Just about everyone who makes utterances on the topic assures everyone else that an essential part of reaching peace between Israel and Palestine must include the division of Jerusalem.
I am convinced a division of Jerusalem will lead to war, for reasons I have described elsewhere. Yet no matter how optimistic or starry eyed one chooses to be, decision makers have the responsibility to prepare for negative outcomes of their actions. Telling yourself everything will work out fine is OK for a story-teller, a rejected lover, or investment bankers. Political leaders must relate to the possibility their actions might not have the hoped-for result. Dividers of Jerusalem are welcome to hope for the best, but must also prepare for less than the best. They must explain what will happen if their rosier expectations prove misguided. Put more bluntly, they must explain what will happen if the line of division deteriorates into a hostile border.
In this new series of blogposts it is my intention to show pictures and short films from the city, demonstrating what it looks like right now, with a call to explain what will happen if that hostile border is inserted into it.
Here are two films from the area of the Jaffa Gate. Once you've finished with them, the next segment in this series is here. If you've started here for some reason, the enite series is introduced here.
Nice movies, but this is disingeneous - dividing Jerusalem doesn't necessarily mean putting the border where you were, as the Clinton paramters show.
ReplyDeleteDon't worry, Alex. I know all about the Clinton dictate of Dec. 24th 2000. This series will show them, too. They are the perfect example of how dividing the city will cause mayhem.
ReplyDeleteMost Jews never even step foot in the arab parts of east jerusalem so i dont see the problem of giving it up. That is, with the exception of the old city.
ReplyDeleteSarajevo, mon amour....
ReplyDeleteOf course, Jerusalem can always be used to block anyway forward, backward or sideways.
(As though an excuse were needed...)
NEVER! The Jewish people have preferred death to giving up Jerusalem - and they never surrendered it to any conqueror - not the Babylonians, not the Greeks and not the Romans. The city had to be destroyed for it to be taken from them. That is the only way the Jews can never be made to part from it and they will never relinquish it to any one of their own accord.
ReplyDeleteAnonymous at 7:57 PM, why would you think that the Palestinians would accept a settlement that did not include all of the Old City? And who are you to speak for them?
ReplyDeleteThese are great videos! Did you take them? Is that your voice?
ReplyDeleteNycerbarb
Thanks for the videos. They were very informative.
ReplyDeleteNycerbarb
ReplyDeleteif you want to hear Yaacov's voice - here he is - he had posted the link quite some time ago
on the videos he sounds more "sonorous" than in this interview ;-) (unless it's somebody else of course)
Silke
http://itunes.apple.com/de/podcast/165-podcast-bears-any-burden/id74204997?i=55867603