Zionism-Israel Center Forum

Hi,
Jerusalem is one of the critical issues of Israeli-Palestinian final status negotiations.

I will try to add a poll here about the future of Jerusalem. Here is some background and
settlement options:

1- Jerusalem was the ancient capital of the Jewish people, a fact recognized by contemporary Roman historians. The Jewish temple was destroyed in 73 AD and in 133, Hadrian expelled all the Jews from Jerusalem. Pagans, Christians and then Muslims built their temples and holy places. Under the Muslims, Jews were allowed to live in Jerusalem, but the Crusaders expelled them again. When the Muslims returned, they allowed Jews to live in Jerusalem once more.

2- Jerusalem as a whole had a Jewish majority since about 1890 Jerusalem has never been the capital city of any people except the Jews in all of recorded history since about 3,000 BCE.  

3- According to the UN Partition plan, Jerusalem was to become an internationalized zone. This included not only the city of Jerusalem, but a large area - up to and including Bethlehem.

4- Beginning in 1929, Arab riots progressively forced Jews to flee the old city of Jerusalem - from about 5000 in 1929, the population fell to about 2,000 in 1948.

5- In 1948, the Transjordan legion conquered East Jerusalem and ethnically cleansed the remaining Jews there. All but one of the 58 synagogues were destroyed. The Wailing Wall, temple mount, Hebrew university and Mt of Olives cemetery became inaccessible to Jews, in violation of the 1949 armistice agreement with Jordan. The UN did nothing.

6- In 1967, Israel reconquered, conquered or liberated (However you want to call it) Jerusalem in the 6 day war. The city was later reunited and the borders were expanded to include:
a- The original Jewish Jerusalem (about 38 square KM)
b- The old city and Arab east Jerusalem as it was then (about 6 square KM)
c- An additional area of about 80 square KM mostly to the east, encompassing a large number of Arab suburbs.

7- No state except Israel  recognizes the above annexation. Even the United States will not record an American born in Jerusalem as born in Israel, despite several congressional resolutions and perennial promises of presidential candidates.

8- There are about 750,000 people in Jerusalem, including about 250,000 Arabs. The Arab population of Jerusalem grows about twice as fast as the Jewish population.

Options for Jerusalem:

1- Jerusalem must remain united and under Israeli sovereignty, including the growing Arab population. This is unacceptable to the Palestinian side.

2- Jerusalem must be divided according to the 1949 armistice with Jordan,giving the old city in its entirety to the Palestinians as a capital for their new state.

3- Jerusalem can somehow remain unified and yet serve as the capital city of two states.

4- Jerusalem should be divided so that the Arab neighborhoods are part of the Palestinian state, while the Jewish neighborhoods are annexed to Israel with the consent of the world. This would include division inside the Old city, as well as Israeli sovereignty over areas like the Hebrew University on Mt Scopus, which is not contiguous with Jewish neighborhoods.

5 - Other options (you may comment.