LOVE IS IN THE AIR:

Ramadan Starts on a Hopeful Note: Palestinians and Israelis reach a compromise on prayers at Jerusalem's Al Aqsa mosque complex in time for the Muslim holy month. (Laura King, October 16, 2004, LA Times)

Tens of thousands of Muslim worshipers converged Friday on one of the most sacred sites in Islam to mark the start of the holy month of Ramadan, a peaceful outpouring made all the more remarkable by weeks of angry wrangling that had preceded it.

Israel and the Palestinians had quarreled over whether it was safe for large crowds to congregate in the Al Aqsa mosque compound in Jerusalem's walled Old City. Israeli antiquities experts argued that parts of the plateau were dangerously unstable due to the shifting of centuries-old debris. Palestinians alleged a politically motivated effort to prevent worshipers from attending prayers.

But in the days and hours before the start of Ramadan, the two sides did something highly uncharacteristic: They talked. And they compromised.

As a result, and somewhat to the surprise of both parties, about 90,000 Muslims attended prayers at the hilltop complex Friday, the Islamic Sabbath, without incident.

The universal recognition of the inevitability of two states is beginning to have a profound impact on behavior.

Posted by Orrin Judd at October 16, 2004 10:03 AM