Sep 7

Written by: Dr. Ernie Moore
Tuesday, September 07, 2010 

Barak: Israel May Divide Jerusalem, Internationalize “Holy Basin”

Ehud Barak and Benjamin Netanyahu

Defense Minister Ehud Barak says it is likely that Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu will agree to divide Jerusalem with the Palestinian Authority.

Barak told the Hebrew-language newspaper Haaretz in an interview published Wednesday that he believes the best chance for peace lies in a peace deal in which all the Arab neighborhoods in Jerusalem would be handed over to the PA in order to create a capital for a new Arab country.

Barak also covered some interesting territory: “So what is needed is courage to make historic, painful decisions. I’m not saying that there is certainty for success, but there is a chance. This chance must be exploited to the fullest.”

Barak then listed some areas of consideration:

Speaking of Jerusalem, Barak said that the western side of the city plus “12 Jewish neighborhoods that are home to 200,000 residents will be ours.” The neighborhoods in which nearly 250,000 Arabs live will be theirs.

Additionally Barak envisioned a “special regime” with agreed-upon arrangements to administer the Old City, The Mount of Olives and the City of David.

The Temple Mount, Old City and northern edge of the City of David

View from the West

City of David wall

Mt. of Olives (centered and looking from the East to West. Then further west, is the Old City, West Jerusalem, and in the far right distance, Ramallah.(All locale photos by Ernie Moore)

There is concern about this dividing of the city. The idea is very similar to what former President Bill Clinton attempted in 2000’s Camp David meeting with Barak, Arafat and himself. At that time he referred to this area as the “Holy Basin.”

GET ‘ER DONE!

That will be the problem for both the leaders at the talks.

First Netanyahu has already promised his conservative followers that he will not divide the city.

This area of the Holy Basin as it is called by leftists, is troublesome to both Jews and Christians. When Israel took the east side of Jerusalem, including the Temple Mount, the Arabs were horrified that they would destroy the three mosques atop the area.

1967. IDF soldiers at the Western Wall for the first time in 2000 years (Yitzhak Yifat)

Actually it was Moshe Dyan who unilaterally decided that the Temple Mount would go to the Arabs, the Jordanians would establish a religious “waqf” or authority to oversee it. In 1993 King Hussein gave that power to Yasser Arafat and the PLO after the signing of the Oslo Accords. Since then, Jordan has once again been a part of the oversight.

THE RUB

But here is the rub: The Arabs have hauled 100 dump trucks of dirt from beneath the Mount, dumping all the archeological artifacts into trash heaps and built two more mosques that will hold 10,000 Muslim worshippers.

Additionally when the Jordanians held East Jerusalem no Jews were permitted into their religious areas, including the Western Wall, The Mt. of Olives cemetery areas or any other region. In fact many of the grave stones were destroyed there, and the tombs used as latrines!

Christians of all sects except those ruled by Arabs also had very difficult lives in East Jerusalem.

Borders: We attended a briefing a couple of years ago in which the current Israeli Ambassador to the US, Dr. Michael Oren, estimated that there would have to be more than THIRTY various crossing points throughout the city if the old pre-1967 borders were restored! I remind you that Michael Oren is not a raving lunatic. In fact he is a very articulate, pleasant man, and one we call friend. He enjoys a Cross pen we gave him as a personal gift.

WHAT WILL HAPPEN NEXT?

Our guess is that it will be much like the history of peace talks. The Arabs will make outlandish impossible demand that the Israelis will be forced to reject.

Obama, Clinton, Tony Blair, and George Mitchell, Abdullah and Mubarak as well as other Arab leaders and much of Europe will condemn Israel publically all the while privately commiserating with them because of the Palestinians intransigence. They too, have dealt with the Palestinians and understand.

Finally when the hue and cry diminishes, things will go back to usual. Hamas will be ruling Gaza, endangering the West Bank Palestinians and the Israelis will have to be more careful than ever with their security because many common Palestinian people will be more angry than ever at the failure.