Page 31 - HaMizrachi02-04( #12)2019RoshHaShanaYomKippurUSA

ISRAEL INSIGHT • ONE CITY, TWO PERSPECTIVES

Dan Perry

sharing the old city might be

better than dividing jerusalem

lthough Israeli politicians So given the patchwork of Jewish The place would have its local
on all sides seem inclined and Arab areas, any demographic police with all the players invested
Ato ignore the festering sore division would require either a in success. Israel would be able to
of the conflict with the Palestinians snaking border a hundred miles send troops in when necessary.
at present, the Temple Mount issue long or no border at all. Palestinians would be able to
and the status of Jerusalem have enter through the Ramallah and
scuttled peace efforts in the past The former would be the strangest Bethlehem crossings after a security
and bubble to the surface all the border in the world, with crossing check with guaranteed safe passage.
time. The 2019 election season points at every cigarette stand.
in Israel has seen stabbings and Officially it would no longer be fully
protests and a suggestion from The latter would be a security Israel, but it would be surrounded
Israeli Internal Security Minister, nightmare. There will be people on by Israel as Rome surrounds the
Gilad Erdan, to change the status both sides who will consider peace Vatican, much containing the risk.
quo in which Jews do not have free a sellout and want to disrupt it. The security price is small. The
access to pray on the Temple Mount Terrorists (from either side) could
(which drew protests from Jordan, a wander around at their leisure. symbolic impact would be huge.
stakeholder in the site). What will happen when there is It would be electric in the Arab
an attack in the Israeli part and
Those who want to fix the problem the attackers slip back into the world. People there want a just
generally hold two core beliefs. First, Palestinian sector by walking down solution for the Palestinians, but
the status of the city will only be the street? few are wedded to the Palestinians’
resolved in a final peace agreement specific demands. The “right of
between Israel and the Palestinians. If Israel were to voluntarily alter return” for refugees’ descendants
Second, it must ultimately be the arrangement in the Old City, is widely understood by the elites
divided between Israel and a future it would dramatically change the to be impractical. The issue that
Palestine. If the first was ever to game. Severing the Jerusalem deeply resonates and animates
arrive and the second was somehow problem from final status efforts, is Jerusalem. And there is even
feasible, I for one would not stand in the discussion could be broadened opposition in the Arab world
the way. to the entire Muslim (and Christian) (especially in Jordan) to handing the
worlds; everybody has a stake. Old City solely to the Palestinians,
Meanwhile, peace professionals Craftily designed, this might make as they would wish.
talk about partitioning the city. But things easier, not worse.
51 years of Israel’s machinations Such a change could coincide with
with municipal borders, Think of the Old City as a kind of or spark a process that includes
discouragement of Palestinians Vatican of the Levant. In effect, positive changes vis-à-vis the Arab
from staying, and construction the Vatican is part of Rome, but world. And while possibly separate,
of Jewish neighborhoods have officially and legally the area is it could jump-start or be part of
made a mishmash of the map and ex-territorial. Still, it’s surrounded a deal with the Palestinians that
created a Jewish majority even in by Italy, which enjoys many of the is not necessarily final yet moves
the occupied-and-annexed formerly accompanying tourist benefits. the needle and finally gives them
Jordanian part of the city. Almost their state. It also can only be the
no one (except the Palestinians) Around the Old City, the huge stone beginning of something: maybe one
speaks of removing these east walls built in the 16th century by day the city will somehow be totally
Jerusalem “settlers” as they do of the the Ottoman Sultan Suleiman the and peacefully divided.
ones in the West Bank (most Israelis Magnificent provide a fantastically Dan Perry was the Cairo-based Middle
would be perplexed to even hear useful existing physical designator East Editor of the AP and Chairman of the
them spoken of as “settlers”). around the area. Foreign Press Association in Israel

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