewish extremists and millions of Christian fundamentalists expect the Third Temple to be built soon. Holy to both Judaism and Islam, the Mount is where nationalism and faith join in a volatile mix. Any attempt to spark the End by clearing the ground for the Temple, therefore, could ignite holy war. This book explains the Mount's dangerous fascination for fundamentalists, and shows why the risks will actually increase in the new millennium - as prophesied dates pass and believers look for a way to ensure that the End comes.

Cain murdered Abel, according to an ancient legend, in an argument over who would possess the Temple Mount. That parable sums up the passions aroused by the sacred hilltop. "The End of Days" shows, with clarity and poise, how conflict over Jerusalem is rooted not only in the past but even more in expectations of the future, and how the fiery belief in apocalypse has a very real impact on contemporary life and international politics.

Jerusalem's Temple Mount is the holiest site in the world and the place where today's apocalyptic fever could most easily erupt into real-life catastrophe as fundamentalists of three faiths vie to bring about their vision of God's kingdom on earth.

Gershom Gorenberg is a senior editor and columnist for The Jerusalem Report, a regular contributor to The New Republic, and an associate of the Center for Millennial Studies at Boston University. He is a coauthor of Shalom, Friend: The Life and Legacy of Yitzhak Rabin. He grew up in California and since 1977 has lived in Jerusalem, where he received his M.A. from Hebrew University. He is married and has three children.

Contents

Introduction: The Beginning Is Nigh

ONE Cattlemen of the Apocalypse

TWO The History of the Future

THREE The Gate of Heaven

FOUR For God and Country

FIVE A Taste of Paradise

SIX Construction Workers of the Lord

SEVEN The Divine Repertory Theater Company

EIGHT Awaiting the Hour

NINE The Day After the Last

TEN Avoiding the Cain Option

Acknowledgments

Notes

Index