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TechnoratiA high-level Israeli official proposed dividing the holy city of Jerusalem with Palestinians on Monday as part of a potential peace deal.
(Photo: AP Images / Sebastian Scheiner, File)Christian Evangelical supporters of Israel march during a Jerusalem parade on the Jewish holiday of Sukkot, Tuesday, Oct. 2, 2007. The pilgrims are on a visit to Israel to the feast of the Tabernacle, and in support of the Jewish state.
“It is in Israel’s interest to tackle the issue of Jerusalem in the negotiations,” deputy prime minister Haim Ramon said, according to Agence France-Presse.
Israel has called Jerusalem its “eternal, indivisible capital.”
“If we reach a deal with the Palestinians, the Arab world and the international community according to which the Jewish neighborhoods of Jerusalem will be recognized as the capital of Israel and the Arab neighborhoods as part of the Arab capital, will that be a bad deal?”
Israel took control of Arab east Jerusalem – including the Old City with sites holy to Christianity, Judaism, and Islam – during the 1967 Six Day war and later annexed it.
Some Israeli leaders have expressed alarm over Ramon’s idea to split Jerusalem.
“Of course, Jerusalem is not on the negotiations agenda,” Trade and Industry Minister and chairman of the ultra-Orthodox Shas party Eli Yishai told AFP.
Meanwhile, Transport Minister Shaul Mofaz of Prime Minister Ehud Olmert’s Kadima party said on public radio: “The issue of the division of Jerusalem is an inalienable asset of the state of Israel. Palestinian refugees will not be returned to Israel and Jerusalem will not be divided.”
Ramon’s comment comes after Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas and the Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert met last week to prepare a joint statement of understanding ahead of the bilateral talks planned after a U.S.-sponsored Middle East conference in November.
“The meeting is an important occasion to reach an agreement on the political horizon with the Palestinian partners and we cannot miss this opportunity,” said Ramon to the army radio, according to AFP.
“The alternative in case of failure is that we will be left to face Hamas and fight it,” he said.
Hamas-controlled Gaza and Israel exchange rockets on a regular basis across its shared border. Palestinians have demanded that Jerusalem be the capital of their promised state.
According to Charles Clayton, national director for World Vision Jerusalem-West Bank-Gaza, “[a]nything that brings a glimmer of hope to people is worthwhile pursuing.”
But he acknowledged in a report Monday that “the fallback from an ill-prepared process can be much worse from a humanitarian perspective.”
World Vision has been working in the North Gaza Area Development Program (ADP) even amid rising concerns of a military operation being conducted in Gaza as threatened by Israeli military officials, including the Minister of Defense.
Evangelicals, widely known for their strong support of Israel, have split on the Israel-Palestine issue. Although some Christian Zionist leaders are staunchly against any division of Israel land, others are in favor of a two-state solution.
In July, 34 prominent evangelical leaders – ranging from presidents of some of the nation’s top Christian universities and humanitarian organizations to the editor of the top Christian magazine – acknowledged that both Israelis and Palestinians have rights to the disputed land. Continue »
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