Although there has been no shortage of attempts to bridge the divide between Israelis and Palestinians, peace has been consistently eluding the two sides for decades. But although the conflict extends to the entire Holy Land, nowhere is it more acutely felt than in Jerusalem, which can in effect be thought of as two cities; east is east, and west is west – you know the rest. And yet, as reality continues to sink in and the prospect of a solution that can miraculously heal the land and piece together its disparate elements continues to recede, the seeds of another, more modest hope begin to take root.
Tolerance can be defined as the insight that even if we cannot overcome our differences it is still incumbent upon us to try and give each-other the space to be ourselves. To this effect, sculptors Czeslaw Dzwigaj and Michal Kubiak designed the Tolerance Monument. Striving heavenward on a serene hilltop between the Jewish Armon Hanatziv neighborhood and Arab Jabal Mukaber, on the ruins of an ancient temple, the sculpture is composed of the two halves of a split column and a golden olive tree growing in between, shading both segments. The idea is that even though no one knows when the two sides will be reunited, there is a kernel of life that germinates and grows with time, symbolically linking all in the shade that it casts. The hilltop and the Monument constitute a small park near the Goldman Promenade, which is already a must-stop due to the amazing panoramic view of the Old City and the Kidron Valley that it affords.
