Israel Matzav

Changing Jerusalem realities

Here are a couple of interesting tidbits about Jerusalem from Marty Peretz

I believe there will be awkward but porous lines drawn when (and if) Jerusalem is finally discussed at the conference table. But the Israeli stamp on the future of the city cannot be erased. Nor should it: this is the price the Arabs are paying for their long decades of rejectionism. Still, do not think that the Palestinians fail to exploit opportunities as they have in changing Jerusalem realities.

An ironic one is that Arabs from the West Bank are continually making themselves residents of Jerusalem. This is a part of the demographic pressure on the city. But the irony is that they are leaving territories that will soon be Palestine to live in a city they expect (and truly hope) will be Israeli. Of course, the Palestinian Arabs want a Palestine to be established. But if they have a choice they’d rather live in Israel. You might think that given the national Palestinian upsurge among Israeli Arabs that they would crave to live in Palestine. In fact, some Zionists want to surrender the land on which these Arabs live precisely to Palestine. They are no takers.

A different form of sub rosa Palestinian change in the demography of Jerusalem is the influx of Arabs from Hebron, a result of bitter struggles among clans and political groupings. (This is something, thank God, which we cannot blame on Hebron’s fanatic Jews.) Most of these Arabs moved to the Silwan neighborhood of Jerusalem where they build housing for which no plans have been made, and they build them without electricity or running water or, for that matter, toilet facilities. It is mostly these Arabs for whom the mayor of the city, my friend Nir Barkat, has helped develop a scheme, designed by Palestinian city planners and architects, that would settle them in new and modern housing. They prefer to stay in fetid Silwan.

The second paragraph is common knowledge. One has to wonder who will live in a 'Palestinian state' if God forbid there ever is one. The short answer is terrorists, and 'refugees' forced out of Arab countries. To me, that doesn't sound like a good reason to establish a 'Palestinian state.'

But the third paragraph is even more intriguing. Just when you think you know it all.... I had no idea that 'Palestinians' from Hebron had settled in Silwan, nor did I know that Nir Barkat (who looks smarter by the minute) had hired 'Palestinian' city planners and architects to try to get them to move.

Hmmm.

Labels: Hebron, Jerusalem is the capital of Israel, Silwan

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 9:19 AM