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Jerusalem: The Dangers of Division

[Institute for Contemporary Affairs-Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs] Nadav Shragai - A principal argument of those who support the division of Israel's capital is the need to improve the city's demographic balance between Jews and Arabs in favor of Jews. However, a higher Arab birthrate is not the primary cause for the decrease in the Jewish majority in Jerusalem. Rather, the main reason is that large numbers of Jews are leaving the city due to housing and employment difficulties. To reverse Jewish emigration from Jerusalem, the city must be declared an area of national priority of the highest order. Furthermore, separation inside Jerusalem entails many risks: Should Jerusalem be physically divided according to its Arab neighborhoods, the separation line would also become the border between the State of Israel and the Palestinian Authority, or a future Palestinian state, as distinct from the current situation where the border is farther away from most of the city's Jewish residents. The distances between many Jewish neighborhoods and Arab neighborhoods slated for "separation" are within light-weapon range. During the Second Intifada, from 2000 to 2005, Palestinians in the PA town of Beit Jalla fired toward the homes of Jewish residents in Jerusalem's nearby Gilo neighborhood. For over three decades, Israelis believed that everything should be done to unify Jerusalem and avoid dividing the city again. In that spirit, new neighborhoods were built in eastern Jerusalem that today house some 190,000 Jews and contain official state institutions built on land that was annexed to the city in 1967. Dr. Robbie Sabel, former legal counsel to the Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs, examined the legal aspect of possible Israeli separation from Jerusalem's Arab neighborhoods for the Jerusalem Institute for Israel Studies before the Annapolis Conference. In Sabel's opinion, eastern Jerusalem residents would have the option of moving to some other part of Israel and thereby retaining their status as Israeli residents. This calls into doubt the demographic gain that proponents of separation hope to obtain from it. Despite their sense of national affinity with the PA, many eastern Jerusalem Arabs will find it difficult to surrender their freedom of movement and expression, employment options, and the wide range of material benefits to which they are currently entitled by virtue of their resident status. They have expressed those feelings in many rounds of unofficial talks. Minister for Jerusalem Affairs Rafi Eitan reported in February 2008 that a survey showed the majority of eastern Jerusalem residents do not wish to leave Israeli rule. The writer is the author of At the Crossroads, the Story of the Tomb of Rachel (2005); The Mount of Contention, the Struggle for the Temple Mount, Jews and Muslims, Religion and Politics since 1967 (1995); and "Jerusalem Is Not the Problem, It Is the Solution," in Mister Prime Minister: Jerusalem, ed. Moshe Amirav (2005). He has been writing for the Israeli daily newspaper Ha'aretz since 1983.
2008-10-03 01:00:00
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