Israeli leader's party will divide Jerusalem
March 26, 2006
JERUSALEM – Just five days before national
elections here, acting Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's Kadima party revealed
yesterday it would divide Jerusalem and allow a Palestinian state to be
established in parts of Israel's "eternal capital."
The revelation follows months of denials by top Kadima officials that the party
would advocate withdrawing from Jerusalem.
"The Old City, Mount Scopus, the Mount of Olives, the City of David, Sheikh
Jarra will remain in our hands, but [regarding] Kafr Akeb, Abu-Ram, Shuafat,
Hizma, Abu-Zaim, Abu-Tur, Abu Dis, in the future, when the Palestinian state is
established, they will become its capital," said Otniel Schneller, a Kadima
member who represented the party at a debate yesterday on dividing Jerusalem.
The neighborhoods Schneller listed are located on Jerusalem's periphery near the
city's border with the West Bank.
Schneller said Kadima supports "separation between us and the Palestinians
who don't live in the heart of Jerusalem," claiming there would be "no
concessions" on sites that are sacred to Jews.
Several Kadima officials and leaders associated with the party's now comatose
founder, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, previously made statements about dividing
Jerusalem that immediately were denied by the party.
In December, Sharon's senior campaign pollster Kalman Gayer said in an interview
with Newsweek the Israeli prime minister would give up parts of Jerusalem in a
peace agreement. Immediately following the publication of Gayer's remarks,
Sharon appeared on state-run Israeli television and denied his vision for a
Palestinian state includes Jerusalem.
Olmert, who served as mayor of Jerusalem from 1993-2003, said in a June 2004
interview with the Jerusalem Post that Israel is contemplating turning parts of
Jerusalem over to Palestinian control.
"Jerusalem is dear to me, but one must not lose sight of proportions over
peripheral areas we do not need," said Olmert, who served as deputy prime
minister at the time. He claimed ceding control of eastern Jerusalem
neighborhoods to the Palestinians is "needed to maintain a Jewish majority
in the Holy City."
Government officials immediately denied Olmert's statements implied a Jerusalem
withdrawal.
Kadima's claims yesterday of "only" withdrawing from peripheral
sections of Jerusalem worry many here. The Israeli government has denied
previous withdrawal plans only to carry them out later, followed by
announcements of more withdrawals in larger magnitudes from areas it pledged not
to vacate.
Olmert was the first Sharon deputy to go public with Israel's plan to evacuate
its Jewish communities from the Gaza Strip and four small West Bank communities.
That plan was at first denied but later announced by Sharon. Israel withdrew
from Gaza and the West Bank towns this past August, claiming there would be no
further West Bank withdrawals.
Following the Gaza withdrawal, Olmert made statements about withdrawing from
large sections of the West Bank. His statements immediately were denied by
Sharon. Olmert in February announced if his Kadima party wins upcoming elections
his administration will seek to "change Israel's borders" by
withdrawing from the vast majority of the West Bank.
Israel's left-wing Labor and Meretz parties have in the past discussed dividing
Jerusalem. Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak in 2000 offered the Palestinians a
state in the West Bank, Gaza and eastern sections of Jerusalem. Barak's proposal
was rejected by the late Palestinian Liberation Organization leader Yasser
Arafat.
Jerusalem first was divided into eastern and western sections when Jordan
invaded and occupied Jerusalem and the Old City in 1947, expelling all Jewish
inhabitants. Israel built its capital in the western part of the city, while the
eastern quarters remained under Jordanian control until Israel captured it,
along with the Old City, in 1967 after Jordan's King Hussein ignored Israeli
pleas for his country to stay out of the Six Day War.
During the 19 years of Arab sovereignty, the ancient Jewish Quarter of the Old
City was ravaged, 58 synagogues – some centuries old – were destroyed and
slum dwellings were built abutting the Western Wall. Jews were not allowed to
visit their holy places and Israeli Christians were subjected to many
restrictions, with only limited numbers allowed to visit the Old City and
Bethlehem at Christmas and Easter.
SOURCE: World Net Daily