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Jerusalem Is Not Up for Grabs

(Israel Hayom) Efraim Inbar - U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry declared that Israel's plans to build additional apartment houses in Gilo, a southern Jerusalem neighborhood beyond the Green Line, are partly responsible for the current impasse in the peace negotiations between Israel and the Palestinian Authority. This indicates profound American misunderstanding of the situation, because Gilo, with more than 40,000 residents, is to be part of Israel under any agreement. Moreover, the peace negotiations have little chance of succeeding as long as the Palestinians demand to partition Jerusalem. All polls show that over two-thirds of Israelis feel that Jerusalem should remain the united capital of Israel, while only 20% favor its division. Moreover, polls show clearly that a large majority of Jerusalem Arabs oppose being subject to Palestinian rule. Keeping Greater Jerusalem, which includes the settlement blocs that President George W. Bush recognized as realities that must be accommodated in a future settlement, is a strategic imperative. The writer is director of the Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies and a professor of political studies at Bar-Ilan University.
2014-04-10 00:00:00
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