Israel’s acts not conducive to peace

The Israeli government is celebrating this week a “united” Jerusalem.

Festivities have not been confined to the holy city, but were carried out in main educational centres in the country.

Palestinian Jerusalemites, who form 40 per cent of the city’s one million inhabitants, were not given a chance to celebrate; they are marginalised for good.

Many optimistic analysts thought Jerusalem could be a model of cohesive social entity where Israelis and Arabs can live together, an entity that neighbouring capitals will accept as proof that Israel is not an alien body implanted in this region that will eventually vanish.

Many optimistic analysts were also hoping that Jerusalem, with its one million citizens, will become again a cosmopolitan capital beaming to the whole world the image of benevolence, coexistence, tolerance and peace.

It was hoped that a far-sighted policy will make Palestinian Jerusalemites show all their Arab brethren a multiracial, multi-faith, multilingual society where all feel equal as citizens, with full rights and duties.

But the shortsighted Likud Cabinet drove 50,000 Palestinian Jerusalemites outside the separation wall, consequently denying them residence permits.

Moreover, prayers at Al Aqsa Mosque are routinely interrupted by Jewish extremists shouting vituperative slogans and demanding that the Third Temple be built, replacing the mosque, enjoying the protection of the Israeli police.

No Arab statesman can ever endorse a deal with Israel that defies and desecrates Koranic principles.

The humiliation Palestinian Jerusalemites have to endure will eventually reflect on future relations between the Palestinian state and Israel, and will have an impact on the whole Arab nation, when peace treaties are concluded.

Giving 300,000 settlers financial and religious incentives to move and live in Palestinian neighbourhoods in Jerusalem is not conducive to a peace environment.

Neither is it conducive to peace to build new settlements in the southern part of Jerusalem, in Givaat HaMatos, Gilo and Givat Yael, in addition to Har Homa, where construction started in 1997, which will change the Arab character of East Jerusalem.

The entire world condemned the frenzied pace of settlement building in and around the three circles surrounding the holy city, including the main E1 region, since such actions will make a mockery of a two-state solution.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reasserted last week that Arab East Jerusalem will never be ceded, and the capital will never be divided.

Such statements, along with the Knesset resolution in 2010 supporting the continued occupation of Arab Jerusalem, indicate that the current leadership in Israel has no intention to make peace with the Palestinians.