Arab News:
In the frustrating pursuit of Palestinian-Israeli peace settlement based on the concept of a two-state solution, one particular issue emerges as the most cumbersome and, in the view of most Israelis, non-negotiable.
It is the fate of Arab East Jerusalem, occupied along with the rest of the West Bank, Gaza Strip and Golan Heights in the 1967 Arab-Israeli war.
Earlier this week Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas told participants in an international conference on Jerusalem in Doha that Israeli measures to Judaize East Jerusalem represent the last battle to seal the fate of the Holy City and its environs. He described Israeli “measures of annexation” as “null and void. East Jerusalem is the eternal capital of Palestine.” Israel, he said, was “using the ugliest and most dangerous means to implement plans to erase and remove the Arab Islamic and the Christian character of East Jerusalem.”
The Emir of Qatar Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al-Thani called on the UN to “investigate the measures Israel has taken to Judaize Jerusalem since its occupation in 1967.” President Abbas supported the suggestion and Palestinian officials said they will take their case to the UN General Assembly if their bid to censure Israeli actions were foiled by an American veto at the Security Council.
Israel has condemned the conference as Israel-bashing carnival and criticized the presence of UN Middle East envoy Robert Serry. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called the Palestinian leader’s remarks “a harshly inflammatory speech from someone who claims that he is bent on peace.”
But in spite of the heated rhetoric Israel appears committed to systematic scheme to destroy East Jerusalem buildings and neighborhoods, build and expand Jewish settlements in and around the city, enforce economic siege on Arab residents to force them out and threaten the integrity of Al Haram Al Sharif complex that includes Al Aqsa Mosque whose Western Wall is holy to Jews and is believed to be the only remaining structure of the destroyed Third Temple.
Israel annexed East Jerusalem after the 1967 war. It declared the city its eternal and united capital. And although such move was never recognized by the international community, little has been done to stop illegal Israeli measures to change the character of occupied East Jerusalem.
Categories: Asia, Israel, Middle East, Muslim Heritage, Palestine