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bitterlemons-international.org
Middle East Roundtable /
Edition 4 Volume 1
An Israeli View:
Another crisis temporarily averted
by Yossi Alpher
[DEUTSCH]
Ever since Israel captured East Jerusalem in 1967 and acted quickly to
annex the Arab city and surrounding villages, it has pretended, under the
slogan "united Jerusalem eternal capital of Israel", that this is a
permanent situation. Accordingly, it has built Jewish neighborhoods and a
network of roads across the green line with the obvious intention of
enclosing many of the city's Arab neighborhoods, cutting them off from the
West Bank and rendering them an enclave, geographically and politically. The
wall/fence in Jerusalem, which the government fully admits is as much
politically as security motivated, is but the latest illustration of this
approach.
At the same time, Israeli governments and Jerusalem municipal authorities
have done virtually nothing to absorb their captive Arab residents into the
fabric of the country. Basically, the authorities have never figured out
what to do with them. In his ten years as mayor of Jerusalem prior to 2003,
Acting PM Ehud Olmert neglected the city's 230,000 Palestinian Arab
residents, as did his predecessor, Teddy Kollek. Indeed, 39 years after the
Six-Day War, social and medical benefits and freedom of movement inside
Israel are the only attributes of Israeli-ness that those residents possess.
Nor do they seek more: the best indicator as to where their allegiance lies
is their refusal to vote in municipal elections and the small number who
have applied for full Israeli citizenship (not that Israel ever encouraged
them to do so). The result is that, in human terms, this is anything but a
permanent situation.
Israel in fact recognized this reality when it acknowledged, in the Oslo
agreements, the right of Palestinian Jerusalemites to vote in Palestinian
Authority elections. Since then, in the course of more than a decade, a
growing number of politicians and a growing percentage of the Israeli public
have become increasingly aware of the demographic threat to Israel's Jewish
and democratic nature created by the occupation of the West Bank and Gaza.
In looking for ways to withdraw from Palestinian population centers, more
and more mainstream politicians, including Olmert, have even begun to
propose ways for Israel to redefine "united Jerusalem" in such a way that it
comprises as little of Arab Jerusalem as possible.
All these contradictions in Israeli policy came together in the current
Palestinian voting issue. Olmert, thrust into the position of chief Israeli
decision-maker, confronted by American pressure, recognizing the precedents
of the 1996 and 2005 votes and fearing lest Israel be blamed for a
Palestinian decision to postpone the January 25 elections, agreed as his
first decision in office to reverse Ariel Sharon's dictum and permit
Palestinian Jerusalemites yet again to vote in Palestinian national
elections.
Another Jerusalem crisis averted, however temporarily. With elections
looming in both Palestine and Israel, that is the best that can be done for
the time being.
But the fuse is burning on a far bigger crisis for Jerusalem. The
fence/wall, by separating Palestinian Jerusalemites from the surrounding
West Bank, is creating an unbearable situation for hundreds of thousands of
people. The situation, if not rectified, is liable to deteriorate into major
violence: a third intifada, centering on Jerusalem.
There are two possible ways out of this tragic situation: one Israeli, the
other Palestinian.
Assuming Olmert is Israel's next prime minister, he should include as much
as possible of Arab Jerusalem in those areas he seeks to withdraw from in
the next phase, either through negotiations or, more likely, unilaterally.
Accordingly, the fence/wall should be moved so as to separate Arab and
Jewish neighborhoods, which is the logical path for a barrier whose purpose
is physical as well as demographic security and whose location has
inevitable political connotations. This will not resolve all the heavy
religious/political issues of the Temple Mount/Harem al-Sharif, the Old City
(which in any case has a wall around it) and the Holy Basin, all of which
Israel has to hold onto pending a negotiated political settlement of the
conflict. But it will improve the security situation and constitute another
step (after Gaza) toward demographic and security sanity for Israel.
If this does not happen, then it is time for Palestinian Jerusalemites to
act: not by violence, which would be suppressed brutally in view of the
proximity to the city's Jewish population and its governing institutions,
but once again by voting, this time in an Israeli election. With nearly 40
percent of the city's population, Jerusalem Arabs should vote in the next
municipal election with the clear purpose of showing Israel that it is
better off without Arab Jerusalem--that Israel's ill-defined historic and
political capital is in danger of being taken over legally (perhaps in
coalition with Jerusalem's a-Zionist ultra orthodox Jews) by an essentially
hostile population that Israel insists on keeping captive.
This might be the only way to ensure that Israel's capital remains Jewish
and democratic.- Published 16/1/2006 © bitterlemons.org
Yossi Alpher is coeditor of bitterlemons.org and
bitterlemons-international.org. He is a former director of the Jaffee Center
for Strategic Studies at Tel Aviv University and a former senior adviser to
PM Ehud Barak.
[DEUTSCH]
Bitterlemons-international.org is an internet
forum for an array of world perspectives on the Middle East and its
specific concerns. It aspires to engender greater understanding about
the Middle East region and open a new common space for world thinkers
and political leaders to present their viewpoints and initiatives on the
region. Editors Ghassan Khatib and Yossi Alpher can be reached at
ghassan@bitterlemons-international.org
and
yossi@bitterlemons-international.org, respectively.
hagalil.com 22-01-2006 |
