Israeli leader's party will divide Jerusalem

WND ^ | March 24, 2006 | Aaron Klein

[Nachum]

Acting Prime Minister Ehud Olmert (Courtesy Haaretz) 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.

[Nachum]

The gloves are off and they are moving as fast as they can. There will be violence over this. The words of R. Meir Kahane come true again.

[bill1952]

Who is going to win this election?

[goldstategop]

Kadima will win the election on Tuesday. The Likud will come in second and Labor will be a distant third. At least if the polls are correct.

(Denny Crane: "I Don't Want To Socialize With A Pinko Liberal Democrat Commie. Say What You Like About Republicans. We Stick To Our Convictions. Even When We Know We're Dead Wrong.")

[Meadow Muffin]

I don't see the splitting of Jerusalem happening....not gonna happen...it might lok like it will, but it won't.

[scottdeus12]

"would divide Jerusalem and allow a Palestinian state to be established in parts of Israel's "eternal capital.""

Someone please tell me this isn't true........

[Stellar Dendrite]

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[Salem]

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[HKMk23]

Divide The Great City? Now? Perhaps. Later? Certainly.

17 And the seventh messenger did pour out his vial to the air, and there came forth a great voice from the sanctuary of the heaven, from the throne, saying, `It hath come!'
18 and there came voices, and thunders, and lightnings; and a great earthquake came, such as came not since men came upon the earth, so mighty an earthquake -- so great!
19 And it came -- the great city -- into three parts, and the cities of the nations did fall, and Babylon the great was remembered before God, to give to her the cup of the wine of the wrath of His anger,
20 and every island did flee away, and mountains were not found,
21 and great hail (as of talent weight) doth come down out of the heaven upon men, and men did speak evil of God because of the plague of the hail, because its plague is very great.
Revelation 16:17-21

Ref. also: Isaiah 29:6,  Ezekiel 38:19

[ClaireSolt]

Seems to me that mayor of Jerusalem is the right background for this. Jerusalem functions, even though different neighborhoods are Jewish or Palestinian.

[flaglady47]

"Who is going to win this election?"

The wrong party with the wrong man as it's head. Rough times ahead for Israel. They are busy shooting themselves in their own foot.

[bill1952]

Isaiah 29:6, Ezekiel 38:19

Hah! 12 Monkeys!

And the seventh messenger did pour out his vial to the air
Hey! You're one of us!
- 8^)

[HKMk23]

Actually, my first thought when I read the headline was, "Berlin, again."

Can there be a Cohenstein Gate far in the future?

[HKMk23]

12 Monkeys

As in the film, "12 Monkeys", or something else?

As for the film: I haven't seen it; I've read some reviews, most say it's pretty good. I might give it a viewing.

[rogue yam]

So is there really no legitimacy to these claims:

"'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."

Generally speaking, I think separation is desireable and inevitable. In fact, I've been advocating it for years. So I guess the question is, "Where is the place that the 'Palestinians' should have their capital?" And relatedly, "Where is the area closest to the Old City that shall be under 'Palestinian' sovereignty?" If not these suburbs Schneller lists, then where, and how far away? The line has to be drawn somewhere. Some Israelis don't want the line drawn at all because they dream of somehow extending full Israeli sovereignty to the entire "West Bank". I don't think that will ever happen. So if that's out, and the pre-1967 "Green Line" is out, then where should the line be? I think Kadima deserves credit for making a specific proposal, and I think Kadima's critics should be obliged to counter with their own specific proposals. To me, it is insufficient to simply complain "Not there!"

[sheik yerbouty]

Let them have Ramallah as their capitol. The PA already has its offices rthere.

[rogue yam]

Let them have Ramallah as their capitol. The PA already has its offices rthere.

Fine. Ramallah, then. I don't really care if the Palis get close to nothing. It's just that lots of folks on this thread jumped on Kadima's proposal without offering a counter-proposal. I'd like to see some progress toward a final Israeli border. There are some people on the Israeli side who want to just keep kicking that can down the road, and I don't think that's in America's interest.

[sheik yerbouty]

As Ramallah already serves as its capitol, in the end there will be less fuss over it. In the end, it is the better course. Let the can stop in Ramallah.

[bill1952]

Oh, the movie. I was trying to be funny.

I have the movie.
There is one scene where that line is spoken.

[anotherview]

Actually, latest polls are as follows:

Kadima	Ehud Olmert	33-37 seats
Avoda (Labour)	Amir Peretz	19-21 seats
Likud	Binyamin Netanyahu	14-15 seats
Yisrael Beitenu	Avigdor Lieberman	10-11 seats
Shas	Eli Yishai	9-11 seats
National Union/NRP	Binyamin Elon	8-10 seats
Arab parties (combined)		6-8 seats
United Torah Judaism	Yaakov Litzman	5-7 seats
Meretz-Yachad	Yossi Beilin	5-6 seats
Tafnit	Uzi Dayan	0-5 seats
Ale Yarok (Green Leaf)	Boaz Wachtel	0-2 seats
Gil (Pensioners)	Rafael Eitan	0-2 seats

These numbers are based on polls conducted since 22 March by Dahaf, Teleseker, Smith-Globes, The Jerusalem Post, and The Geocartographic Institute.

A party must capture 2% of the vote to get any seats at all, so the least a party can get is 2 seats out of 120. Tafnit shows up at 3.9% (4 seats) in the Geocartgraphia poll but at 0.6% (no seats at all) in the Dahaf poll, for example. We have a host of small parties that will not be represented in the Knesset. It will be a close thing for the last three parties I listed.

So, it's Likud that is finishing a distant third and has been trending downwards. Labour, unfortunately, has been trending upwards and party leaders think they can claim 25 seats.

The last polls have been pretty close here since the 1999 elections. 1996 was the last time they got it wrong in a major way.

Breakdown by bloc:

Left: Labour, Meretz, Ale Yarok
Center: Kadima, Tafnit
Right: Likud, Yisrael Beitenu, NU/NRP
Religious: Shas, UTJ
One Issue: Gil