Dr. Mordecahai Kedar clarifies in this enlightening zoom lecture to the Bayit Shul in Toronto the major difference between the Jewish connection to Jerusalem and the Arab connection to Jerusalem.  For 19 years, no Jews were allowed to the Western Wall and the area of the Temple Mount.  But in the Six Day War, Israel miraculously liberated the areas that were under Jordanian occupation for 19 long years.

In contrast, the Arabs across the entire Middle East have a far more tenuous connection to the Land of Israel, and the city of Jerusalem.  Dr. Kedar explains that the  roots of the conflict go back thousands of years.   But, more than a thousand years before Islam was created – around 2,500 years ago, Israel was serving their G-d in the Temple in Jerusalem.  Meanwhile, the anscestors of the Arabs were serving idols and trees.  

The more interesting idea supported by Dr. Kedar is the integral role that he sees the Arab leaders playing in solving the strife between Arabs and Jews in the Land of Israel.  He is not speaking from a point of view of a professor in an Ivory tower.  He speaks Arabic fluently and watches their news shows in Arabic.  He believes that we should work towards temporary peace, which will ultimately last for a very long time.  But the key for this is the Arabs understanding that the Jewish people are invincible in the Land of Israel.