Jerusalem, the Eternal City's Eternal Mess
Tomorrow, Israelis go to the polls for municipal elections. The choices for mayor of Jerusalem are terrifying, considering that city's iconic role in the country, the region and the world. One candidate-Nir Barkat--has refashioned himself as a hard-core nationalist rightwinger and the other, Porash, is an ultra-Orthodox Jew whose community awaits the Messiah to recognize the secular legitimacy of the state of Israel. The Palestinian population-over 200,000 strong--is either disenfranchised from voting (some voting machines reportedly not even set up in Arab neighborhoods)or have disenfranchised themselves from voting as a matter of principle.
Meanwhile, Ehud Olmert, the former mayor of Jerusalem and outgoing Prime Minister, finally spoke truth about the issue of Jerusalem today, at a memorial for slain Israeli leader Yizhak Rabin. He reportedly said:
After speaking about the assassination, Olmert said: "I feel a need to say a
few things not on what has been, but on what will be. Excuse me if I deviate
from the standard address and touch upon a few painful points relating to
our lives in this land. [Rabin] understood that if we want to maintain
Israel as democratic Jewish state, we must concede to a lack of choice and -
to our great torment - give up parts of our homeland of which we dreamt for
generations with yearning and with prayers."
"We must also give up Arab neighborhoods in East Jerusalem and return to the
core of the territory that was the State of Israel up until 1967, with
obligatory changes as a result of the reality created since then," Olmert
added.
"If God forbid, we procrastinate, we could lose support for a two-state
solution," Olmert warned.
"The moment of truth has come, and there is no escaping it," the prime
minister said. "We can squander it and postpone it, at a heavy price of
many more years of bloodshed and unending agonies." (Haaretz, 11/10/08)
The thing is, that when Olmert was mayor, he also spoke about a united, eternally united city, never to divide Jerusalem, etc. and he is as responsible as anyone for the explosive building of Jewish neighborhoods in the Arab part of the city, and of ignoring the need to share the city among two peoples. Now, he is speaking the truth-and it is a bare truth that future ISraeli leaders and especially American leaders must heed. The city is in dire straights-the poorest in Israel, the secular population waning, the young people leaving, and a miserable and unsettling emotional, physical and political divide between the Arabs and Jews who live in its suffering environs. All that beauty and all that promise, wrapped in the mess of decades of political gamesmanship. Tomorrow's election will not bring change to Jerusalem. It will bring more of the same, if not worse.
I greatly respect Olmert for finally speaking out!!!! He may be earning his place in history (a good place, unlike Bush & Cheney's)
November 10, 2008 5:10 PM | Reply | Permalink
I failed to mention that this is an excellent post by Ms. Mort!
November 10, 2008 5:17 PM | Reply | Permalink
This column is typical of the sloppy thinking and outright disregard for the facts we keep hearing from the "progressives" here.
(1) Your claim that "the secular population is waning" is untrue. The religious/secular percentages have not changed over the last 10 years. This has been reported extensively in recent weeks, including in Ha'aretz.
(2) Your claim that "reportedly voting machines have not been set up in Arab areas" leaves me wondering who is "reporting" this. You are also incorrect about "voting machines". Israel doesn't use "voting machines", it uses slips of paper put into envelopes. Had you said "voting booths" that would have been correct. Sure, this is a small point, but typical of the sloppiness of the thinking I referred to above.
(3) Olmert is facing the possibility of spending several years in prison. The fact that he may be trying to find favor with the heavily Leftist State Prosecutor's Office, who is weighing what charges to bring against him isn't mentioned by you. Instead you talk about Olmert's suddenly epiphany regarding "the truth".
(4) What is "terrifying" about having a Haredi candidate for mayor. I thought you "progressives"
were into "multiculturalism", "pluralism" and the such. Why can't you respect their point of view. Why is it illegitimate for them to have a candidate.
(5) Why don't you "progressives" put up your own candidate? If most people in Israel were "progressives" like yourself, as you all keep claiming, that candidate would win, right?
Let's be honest. "Sharing" Jerusalem means DESTROYING Jerusalem. Arab areas would be taken over by gunmen who would fire into the Jewish areas. This was what happened when Israel pulled out of Beit Jallah (in the Bethlehem area) as a result of the Oslo Agreement. Since Israel would give up security control of the eastern part of Jerusalem, it would be necessary to put up walls and checkpoints in the middle of the city, as there was before 1967. Arabs working in west Jerusalem would have to endure long lines to be checked every day going to work. This would eventually force many employers to forgoe Arab laborers which would increase unemployment in the Arab areas. Jews attempting to get to Jewish holy sites under Arab control such as the Western Wall (yes, the Arabs are demanding to control it but may be willing to allow Jews to continue to pray there under certain conditions) would be subject to assault from the surrounding Palestinian controlled areas.
In fact, the Arabs OPPOSE division of the city and don't want to live under Palestinian control (this does not mean they like Israel or enjoying living under Israeli rule, but they realize it is the best deal they are going to get). This is like the Israeli Arabs who VEHEMENTLY oppose Avigdor Lieberman's proposal to transfer areas in pre-67 Israel that have large Arab populations to Palestinian Authority control.
It is also important to remember that Israel giving up control of Jerusalem would be viewed as a gigantic victory for Islamic extremism, and the Christians in Jerusalem would then be the first victims of this, as they have been in Bethlehem and other parts of the Muslim Middle East as well.
This is the reality and this is the reason the people of Israel will not let this happen and why many in the US understand it.
November 11, 2008 12:30 AM | Reply | Permalink
Unless the views of people like JoAnn Mort prevail, Israel risks becoming another Rhodesia.
Obama's election indicates that America has chosen to join the EU-style post racial, post-national world (American kids have been there for a decade).
No nation that insists on depriving a huge minority of the population the full rights of citizenship is going to make it. You think Americans know that Arabs can't buy land in Israel? You think they understand that in Israel being a Jew confers all privileges, being a Palestinian, virtually none.
The only answer is a viable, contiguous state for Palestinians in 22% of Palestinian (i.e., West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem, which is all they demand). Not one centimeter less. Israel gets the pre-'67 78%. It's a great deal for Israel.
The alternative is one state for all the people who live in Israel/Palestine (like the rest of the world) and no more Jewish state. That is what people like YBD are working for whether they know it or not.
EVERYTHING changed with Obama's election. America joined the world. Israel's turn.
November 11, 2008 6:42 AM | Reply | Permalink
When President Obama, Vice President Biden, Speaker Pelosi, Majority Leader Reid and Ambassador Ross demand Israel give up all of the West Bank and all of East Jerusalem, please let me know. Fortunately, they won't.
November 11, 2008 10:43 AM | Reply | Permalink
MJ: Obama's election and J-Street's success. No wonder YBD and Apacmember are so unhappy. The good people, armed with decency and solutions, are ignoring the Haters. Let freedom reign.
This piece of Apacmember logic is priceless: "When President Obama, Vice President Biden, Speaker Pelosi, Majority Leader Reid and Ambassador Ross demand Israel give up all of the West Bank and all of East Jerusalem, please let me know. Fortunately, they won't."
Demand no. Eagerly give stupid speeches about the "eternal and undivided" Jerusalem" instead of working for a solution. Well, those days--and those speeches--are probably ending. America is back in the Constructive Nation Business.
Let freedom reign.
November 11, 2008 6:52 PM | Reply | Permalink
My last comment to you, asshole: I am a hater. I hate people like you trying to kill my cousins in Tel Aviv softly with their kindness towards thugs.
Nobody in Washington with any poweer will listen to you or Rosenberg. Live with it.
November 11, 2008 9:32 PM | Reply | Permalink
Bwing called an asshole by you is sweet music to my ears. Thanks for the compliment.
November 12, 2008 10:03 AM | Reply | Permalink
MJ the EU is very racist, still. You only have to look at their Parliament to see that. Second, we didn't "join the world" with Obama's election. The idea that the int'l community has been moving in lock step and we were the odd man out is nonsense. Russia and China are the most unilateral countries in the world -- that's the fact, Jack, and both of them rabidly xenophobic.
Re: Jersusalem I like the idea of an int'l city as it's own nation-state. It works for the Vatican, but basically you would have the UN running it's governmnet. It's not a perfect solution but i think the best of the lot.
November 11, 2008 9:23 AM | Reply | Permalink
Brook Dataski-
You have to understand that when MJ (and other "progressives" who think like him) say "everybody thinks" or "the whole world thinks", he means "everybody WHO COUNTS", or "everybody WHOSE OPINIONS ARE WORTH LISTENING TO", or in other words , everyone who thinks like him. Everyone else is viewed as ignorant rabble or riffraff.
I'll give you an example: some time ago MJ visited Israel and then wrote a piece here at TMP saying "EVERYBODY IN ISRAEL SUPPORTS OBAMA!".
I pointed out then that I live in Israel and I don't support Obama, most of the people I know don't either". Well sure enough, a week before the election, the Christian Science Monitor published a list of public opinion polls from various countries regarding whom they prefer to see win the election in the US, Israel among them. In Israel, McCain was preferred by a 2 to 1 margin. So much for MJ's "everybody". Maybe most of the people hanging around the hotel swimming pool with MJ wanted Obama, and in MJ's view, those are the people who count.
Thus, for MJ, the "whole world" are the Leftists in Western European countries. The rest of the world is irrelevant in his eyes.
That is why I say that people should take with a grain of salt undocumented claims made by MJ here.
November 11, 2008 11:36 AM | Reply | Permalink
European leftists are the most intolerant people I've ever met. They hate America and Obama only blunts their disgust slightly. It may make them hate us more for making them look bad.
November 11, 2008 10:18 PM | Reply | Permalink
Thanks for a great article, Joanne. It's apparently extremely hard for many who consider themselves supporters of Israel to hear the truth, but unless they're looking for a one-state solution, as MJ pointed out, it's something that must be faced. Kudos to Olmert for voicing the truth, whatever his motivation may be.
November 11, 2008 3:31 PM | Reply | Permalink