If you thought the near-daily Palestinian terrorism against Jews in Jerusalem would strengthen Israeli resolve not to cave in to Arab demands, you were only partially correct.
It seems that former government minister Chaim Ramon, together with several retired IDF officers, are planning to present a plan in the coming days for a unilateral Israeli withdrawal from Arab-populated neighborhoods in the city. In other words: the division of the united Holy City into two. A festive ceremony is even planned, during which – incredibly – a foundation-stone will be symbolically laid for a fence to physically divide Yerushalayim.
Regular readers of this column will likely have a hard time understanding how high-ranking politicians and IDF officers could believe that enclosing the Jews of Jerusalem inside a fence would be a positive development. But that’s OK: many also have difficulty comprehending how, in the midst of a terrorism wave, the Supreme Court would forbid the razing of terrorists’ homes (it has since backtracked from this decision), while at the same time ordering the destruction of a synagogue on land claimed by an Arab who cannot prove he owns it.
Ramon’s plan has been criticized not only by Jerusalem loyalists, but even by people on the left wing of Israeli politics and Arabs. A Fatah official was quoted as saying, “No one will agree to this. If this is what the left has to offer, there is no hope.”
The nationalist camp’s objections to the division of Jerusalem are clear and obvious: From the security standpoint, removing Jerusalem’s Arab neighborhoods is likely to worsen, not improve, security problems. In the words of Jerusalem expert Nadav Shragai, it would “hamstring the ongoing, sophisticated, cooperative work of security forces and intelligence in thwarting Palestinian and Islamic terrorist attacks.”
Demographically, too, the situation would worsen, as Jews would continue to leave Jerusalem as security deteriorates. From historical, religious, and morale-building standpoints as well, dividing Jerusalem is simply untenable.
But why would the Arabs object to such a plan? Would they not enjoy the departure of the Israeli “enemy” and running their own affairs?
Apparently not. In fact, a recent poll shows that if given a choice between living under Israeli rule or the Palestinian Authority, more than half would actually choose Israel.
The poll was conducted this summer by the Palestinian Center for Public Opinion (based in Beit Sahour, near Bethlehem), among 504 Arabs living in eastern Jerusalem. 52 percent said they would prefer to be equal-rights citizens of Israel, while only 42 percent said they would opt for a Palestinian Authority state.
Interestingly, a similar poll taken four years ago showed that 40 percent would choose Israel, and a year before that it was 33 percent. The latest results thus show a clear trend. The reasons most respondents cited for their choice of Israel are economic and practical: better jobs, income, health care, freedom of travel, and the like.
Other interesting poll findings, cited most recently in an analysis by the Washington Institute of Near East Policy, shows that Arabs in Jerusalem are more aware of the reality of Israel than their brethren living in Judea, Samaria and Gaza (JSG). A majority of Jerusalem Arabs (62 percent ) think Israel will still exist in 30 or 40 years, compared with just 42-47 percent in JSG.
In addition, 30 percent of eastern Jerusalem’s Arabs say there were Jewish kingdoms and temples in Jerusalem in ancient times – despite the words of official PA spokesmen who often deny this. In Judea and Samaria, only 18 percent of Arabs are willing to say that Judaism has a national past in Jerusalem.
Fascinatingly, 40 percent in eastern Jerusalem say that Jews have “some rights to the land along with the Palestinians,” while only 11-13 percent say the same in JSG.
This does not mean that Jerusalem’s Arabs have become Zionists, of course. A majority of them (61 percent) offer at least verbal support for “armed struggle and car attacks against the occupation.” A significant 39 percent of them feel that Hamas “most closely represents [their] political affiliation.”
The bottom line is that Jerusalem’s Arabs simply don’t want the division of Jerusalem forced on them. Neither, of course, do the Jews. Chaim Ramon and the Ir Amim organization who promote plans to do exactly that simply ignore the will and desire of those for whom they claim to be looking out.
It is to be hoped that with the rise in worldwide Islamic terrorism against Western targets the international community will finally wake up and realize that (1) you don’t have to love Israel in order to fight terrorism, and (2) the pathological Islamist hatred of the West has nothing to do with Israel.
Many world leaders are beginning to realize that diplomatic solutions to soothe the Islamist desire for more land and fewer Westerners will not work. Certainly, united Jerusalem – national home to the Jewish people for 3,000 years – must not be sacrificed on the altar of sure-to-fail appeasement of terrorist elements.
To join our efforts to safeguard all of Jerusalem under Israeli sovereignty, please visit our Keep Jerusalem-Im Eshkachech website at www.keepjerusalem.org or e-mail [email protected] for information on our bus tours in news-making areas of Jerusalem.