Despite the deep rift
between many sections of the worldwide Muslim and Jewish communities,
the two religions share a great deal, in terms of their joint heritage
and approach to making the world a better place. The arena of altruism
is a good example of the common ground between adherents of both
faiths, with Jew and Muslim alike required to apportion significant
amounts of their incomes to charitable causes.
Jews are bound to donate
10% of their earnings to help those less fortunate than themselves,
whilst Muslims are compelled to give under a similar framework (zakat).
With this in mind, a group of British Jews and Muslims have formed a
joint venture, the Jerusalem interest-free microfinance fund (JIMF), with the intention of freeing both Jewish and Arab residents of the holy city from the shackles of poverty.
On
top of the immediate benefits to the recipients of the fund's
no-interest loans, JIMF's trustees hope to make an impact on a larger
scale in terms of the Israel-Palestine conflict. Those who receive
JIMF's assistance will, it is hoped, be brought together by their
common need, and "realise that their common interests, such as feeding
their families, are greater than the things that divide them",
according to trustee Michael Pollak.
Loans of between $5,000
and $10,000 will be granted to suitable candidates, who are expected to
come in the main from orthodox Jewish and Muslim communities; sectors
of society prevented by religious law from entering into
interest-paying contracts. The project is the brainchild of Pollak and
his partner Donald Franklin, a British-Jewish academic who has been
involved in cross-communal initiatives in the UK for several years.
Another trustee is Liberal Democrat councillor Fiyaz Mughal,
who spoke of his delight at the project's successful establishment.
"The fund is a really good idea, especially in an area which is usually
portrayed in a very negative way", he said. He pointed out that the
fund will do its best to avoid granting loans in contentious
circumstances where possible, such as supporting the creation of Jewish
businesses in disputed areas across the Green Line.
JIMF
are taking this approach for pragmatic reasons as well as political, so
as to avoid upsetting the sensibilities of potential donors. "Muslims
in the UK are not averse to helping Jews in general", said Mughal, "but
it is more about which specific areas the money is going to". He said
that British Muslims are aware that "they have to move beyond just
supporting Arab communities", and that there was a realisation that
JIMF's work was a much-needed countering of the sectarian divisiveness
so prevalent in the region.
However, to date the only money
raised has come from the Jewish community, who have contributed around
$200,000 to the cause. Mughal hopes that Muslim donors will soon appear
on the scene, but admitted that it could be "a one to two year"
timescale on that front. At the same time, despite having raised a
significant amount from British Jewry, Pollak remarked that there had
been some heated opposition to the fund's work from within Jewish
circles.
"People get very proprietorial when it comes to
Israel", he said. "They think that it's 'our' money going to 'them',
when they hear that we will be supporting Arab citizens in need". He
remains undeterred by the abuse, however, and strongly believes that
JIMF's work will be to the benefit of all residents of the region. "By
helping these people start their own businesses and stand on their own
two feet, we will help draw them into the democratic process", he said.
"Once people own a stake in the economy, and once their
businesses are up and running, they will have an interest in the
stability of the country", he explained, "and be less likely to [become
extremists]". He hopes that those assisted by the fund will eventually
come into contact with their fellow recipients from the other side of
the societal divide, via joint training days run by JIMF to teach them
the requisite skills to manage their own companies.
JIMF has
the ability to provide scores of families with a way out of poverty,
and in a city with a large percentage of the population living below
the poverty line, there will be no end of suitable contenders for their
assistance. However, at the other end of the spectrum, there is the
potential to encourage less insularity on the part of both Muslim and
Jewish philanthropists. For all that charity is said to begin at home,
such an approach does nothing to promote cross-communal awareness, nor
build bridges between the two camps.
That the likes of Pollak,
Mughal, and their fellow trustees, are committed to causes beyond their
immediate communities is a shot in the arm for anyone looking for a
glimmer of hope in this troubled region. In the upper echelons of
Israeli and Palestinian politics, stalemate is the order of the day,
and has been for years. Down at street level, on the other hand, at
least there are some pockets of resistance to the deadlock that has
paralysed the two peoples for so long.