The status of Jerusalem has been the most contentious issue of the Middle East peace process. But a proposal by Israel’s vice prime minister could bode change on this issue, in the run up to next month’s peace talks in Annapolis, MD.
Israeli vice prime minister Haim Ramon has proposed that Jerusalem should definitely be divided between Israelis and Palestinians.
If the world wouldn’t already have been hyper-interested in the Middle East peace process for the sole reason that it’s been so long, the stage for next month’s negotiations is now certainly set for debates that will have everybody’s maximum attention.
Haim Ramon was heard on Israel Radio, saying "… wouldn’t it be the right deal today for the Palestinians, the western world and the international community to recognise [Israel’s] annexation of …. [Jewish] neighbourhoods as part of Jerusalem, and for us to quit the Arab neighbourhoods?"
The news was picked up immediately and made international headlines within seconds. But it wasn’t all that new and neither is is all that straightforward. Ramon is the author of a report proposing transfer of Jerusalem’s Arab neighborhoods to Palestinian Authority which already led to hefty debates in Israeli politics last week.
Ramon’s raport states that in addition to handing over the Arab parts of Jerusalem to the Palestinian Authority, it would be a good idea if the Israelis brokered a deal with the Palestinians to share the rule of the city’s holy sites. "There will be special sovereignty over the holy sites, taking into account Israel’s unique interests in overseeing them. Within this framework the Western Wall, the Jewish Quarter and other holy sites in the Jerusalem vicinity will remain under Israeli rule forever," Ramon wrote in his proposal.
Opposition parties in the Knesset are outraged, mostly because they fear the plan is going to be part and parcel of the discussions during next month’s peace talks between Palestinians and Israelis in the US town of Annapolis, Md. They fear they won’t be consulted.
Analysts say that Ehud Olmert, already under strain because of allegations against him involving his role in a bank privatization in a former parliamentary position, is under further attack as a result.
Ahead of the peace talks in Annapolis MD, the US, next month, Reuters assesses that the gap is narrowing between Israeli and Palestinian leaders over the amount of territory Israel would hand over to a Palestinian state. But the agency says that people close to the talks said that sketching the boundaries of a future state is the easy part.
The fate of Jerusalem and Palestinian refugees remains a stumbling block, according to Reuters, who cites people close to the talks, which have largely taken place behind closed-doors.
"Even vague talk of dividing the city has stirred opposition within Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert’s coalition cabinet", Reuters says, adding that its simply pretty much back to the same negotiating tactics as during earlier 1990s peace talks.
Israelis once more exhibit a masterful knack for redefining catch 22 situations as they insist that easing the Israeli stance on Jerusalem is conditional on the Palestinian softening of demands that refugees and their descendants be allowed to settle in Israel.
"In this tortuous process, everything is difficult, everything is problematic. But Jerusalem and refugees are the most difficult issues," Shlomo Ben-Ami, told Reuters. He was Israel’s previous leftist Labour foreign minister when the last talks on the "final status" of a peace deal collapsed in 2001.
Western officials have told Reuters Olmert has privately signalled a willingness to consider handing over "90-something" percent of the occupied West Bank and all of the Gaza Strip, with additional land swaps, as part of a final peace deal.
"That may put the two sides within a few percentage points of consensus on the territory issue ahead of the Annapolis meeting", Reuters believes.
Just after Ramon’s proposal hit the international news headlines, Olmert’s spokesman David Baker was quick to deny that Olmert had discussed the partition Jerusalem with Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian leader. This is quite inconceivable, but both men have been tight lipped about what they have discussed.
The Israeli newspaper Haaretz, highlighting the fears of the Israeli opposition, cites Olmert as telling the Knesset that to achieve a lasting peace, Israel would have to give up some of its most deeply held desires. However, the newspaper interpreted the comments as a reference to holding onto the West Bank. Opposition leader Benjamin Netanyahu, was quoted by the same newspaper as saying that Olmert had already ceded East Jerusalem and the West Bank to the Palestinians. "One outcome is clear; the Israeli army leaves Hamas enters," Netanyahu lamented.
Meanwhile, the Israeli population was polled for its opinion on this issue and the figures show an unusual insight into what the thinking is.
Some 52% of the respondents said they do not oppose the deal so long as it is part of a permanent peace deal with the Palestinians backed by at least 80% of the Israeli ministers.
But 61% wants the Jewish state to stay in control of the holy sites. The survey, carried out by Yedioth Ahronoth and Dahaf Institute also revealed what Israelis think of the issue in connection with next month’s peace negotiations.
The question whether Jerusalem’s statues should be part of a future peace agreement with the Palestinians, generated a 63% no, a 21% yes and a 16% yes only if a referendum was held.
Handing over Palestinian neighborhoods in east Jerusalem to the Palestinian Authority was another issue queried. Some 68% of the poll’s participants said no, 20% agreed with it and 11% said they would agree so long as a referendum supported the idea.
As for the holy places in Jerusalem, e.g. the Western Wall and Temple Mount, 61% believed Israel should be sovereign authority, 16% said it should be shared with Palestinians and 21% said the holy places should be under international rule. A mere 1% said Jordan should be named the holy places’ sovereign.
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