Date: Thu, 10 Mar 2005 13:48:47 -0600
Subject: Jerusalem: The Key to Peace or a Fuse for Conflict? 050310
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
March 10, 2005
>From the ELCA Middle East Networking List...
Churches for Middle East Peace has issued an analysis and action guide
regarding Jerusalem. This message is also posted on the CMEP web site at:
http://www.cmep.org/newsletter/2005March.htm
March 4, 2005
From: Corinne Whitlatch, Executive Director
CMEP's March issue analysis & action guide
Those of you on CMEP's postal network will receive this newsletter soon. It
is at the mail house now.
Jerusalem: The Key to Peace or a Fuse for Conflict?
by Corinne Whitlatch, CMEP Executive Director
March, 2005 -- The headline "Israelis Act to Encircle East Jerusalem" in the
February 7 "Washington Post" was welcome news -
www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A3263-2005Feb6.html - For until then,
little attention had been paid to the Israeli government's effort to
establish Jewish enclaves in and around East Jerusalem to form a ring that
would separate the Old City and its holy sites from the West Bank.
"The Washington Post's" investigation found that the Israeli government is
subsidizing Jewish groups that are deliberately undermining peace efforts. A
spokesman for one of the most prominent private groups involved in moving
Jews into Arab neighbors is quoted, "If, as a result of what we do, it means
the city can't be divided, fine, Jerusalem belongs to the Jewish people. It
would be a disaster for the Jewish world if Jerusalem were divided and a
Palestinian state was created on Jewish land."
The collaborative efforts of the government and settlers to make it
impossible for East Jerusalem to be part of a Palestinian state is not news,
but has been largely ignored by the Bush Administration until recently. It
appears that in late January the Administration did press Israel to stop its
application of the 50-year-old Absentee Property Law (to confiscate millions
of dollars of East Jerusalem property belonging to Palestinians). On her
first trip to the region as secretary of state, Condoleezza Rice warned
Israel in an interview with Israel's Channel 1, "We do believe that
unilateral steps in Jerusalem, particularly those that might appear to
prejudge future discussions, would be unhelpful at this time."
Secretary of State Rice was reiterating the long-held policy that the final
status of Jerusalem can only be determined through negotiations between the
two parties. The United States does not recognize Jerusalem as Israel's
capital, and regards East Jerusalem, in accordance with UNSC Resolution 242,
as occupied territory. In 1995 Congress passed a law requiring the U.S. to
move its embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. Every six months since then,
Presidents Clinton and Bush have signed national security waivers that allow
them not to carry out the law's mandate.
Jerusalem-- Close to the Heart
Jerusalem lies at the heart of both the hope for peace and the rage that
fuels the conflict - for the beleaguered Palestinians and Israelis, for the
whole Middle East region and for Jews, Christians and Muslims everywhere.
The profound religious symbolism of Jerusalem to each of the Abrahamic
faiths is impossible for any one individual to comprehend. The heart of
Jerusalem is the Old City where the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock
occupy the same space. Jews, Christians and Muslims share the belief that
the Rock is where Abraham offered his son Isaac as a sacrifice.
With the Old City being located in East Jerusalem, Jews were not allowed to
worship at their sacred Western Wall during 1948-1967, when Jordan held
sovereignty. Following the 1967 War, Israel quickly annexed East Jerusalem
and the Old City onto the state. But there is nothing sacred about the
city's municipal borders, which Israel drew to include not only East
Jerusalem, but also nearby Arab villages, their lands, and hundreds of
thousands of Palestinians. In order to erase the 1967 border and make the
city indivisible, Israel has since built large housing complexes for Jews on
the annexed land, which retains its status as occupied. In 1980 Israel
declared united and expanded Jerusalem its capital.
East Jerusalem is far more than the center of religious life for
Palestinians, it is also the hub of Palestinian economic, cultural and
institutional life. Among those institutions are the Lutheran's Augusta
Victoria Hospital, built to serve both Christian and Muslim Palestinians on
the Mount of Olives overlooking the Old City. The Episcopalian St. George's
Cathedral and College lie on historic Nablus Road near the intersection with
Saleh Eddin Street.
The inclusion of East Jerusalem in a Palestinian state is central to its
viability, both economically and politically. The designation of Al-Quds
(Arabic for Jerusalem) as the capital of a Palestinian state is absolutely
necessary for Arab recognition of Israel's legitimacy and of its capital
being West Jerusalem.
Jewish Advocates of Two Capitals
Americans for Peace Now makes the case. "For the sake of Israel's security
and stability, a formula must be found to share the city between Israelis
and Palestinians, and between Jews, Christians and Muslims. The emergence of
a Palestinian capital in Arab areas of Jerusalem does not undermine Israel's
claim to Jerusalem as its capital. To the contrary, such a development would
clear the way-at long last-for international recognition of Jewish
Jerusalem, with a strong Jewish majority, as Israel's eternal capital."
Brit Tzedek v'Shalom, the Jewish Alliance for Justice and Peace, was founded
a couple of years ago to activate American Jews by Marcia Freedman, a former
member of Israel's Knesset. Among its founding principles is: "The
establishment and recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of both states.
Such recognition must also insure unfettered access to all religious sites
in Israel and in the future Palestinian state to all Jews, Muslims and
Christians, regardless of nationality or sovereignty of the sites."
No Easy Solution
At Camp David in July of 2000, when President Clinton was struggling to get
an agreement on Jerusalem, and other final status issues, between Israeli
Prime Minister Ehud Barak and Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, neither
leader had broached the topic with their public and neither could have made
the necessary compromises.
Nevertheless, once the notion of Jerusalem being the capital of both states
was introduced, proposals flowed. President Clinton's "parameters" were the
starting point for the Taba permanent status negotiations which quickly
followed. Various elements were dissected for consideration - sovereignty,
open city, capital for two states, Holy Basin and the Old City, and Holy
sites (Western Wall and the Wailing Wall, and Haram al-Sharif/Temple Mount).
It seemed amazing that people were deliberating about whether the Armenian
quarter of the Old City would be under Israeli or Palestinian sovereignty.
But, those heady hopeful days were consumed by the roaring anger of the
second intifadeh, sparked by candidate Ariel Sharon's "visit" to the Temple
Mount.
Even during the cycle of violence of the second intifadeh, when peace
negotiations seemed impossible, some Israelis and Palestinians worked to
show that compromises could be made for the sake of peace. The Geneva
Accords, a model of a peace agreement, states that "The Parties shall have
their mutually recognized capitals in the areas of Jerusalem under their
respective sovereignty," with the details left for authorized negotiators in
the future.
A concurrent peace initiative, "The People's Voice" was promoted among
ordinary Israelis and Palestinians. "Jerusalem will be an open city, the
capital of two states. Freedom of religion and full access to holy sites
will be guaranteed to all. Arab neighborhoods in Jerusalem will come under
Palestinian sovereignty; Jewish neighborhoods under Israeli sovereignty.
Neither side shall exercise sovereignty over the holy places. The state of
Palestine will be designated 'Guardian of the Temple Mount' for the benefit
of Muslims. Israel will be designated the 'Guardian of the Western Wall' for
the benefit of the Jewish people. The status quo on Christian holy sites
will be maintained. No excavation will take place in or underneath the holy
sites."
The groundwork is now ready for negotiations on Jerusalem's future status;
Israelis and Palestinians are becoming familiar with the language of
sharing, of compromise, of safeguards and the division of administrative
functions. This time around the barriers to an agreement are different; this
time there are concrete barriers.
Concrete Barriers
It is obvious-from the Israeli Ministry of Defense's map of the new route of
the West Bank barrier-that the plan is to wall Jerusalem off from the rest
of the West Bank, ending hope for a viable Palestinian state. When the
Cabinet ratified the pullout from Gaza it also approved incorporating Maale
Adumim and Gush Etzion-large settlement blocs to the east and south of
Jerusalem-into the Israeli side of the barrier. The barrier's dark line on
the map looks like a border, a border that not only retains total Israeli
sovereignty over the city, but also blocks access to the West Bank.
"Jerusalem is being walled in for the first time since 1535," says Israeli
attorney Daniel Seidemann. Days after the Six-Day War, Moshe Dayan tore down
the walls between East and West Jerusalem and began the campaign, followed
by all successive governments, to create facts on the ground that would make
Jerusalem a physically indivisible city. "That policy, whether one regrets
it or not, has been largely successful; Israelis and Palestinians in
Jerusalem are akin to Siamese twins sharing more or less vital organs."
Consequently, wherever the barrier is built in Jerusalem, it creates a
humanitarian problem of enormous proportions for the 230,000 Palestinians in
East Jerusalem.
A report released in January by the Jerusalem Institute for Israel Studies
states that as many as 130,000 Jerusalem Arabs will need to pass through the
passages and checkpoints along the barrier going in and around the city on a
daily basis, resulting in a higher-level of friction between the Jews and
Arabs living there.
There are different plans for the barrier being implemented at different
places in Jerusalem. There is former Jerusalem mayor Ehud Olmert's plan to
place the barrier on the municipal boundary, although it is unrecognized
internationally and its location not known by the people living there. Then
there is Prime Minister Sharon's "Greater Jerusalem" approach - expanding
the barrier deep into the West Bank to include large settlement blocs, which
will dismember the northern West Bank from the south as well as prevent its
contiguity with Jerusalem.
Writing in "Ha'aretz," Amira Hass forecasts, "As of July, Palestinian
Jerusalemites will not be allowed to go to Ramallah. That's when the wall in
Jerusalem will be completed, and the Qalandiya checkpoint will be turned
into a form of a 'border terminal,' even though it is far from the Green
Line. Those who want to go to Ramallah will have to ask for special
permits..."
Isolating Bethlehem
Hanna J. Nasser, the Mayor of Bethlehem, wrote to Churches for Middle East
Peace on February 17, and reported that the Israeli High Court rejected a
petition from the Bethlehem Municipality to stop the "Israeli expansionist
project" at Rachel's Tomb area. "This means [a] green light to the Israeli
military to finalize the works they have started to seize Palestinian land,
construct a road and wall to wrap the Tomb with its surroundings in order to
annex them and to include them under permanent Israeli sovereignty."
"I would like to convey my grave concern over the catastrophic effects of
this decision on Bethlehem and its future. Consequently, Bethlehem will be
suffocated, its historic and main entrance closed, its northern lands
isolated behind the wall and a dear and vital part of it will be stripped
off from its natural environment."
"I believe such practices materialize the policy of occupation and the
policy of might rather than dedicating justice and respect to others'
rights. They certainly do not help in building bridges of trust especially
during this new era our region is witnessing to revive the stalemate[d]
peace process."
Suggested Action:
Even as hope has been restored for Israeli-Palestinian peace making, it is
necessary and wise to maintain vigilance lest the gains be overwhelmed by
facts-on-the-ground that render peace impossible. Without doubt, the recent
decisions by the Israelis and Palestinians to turn away from violence and to
take significant steps toward a new era of peacemaking are monumental. Their
leaders face dangerous opposition from militants pledged to resist
authority. The unfolding process is sure to be fraught with setbacks,
including acts of violence, and doubts. So, it is with a spirit of
unequivocal commitment to a negotiated resolution of the conflict leading
toward a two-state solution that peace-advocates' concerns about Jerusalem
and the barrier should be raised.
While advocates will want to tailor their advocacy and education efforts to
be relevant to what is currently on the policymakers' agendas, the primacy
of Jerusalem necessitates it being woven into the ultimate policy objective:
two viable states living side-by-side in peace and security with Jerusalem
as the capital of both. Sharing Jerusalem is the key to two viable states -
Israel and Palestine - living in peace and security.
In addressing the damage being done by Israel's building of the barrier in
and around Jerusalem, highlight the Israeli High Court's ruling in late June
of 2004 that the route must be altered if it impinges too much on the lives
of Palestinians or expropriates land unnecessarily.
U.S. policy is not the problem in this case, it's a matter of
implementation. The U.S. Ambassador to Israel, Daniel Kurtzer, has given
assurances to CMEP in the context of writing about land seizures in East
Jerusalem that the Administration's position on the route of the barrier
construction has not changed. David Satterfield, the Deputy Assistant
Secretary of State said on January 27, "We had seen positive progress made
by the government of Israel in terms of the routing of the separation
barrier. We hope that progress continues. Jerusalem is an especially
sensitive area for the wall. We're deeply concerned over aspects of the
routing of the barrier in that area. We're also concerned about any steps,
whether it's related to the wall or other actions, that make starting and
sustaining a process of rebuilding trust and confidence harder, rather than
easier."
For more information on Jerusalem and for the full text of Mayor Nasser's
letter, visit CMEP's Shared Jerusalem Resource Center at:
http://www.cmep.org/SharedJER/Resource.htm
Formed in 1984, Churches for Middle East Peace is a Washington-based program
of the Alliance of Baptists, American Friends Service Committee, Antiochian
Orthodox Archdiocese of America, Catholic Conference of Major Superiors of
Men's Institutes, Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), Church of the
Brethren, Church World Service, Episcopal Church, Evangelical Lutheran
Church in America, Franciscan Mission Service, Friends Committee on National
Legislation, Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America, Maryknoll Missioners,
Mennonite Central Committee, National Council of Churches, Presbyterian
Church (USA), Reformed Church in America, Unitarian Universalist
Association, United Church of Christ, and the United Methodist Church (GBCS
& GBGM) . For further information, see www.cmep.org
Contributions to CMEP are tax deductible and can be made by check or on
www.cmep.org by secure, on-line credit card service.
Churches for Middle East Peace
110 Maryland Ave NE, #311
Washington, DC 20002
Telephone (202) 543-1222
www.cmep.org
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