Washington D.C., June 3, 2008 – Israel’s elected leaders in recent weeks have sent out mixed messages regarding their negotiating position on Jerusalem’s status as the undivided and eternal capital of Israel, said Nathan Diament, director of public policy for the Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America.
In a speech last Friday at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy on Friday, Israeli Deputy Prime Minister Haim Ramon said that Israeli and Palestinian negotiators have already agreed on the redivision of Jerusalem and its establishment as a capital to two nations. This comes in contradiction to repeated vows by Prime Minister Ehud Olmert to members of his own government that Jerusalem’s division is not being discussed.
In his remarks, Ramon first diminishes the Zionist character of the city:
“A third of the Jerusalem is Palestinians, another third is ultra-Orthodox… so you know that when you come to Jerusalem, the capital of the state of Israel, this is a non-Zionist city because two-thirds are not Zionists.”
Ramon continued: “For the sake of Jerusalem, not because of the Palestinians… Jerusalem will be the capital of two states… The Arab neighborhoods… will be Palestinian. And all the Jewish neighborhoods will be Israel, including those that we built in Jerusalem, behind the Green Line after 1967, like Pisgav Ze’v and Gilo and Har Homa.”
On Monday, Olmert affirmed Israel’s right to build additional housing in exactly those areas: “There is no contradiction between the people of Israel’s total allegiance to Jerusalem and its unity and our ambitions to create peace within it.”
Also on Monday, at an AIPAC Policy Conference session, Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni’s most senior adviser, Dr. Tal Becker, declined to respond to Diament’s question on whether Israeli negotiators view the redivision of Jerusalem as “a price too high to pay” for a peace agreement.
“The Israeli government is not being straight with supporters and citizens of the Jewish state,” said Diament, of the OU. “Mr. Olmert routinely says a redivision of Jerusalem is not on the table, yet Ramon is saying exactly the opposite. Mr. Olmert should make a clear statement during his visit to Washington about his government’s position on this critical matter.”
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4 Responses
Their position vacilates according to the political whims of Olmert and his need to be supplied with a brand new Volvo with driver for his exclusive use.
Ramon equals STUPID.
“A third of the Jerusalem is Palestinians, another third is ultra-Orthodox… so you know that when you come to Jerusalem, the capital of the state of Israel, this is a non-Zionist city because two-thirds are not Zionists.”
Since when is he the interpetor of Zionism, the Torah Jews are the strongest and most ardent of all when it comes to “Ahavas Zion”.
“A third of the Jerusalem is Palestinians, another third is ultra-Orthodox… so you know that when you come to Jerusalem, the capital of the state of Israel, this is a non-Zionist city because two-thirds are not Zionists.”
It is very sad that an Israeli Jew equates Palestinians and Hareidim. And I think he really believes in what he is saying. In his mind those Jews he calls “ultra-orthodox” are willing to give up Yerushalaim because they are “not zionists”. You know, call it what you like, I think it is incumbent upon every Jew of every stripe who is horrified by the thought that this government might compromise the status of Yerushalaim to stand up and make themselves herad on the matter. It also should be cause for instrospection for all of us, as to how we have arrived at this point, where an Israeli government minister could use this as an excuse for his willingness to internationalize Yerushalaim.
Two groups of bums must go: The NK who put Charaidim in a position of nonlovers of Yerushalayim Y.S.,and the criminal Olmert,shaim reshayim yircov!