By Rabbi Dow Marmur
JERUSALEM–You don’t have to have inside information or be blessed with special analytical talents to realize that there’re currently systematic efforts in Israel to make any division of Jerusalem in a future peace deal increasingly impossible.
The fact that this is happening nominally outside government control – e.g., through legal purchase by Jews of land and property in East Jerusalem; Jewish title to houses that were owned by Jews before the partition in 1948; lack of such title by Arabs who make claims on some such properties – doesn’t mean that the Netanyahu government disapproves or isn’t working behind the scenes to make it happen. Had individual Palestinians or groups used similar methods to obtain or regain property in West Jerusalem, the government of Israel would undoubtedly step in to prevent it.
The present government isn’t the only one to have declared that Jerusalem is “Israel eternal and undivided capital,” but it may be the first to act on it, whatever the cost to Israel’s image abroad and the obstacle to a peace deal it creates. It’s probably aware that the Palestinians may compromise on the right to return of Arab refugees and their descendants by settling, say, for financial compensation. It may also know that the Palestinians will settle for border ”adjustments” that would allow most of the settlements to stay put in exchange for territory to unite Gaza with the West Bank.
But it seems pretty unlikely that, at least at present, the Palestinians will give up on Jerusalem. In this way Netanyahu may continue to insist that his government wants peace without being prepared to pay the real price for it.
There’re many factors in favour of his overall policy, among them the improved security that has led to less tension and the robust economy from which Palestinians have also benefited. Though both remain precarious – the latest developments in Lebanon may have harmful effects on Israel and, as some forecasters are quick to point out, what goes up in economics tends to come down, often with a bang – the favorable prospects seem to make it more bearable not only for Jews but also for many Palestinians to live with the status quo of no war /no peace, especially as the alternatives may turn out more grim.
A very telling indicator is the new poll, conducted by independent American researchers, that suggests that at least a third of Palestinian residents of East Jerusalem would prefer to be Israeli citizens and only another third want to be part of the Palestinian state. The rest either say they don’t know or may be reluctant to declare their preference. In any case, there’s enough to indicate that the present developments in bringing Jewish settlers to East Jerusalem and taking other steps to assert Israeli sovereignty over the whole city aren’t anathema to a significant part of the Arab population there.
Though hostile pundits predict that the days of Netanyahu as prime minister are numbered and though there’re signs that Kadima, the main opposition party, is gaining strength – especially as Labour is disintegrating – even allowing for Israel’s bad image in the international community, the present government seems to be there to stay, unless, of course, Avigdor Lieberman will take it over the top and cause it to implode.
In the meantime, irrespective of what you and I may think of the dormant peace process and the social problems within the country, it’s business as usual here, at least in the foreseeable future, however brief or extended that may turn out to be.
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Rabbi Marmur is spiritual leader emeritus of Holy Blossom Temple in Toronto. He now divides his year between Canada and Israel.