Jerusalem the Golden
The neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah in East Jerusalem has been in the news a lot lately--due to tensions between Jewish settlers and the Palestinians who live in houses that the settlers would like to inhabit. But, the neighborhood will also be central to any future resolution of a two state solution. Most American Jews don't know it and don't see it; it's part of the Jerusalem they never see and really don't know.
The neighborhood, home to an economic polyglot of Palestinians also includes some of the home/land of the very long time (thousands of years long time) well established Palestinian Jerusalem families. In its very character, it aims to the East. In fact, until the wall went up between Jerusalem and the outskirts of Ramallah, it was the economic and cultural center of the West Bank, a role that Ramallah has now taken on. Newspapers are different on the east side of the city from West Jerusalem, the price of water and milk is different at the corner store (it is less), and the bus transportation system is not integrated into the western side of the city, but rather caters to Arab East Jerusalem along with an informal mini-transport system that has grown up to service people to get them to the checkpoints for the West Bank.
If you follow this neighborhood down the side streets, you will come to Wadi al-Joz, another Palestinian neighborhood in the eastern part of the city. It is another neighborhood unknown to most American Jews, and probably to most American tourists to Israel. Here you will find some of the think tanks and academic institutions of the Palestinians (a campus of Al Quds is in Sheikh Jarrah and PASSIA, the Palestinian academic institute is in Wadi Joz). There are no street signs.
This is the Jerusalem (along with the Holy Esplanade/Temple Mount and Haram al-Sharif) that the Palestinians want as the capitol of their future state and this is the Jerusalem that I believe they deserve. There are several proposals that are workable to divide the city between East and West and to allow full access by each religion to the holy basin and to their holy sites. In an article in the current issue of Dissent magazine, I delve into the details of these plans--for anyone who wants to know or argue about Jerusalem, a walking tour of the actual city (or a driving tour perhaps) would make the most sense-today's municipal borders extend deep into the West Bank, including tens of thousands of Palestinians who want to and should be part of a future Palestine. When Americans are asked about a 'united Jerusalem' they are never asked to consider or even to understand the actual border or the ramification of the current border. This adds to a false choice and it must be stressed that this also adds to a complete misunderstanding by the overwhelming number of American Jews what Jerusalem is and what it can be--because until there is a resolution to this situation, JErusalem, the city of gold, will continue to suffer-it is the second poorest city in Israel, filled with strife not only between Jews and Arabs but between Jews and Jews as the city becomes older, more poor and more ultra-religious (fundamentalists both Jewish and Muslim).
There are several proposals that are workable to divide the city between East and West and to allow full access by each religion to the holy basin and to their holy sites.
Sorry to ruin your article But the old city of Jerusalem will never be under foreign hands no matter what the Arabs /Americans/Europeans say ?!
The situation pre 67 (Under Jordan occupation) when there was no freedom of movement in Jerusalem and no freedom of worship and Jerusalem old city look like any backward Arab Bazar will never comeback !
Not every thing is doomed in Jerusalem - First of all the New tram will be open Next year ,
The number of Education institution in Jerusalem is the higher in Israel - Many students (lots of foreigners students ) , The number of tourists this year was the highest in the reason years , there is a renovation project across all the city
,The real estate business is booming - lots of foreigners buy an houses across the city ..
, their is a secular mayor in Jerusalem , The police start to take off their silk gloves dealing with Crazy haredim ,Islamo-fascists and the loony leftists who support them and seeking provocations ....
February 6, 2010 5:56 PM | Reply | Permalink
c9dw2rm8 - I am perplexed by your bravado. You state Jerusalem will NEVER be under foreign hands. Never is a very long time and as I'm sure you are aware, we have been tossed out of Israel several times in the past few thousand years. Not only can it happen again, it probably will. A little humility would seem to be in order.
February 6, 2010 7:40 PM | Reply | Permalink
But as you see today - Even after 3000 years of foreign hands and wars and conquests - the Jews of the city were always there and in the end they were always the rulers !
Even after the the destruction of the first,second temple , the exile of the Jews - In the end of the day the Jews were there !
February 6, 2010 7:46 PM | Reply | Permalink
"Even after 3000 years of foreign hands . . ."
When people (or, more precisely, individuals and their ancestors) have been living in a region for 3000 years, they are still foreigners???
February 7, 2010 8:42 AM | Reply | Permalink
learn History :
The Arab work immigration to Jerusalem happen in the 18-19 centuries - Jerusalem was always a Jewish city
February 7, 2010 5:26 PM | Reply | Permalink
Hmmm . . . so the Jews built the Dome of the Rock in 691 AD?
February 7, 2010 8:25 PM | Reply | Permalink
No, But the Arabs conquerors build it on the ruins of the temple mount - Jerusalem never mentioned 1 time in the Koran !
February 7, 2010 8:40 PM | Reply | Permalink
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January 12, 2011 7:43 AM | Reply | Permalink
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March 26, 2011 11:53 AM | Reply | Permalink
This is one of the greatest speech by any Nobel Literature winner - Shay (Shmuel Yossef) Agnon (The 1966 Israeli Nobelist ) and by far one of the greatest Hebrew scholar
As a result of the historic catastrophe in which Titus of Rome destroyed Jerusalem and Israel was exiled from its land, I was born in one of the cities of the Exile. But always I regarded myself as one who was born in Jerusalem. In a dream, in a vision of the night, I saw myself standing with my brother-Levites in the Holy Temple, singing with them the songs of David, King of Israel, melodies such as no ear has heard since the day our city was destroyed and its people went into exile. I suspect that the angels in charge of the Shrine of Music, fearful lest I sing in wakefulness what I had sung in dream, made me forget by day what I had sung at night; for if my brethren, the sons of my people, were to hear, they would be unable to bear their grief over the happiness they have lost. To console me for having prevented me from singing with my mouth, they enable me to compose songs in writing.
February 6, 2010 7:55 PM | Reply | Permalink
In his special Hebrew these words are more powerful:
This is the Hebrew Version
מתוך קטסטרופה היסטורית שהחֱריב טיטוס מלך רומי את ירושלים וגלה ישראל מארצו נולדתי אני באחת מערי הגולה. אבל בכל עת תמיד דומה הייתי עלי כמי שנולד בירושלים. בחלום, בחזון לילה, ראיתי את עצמי עומד עם אחי הלוויים בבית המקדש כשאני שר עמהם שירי דוד מלך ישראל. נעימות שכאלה לא שמעה כל אוזן מיום שחרבה עירנו והלך עַמה בגולה. חושד אני את המלאכים הממונים על היכל השירה שֶׁמִּיִּרְאָתָם שאשיר בהקיץ מה ששרתי בחלום השכיחוני ביום מה ששרתי בלילה, שאם אֵחַי בני עמי שומעים לא היו יכולים לעמוד בצערם מחמת אותה הטובה שאבדה להם. כדי לפייס אותי על שנטלו ממני לשיר בפה נתנו לי לעשות שירים בכתב.
February 6, 2010 7:58 PM | Reply | Permalink
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December 16, 2010 10:07 AM | Reply | Permalink
Thank you, Jo-Ann Mort, for making the reality of Jerusalem eclipse, if just for a moment, the abstractions of the struggles as it is experienced (and as I experience it) here in the USA.
Not only are there American Jews who are friends of Israel who have never experienced the places you describe -- so are there American Palestinians (as I think of myself, recalling my late wife, a Ramallahan) who have never experienced them. We are exiled from reality to abstraction.
A question: if a great "deus ex machina" (that is, an enforcer of international law) were to descend and banish Israel's wall and all Israeli settlers from all occupied territories, what would the Jerusalem you describe be like?
February 6, 2010 6:48 PM | Reply | Permalink
thanks pabelmont, for your comments-read my article on the Dissent magazine website to see a detailed version of what a peace Jerusalem could look like-two cities for two peoples, and the holy basin enjoyed freely by all religions...(dissentmagazine.org)
February 6, 2010 11:22 PM | Reply | Permalink
It's a good comment on the structurally imposed ignorance that so many Americans celebrate in their utterly uninformed discussion of this.
Palin last night was reducing this to a crude cartoon, as is the norm.
February 7, 2010 11:10 AM | Reply | Permalink
RE:"...Jerusalem, the city of gold, will continue to suffer-it is the second poorest city in Israel, filled with strife not only between Jews and Arabs but between Jews and Jews..." - Jo-Ann Mort
SEE: ISRAELI EXTREMISTS SHOUT ‘HITLER WAS RIGHT (VIDEO 2:10), by Richard Silverstein, 02/07/10
(EXCERPT) Anyone who knows much about Israeli politics knows the kind of white-hot far-right anger displayed in this astonishing video. But it’s good to have one’s sense of outrage refreshed every so often to see such Israeli fascism in full eruption.
A word of context: make no mistake, this is not the view of the majority of Israelis, not nearly. But it is the view of enough that it is deeply frightening and poses a real danger for Israeli democracy...
ENTIRE POST WITH VIDEO EMBEDDED - http://www.richardsilverstein.com/tikun_olam/2010/02/07/israeli-extremists-shout-hitler-was-right/
February 7, 2010 7:41 PM | Reply | Permalink
As an Israeli i felt sorry for the 1.5 M kids inserted to ovens 65 years ago - This kids can be the future doctors,professors,scientist,artist, musicians and can bring a great contributions and cures to mankind , Instead of this 1.5M kids - we got some Self hating Jews - I will gladly replace them in any of the kids !
February 7, 2010 9:39 PM | Reply | Permalink
Maybe they were very harsh and they use improper language but I can fell their pain !
February 7, 2010 9:43 PM | Reply | Permalink
You are a very sick, mentally disturbed individual.
February 8, 2010 10:41 AM | Reply | Permalink
c9dw2rm8: Why don't you try commiserating with "Reverend" John Hagee!
February 8, 2010 11:37 AM | Reply | Permalink
RE: "Reverend" John Hagee
EXCERPT" ...Im Tirtzu, a right-wing on-campus Zionist advocacy group, supported among others by the Reverend John Hagee, claimed in Maariv last week that "92 percent of [the] negative references to the IDF in the Goldstone report originating with Israeli sources came from organizations sponsored by NIF [New Israeli Fund]. The fund’s grantees include Adalah, Breaking the Silence, B’Tselem, the Association for Civil Rights in Israel, Public Committee Against Torture in Israel, Yesh Din and the Israeli branch of Physicians for Human Rights."... - Philip Weiss
SOURCE - http://mondoweiss.net/2010/02/the-excommunicators.html
ALSO SEE: Rabbis for Human Rights: witchhunt endangers the state of Israel, MONDOWEISS, 02/04/10
(EXCERPT)"In light of the smear campaign being run by a group called 'Im Tirtzu,' it should be clear to all that we are engaged in a struggle for Israeli democracy. That is not an exaggeration..." - Arik Ascherman, a leading rabbi with Rabbis for Human Rights
SOURCE - http://mondoweiss.net/2010/02/rabbis-for-human-rights-witchhunt-endangers-the-state-of-israel.html
February 8, 2010 12:27 PM | Reply | Permalink
ALSO SEE: The Other Israeli Siege, by Ami Kaufman, Huffington Post, 02/06/10
(EXCERPT)...But if January and the beginning of February 2010 are any indication, Israeli democracy will have taken a much more dangerous turn for the worse.
It is now official: Israel 2010 is a place where it's dangerous to be a leftist, because you'll probably be arrested for voicing your opinion in public; it's a place where reporters and editors apply self-censorship at unprecendented levels; a place where government funding for culture is cut off if it doesn't fit the government's agenda; and last - but not least - a place where the second biggest (on its way to being THE biggest) newspaper is basically an extension of the ruling party.
Here are just a few examples of what has taken place in Israel in one month alone, January 2010. All of them are worth a blog post in themselves, but since events are happening so fast on the ground (as they usually do in Israel), I've decided to give you a quick wrap-up...
ENTIRE ARTICLE - http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ami-kaufman/the-other-israeli-siege_b_452092.html
February 8, 2010 1:22 PM | Reply | Permalink
you give me a links to Philip Weiss ?
Take me straight to the Al-Quead website - why to do this shortcut
When you want to argue with someone - you should bring an honest and non-controversial facts!
Philip Weiss is the guy that film Some stupid spoiled/Drunk Americans student in Jerusalem shouting "Fuck obama" and than upload this video to the UTUBE under the title : "How Israelis feel about obama "?
Give me a break ! I don't bring here a right-wing nuts website - so you should do the same !
February 8, 2010 5:40 PM | Reply | Permalink
ALSO SEE: ISRAELI AYATOLLAHS FORBID EROTIC POETRY IN CLASSROOM, Tikun Olam, 02/08/10
(EXCERPT) “We are gradually becoming a mini-Iran,” said Kaniuk. “Everyone talks about the threat of Iran’s bombs and missiles, but they forget that the worst thing is this lousy religion, which is flourishing nowadays. They’re taking over our lives. It’s terrible what they’ve done to the Jewish religion.” - Yoram Kaniuk
February 8, 2010 10:54 AM | Reply | Permalink
ISRAELI AYATOLLAHS - http://www.richardsilverstein.com/tikun_olam/2010/02/08/israeli-ayatollahs-forbid-erotic-poetry-in-classroom/
February 8, 2010 11:08 AM | Reply | Permalink
If in Israel there are Ayatollahs in the USA there are SUPER Ayatollahs - All the abortions BS , All the stem cell BS ant etc ...
Israel is more liberal and open minded than the USA !
Why should kids learn about pornography? - they have the Internet !
February 8, 2010 7:19 PM | Reply | Permalink
RE: "AYATOLLAHS"
ALSO SEE - Palin: War with Iran would help Obama’s re-election, (VIDEO, 2:10) | Raw Story, 02/07/10
President Barack Obama won't be re-elected in 2012 unless he can "toughen up" on national security, according to Sarah Palin. The former Governor of Alaska believes that declaring war on Iran could help the president get re-elected. "Say he decided to declare war on Iran or decided really to come out and do whatever he could to support Israel, which I would like him to do," Palin told Fox News' Chris Wallace Sunday. "That changes the dynamics in what we can assume is going to happen between now and three years."...
ENTIRE ARTICLE/VIDEO - http://rawstory.com/2010/02/palin-war-with-iran-would-help-obama/
February 8, 2010 11:20 AM | Reply | Permalink
ALSO SEE: Huckabee in Israel: Iran threatens US as well - ynetnews.com, 02/04/10
(EXCERPT) Governor Mike Huckabee is in Israel this week leading a delegation of 170 American Christians.
Known for his staunch support of the Jewish State, the former Republican Presidential candidate assured critics that his love for Israel was an integral part of his religious beliefs. “Without Judaism there would be no Christianity."
"Your holy sites are our holy sites,”[including the Dome of the Rock, Huck? - J.L.D.] Huckabee said as he addressed a full Knesset auditorium at a gathering hosted by Deputy Speaker of the Knesset Danny Danon (Likud) on Wednesday.
Focusing his attention on the Obama administration, Huckabee continued by saying, “The current Iranian regime is as equal a threat to the United States as it is to the Jewish State. It is America, not Israel, that (Iranian President Mahmoud) Ahmadinejad calls the Great Satan.”...
ENTIRE ARTICLE - http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/1,7340,L-3844370,00.html
P.S. I very much dislike Ahmadinejad, but Huckabee, Palin and Hagee are indeed 'little Satans'! They might well be a much greater threat to both the U.S. and Israel than is Ahmadinejad. - J.L.D.
February 8, 2010 11:59 AM | Reply | Permalink
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