Jerusalem Day

Monday, June 06, 2005

For the first 20 years after the ‘unification’ a policy of integration seemed to be working; Jewish neighborhoods were established around the Arab East Jerusalem neighborhoods, the municipal boundaries were expanded to make the city the largest in Israel; and a flow of tourists guaranteed a relatively healthy economy for both parts of the city.

But by the mid-1980s it became apparent that East Jerusalem Arabs were not willing subjects of the Israeli state, eager for citizenship. Less than 10 percent of them vote in municipal elections. While only a handful of East Jerusalemites have been involved in terror against Israelis, East Jerusalem remains the unofficial capital of the Palestinian West Bank and when the first intifada began, East Jerusalem joined in. And ever since, the city has only been unified in Israeli establishment rhetoric that sounds increasingly hollow, particularly as the secular middle class of the city abandons it to the non-Zionist ultra-Orthodox (who won the mayoralty in the last elections) and the rapidly growing Arab population.

So, while there were civilian marches yesterday and today in West Jerusalem, celebrating the unification of the city, police were battling young Palestinians on Haram e Sharif, who were throwing stones at Jewish tourists – and at the same time the police were on patrol against Jewish extremists who might try to provoke an Arab uprising that would forestall the disengagement slated for this summer. Yesterday, the disengagement opponents vandalized the locks on the front doors to dozens of state institutions, on Saturday night, disengagement opponents from the messianic wing of the Lubavitcher Chabad movement battled police on the railroad tracks and main highway near the Chabad village between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv.

So far, few are drawing a connection between the absurdly blatant law breaking by the anti-disengagement forces and the ever spiraling rate of violence in Israeli society, which is much more interested in teenage stabbings and homicidal muggings that are capturing the headlines, then in the continuing construction of ‘illegal’ outposts in the territories, for example.

Disrespect for the government is as rampant as disrespect for the law. The government, for example, devoted a special session yesterday to the issue of violence. Police Chief Moshe Karadi pointed out that there are barely 2.2 police per 1,000 citizens, compared to an average of 4 per 1,000 in Europe. All the government offered was a committee to examine whether or not to rehire 2,000 police due to be slashed from the rolls this year. Meanwhile, of the 20,000 police in the country, at least 8,000 are already halfway into disengagement duty, whether in training for the evacuation or already chasing after extremists.

Meanwhile, Condoleezza Rice’s office announced she would be coming next week, to meet with Israeli and Palestinian officials about the coordination of the disengagement. The Israeli press is beginning to catch on that the Americans are struggling to adopt an even-handed approach in the last few months; there were reports this morning that the Americans are considering a dialogue with Hamas, as it mainstreams into the nascent Palestinian democracy. Rice’s visit is all about coordinating the disengagement between Israel and the PA – but there will be a subtext, as evinced by President Bush during his meeting with Sharon in Texas earlier this spring: if the coordination works smoothly, it should be a confidence builder to more political steps, and that means more Israeli withdrawals. Israeli officials – and the Israeli Right -- know that very well. That’s why everyone is expecting this summer’s evacuation – including the coordination with the Palestinians – to be far from smooth.

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