Jerusalem cannot be divided... because most of its 'Palestinians' would rather be Israeli citizens
A new, well-documented book by former Haaretz reporter Nadav Shragai claims that Jerusalem cannot be divided because of the city's 'Israelization.' And a new poll by David Pollock confirms it. Less than five years ago, Pollock found that
35% of Jerusalem's 'Palestinians' admitted that they prefer to be Israeli citizens, while 30% said they preferred to be citizens of 'Palestine.' Today,
52% admit that they prefer to be Israeli citizens, while 45% prefer to be citizens of 'Palestine.'
As the English edition of Jerusalem: Delusions of Division goes
to print, the Washington Institute for Near East Policy has published
remarkable findings of a public-opinion survey conducted in east
Jerusalem in June 2015, under the supervision of David Pollock.1
For the first time, it has been discovered that more than half the Arab
residents of the eastern part of the city – 52 percent – prefer to
obtain Israeli citizenship with equal rights, while only 45 percent
prefer Palestinian citizenship within the framework of a Palestinian
state. Only five years ago, in another survey that Pollock supervised,
only 35 percent of the east Jerusalem respondents said they wanted to
become Israeli citizens.
Anyone not aware of what has been happening in east Jerusalem is
indeed likely to be surprised. However, the findings presented in this
book – on the Israelization trend and the growing incorporation of east
Jerusalem Arabs in the municipal fabrics – easily jibe with the survey’s
findings.
Reality has a seductive power. A huge power. Forty-eight years of living together in one city have fostered a different mindset among the east Jerusalem Arabs, more modern and much more cognizant of reality. It is a very different mindset than that of the Arabs of the West Bank or Gaza. It stems from common patterns of life within the city, and also, to a great extent, from a plethora of economic and other advantages. These advantages are entailed by the resident status that the east Jerusalem residents maintain – a status and attendant benefits that the Arabs of the West Bank and Gaza do not maintain at all.
This study, however, also depicts a contrasting, worrisome process: 60 percent of the east Jerusalem Arabs who were polled in the summer of 2015 support an armed struggle against Israel, and Hamas is very popular among this group. On the one hand, the trend of acclimatization and intermingling advances. On the other, the political dispute over the future of the city, along with the rise of radical Islam and the antagonism toward the Palestinian Authority, which the Jerusalem Arabs charge with neglecting them, leads to phenomena of separation and confrontation, lightly armed and more lethal terror, and the popularity of Hamas.
...
And another large “asterisk”: Pollock’s survey also found that 90,000 east Jerusalem Arabs who have remained outside the “security fence” hold much more radical and hostile views than the east Jerusalem Arabs who have remained on the “Israeli side” of the fence. Among a segment of this population, the desire for Israeli citizenship, which was strong in the past, is now significantly weaker than among the east Jerusalem Arabs still “inside the fence.” A decade of neglect and unsuccessful policy toward this population by the municipal and governmental authorities has turned this area into a wasteland with the population as its denizens. These parts of north and east Jerusalem are today a focal point of crime, terror, and profuse traffic in weapons. The residents have become a kind of ticking bomb. They feel neglected both by Israel and the Palestinian Authority, and they seethe with bitterness and anger. This book proposes a plan of action for these areas and their population from which all can benefit. Israel’s policymakers would be wise to give it serious consideration.
Hmmm.
Labels: David Pollock, Jerusalem, Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, Jerusalem is the capital of Israel, Jerusalem Palestinians
No Jews, no tourists and not a whole lot of Muslims allowed on Temple Mount
Heeding warnings of Muslim riots on the Temple Mount, the Israeli police have
closed the Mount on Friday except to blue Israeli identity card holders who are Muslim men over the age of 50 or Muslim women of any age.
The decision to only allow Muslim men over the age of 50, and women
of any age, to pray at the site was made by Jerusalem police commander
Nitzav Yossi Friyanti.
Further, only Muslim visitors with blue teudot zehut (identification cards), held by Israeli citizens and residents, would be allowed in.
Police are preparing around the Temple Mount and in alleys and
entrances around the Old City for expected attempts to disrupt the
public order.
The Temple Mount was closed to visitors by police on Thursday following rioting by Muslims in the area for "Prisoners Day,"
in which thousands of Arab residents of Judea, Samaria and Gaza
demanded the release of Israeli-held terrorists. Those protests turned
violent in Hevron, where police and soldiers were attacked with rocks.
It's time to either ban the Muslims altogether until they can behave themselves, or reach an arrangement like in Hebron where each religious group has its own exclusive days to pray at the site.
Labels: Jerusalem Palestinians, Jerusalem police, Palestinians, Temple Mount
'Palestinians' disappointed by murderer release
The 'Palestinians' are
disappointed that the terrorists being released on Tuesday night do not include any 'Israeli Arabs' or Jerusalem residents, and do include terrorists who were due to be released in a year or two anyway.
Kadoura Fares, director of the Palestinian Prisoners’ Club, said the
Palestinian Authority leadership would discuss the “flaw created by
Israel’s selection of the first batch of prisoners who are to be
released, because the list does not include prisoners from inside Israel
and Jerusalem.”
Fares told the Palestine News Network that the “flaw” would be corrected in the next batch of prisoners.
He
said the Palestinian Authority leadership would work toward reaching an
agreement with Israel to allow Palestinians to participate in choosing
which prisoners would be released.
Fares said the original plan
was that the prisoners would be released on Tuesday. He added that the
PA leadership was opposed to the deportation of any prisoner.
PA
President Mahmoud Abbas was quoted by the Palestinian Authority’s
official news agency Wafa as saying that “not a single prisoner would be
deported outside the homeland.”
PA officials also voiced
disappointment over the fact that the list included a number of
prisoners who were expected to be released anyway in the next few months
or years.
They also expressed surprise that the list included
Burhan Subaih, a PA security officer who was arrested in February 2001.
They added that the decision to release Subaih did not meet the criteria
for the release of inmates imprisoned before the signing of the Oslo
Accords two decades ago.
Boo. Hoo. Then again, given the current junta in Washington, these complaints probably will be taken seriously.
Meanwhile, Fadwa Barghouti, wife of jailed Fatah leader Marwan
Barghouti, expressed astonishment over the failure of the PA leadership
to demand the release of her husband. She told the Palestinian news
agency Ma’an that the PA leadership had completely ignored her husband
during negotiations over the prisoner release.
“Does the
Palestinian leadership want Marwan Barghouti and other prisoners to wait
another 30 years until they are released?” she asked.
I don't know about other prisoners, but the 'Palestinian leadership' would be very happy to see Marwan Barghouti spend the rest of his life in prison, because he could challenge their leadership.
Labels: Israeli Arab, Jerusalem Palestinians, Marwan Barghouti, Palestinian terrorists
Here we go again... Mughrabi Gate ramp condemned
The ugly wooden ramp in the picture, which leads up to the Temple Mount and makes a huge portion of the Western Wall plaza unusable, has been
on the verge of collapse for quite a while. But this morning, Israel Radio is reporting that the City of Jerusalem has given an order to demolish the ramp, which was originally built after the stone walkway leading up to the Mount
collapsed in a snowstorm in 2004.
Do you all remember what happened
the last time Israel tried to rebuild the ramp?
Developing....
Labels: Jerusalem Palestinians, Mughrabi gate, Temple Mount, UNESCO
The 'Palestinians' of 1967
Michael Totten refers to the Arabs who obtained the right to Israeli citizenship following the results of the Six Day War as the 'Palestinians' of 1967. He interviews some of them - mostly a shuk (souk) merchant names Ghazi whose attitudes
far more approximate those of Judea and Samaria Arabs than those of Jerusalem Arabs
here.
I'd like to make a couple of points. First, Totten makes it sound like you never see Arabs in 'west' Jerusalem, and you never see Jews in 'east' Jerusalem. I wouldn't know about seeing Jews in 'east' Jerusalem - I don't go there unless you count the Jewish neighborhoods across the 1949 armistice lines as 'east' Jerusalem. But I can tell you that you see plenty of Arabs in 'west' Jerusalem, and especially in its shopping malls. Ironically, as Totten is making this point, he inserts a picture entitled "Jewish West Jerusalem," which was taken in the Mamilla mall just outside the Old City, which mall has constant Arab traffic.
I also don't believe that Haifa is as integrated as he makes it out to be, although I have not spent that much time in Haifa (I have readers there - feel free to comment). My sense is that Totten is right with respect to the younger generation and particularly the students but is less correct regarding the older generation, and even less correct when it comes to religious Jews.
Finally, at the end he admits that Ghazi's willingness to die so long as Israel is (God forbid) destroyed is a minority view in Jerusalem and wonders whether it is a more common view in Judea and Samaria. It is.
Perhaps the lesson from Totten's findings is that we would have been better off annexing Judea and Samaria a long time ago.
Read the whole thing.
Labels: East Jerusalem, Jerusalem is the capital of Israel, Jerusalem Palestinians
