Yesterday, Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu argued passionately in the Israeli cabinet meeting that Israelis have the right to live anywhere in Jerusalem. In his enthusiasm to defend this latest Irving Moskowitz project (the same Irving Moskowitz who was a key player in Netanyahu's Hasmonean Tunnel debacle), Netanyahu gushed:
"This has been the policy of all Israeli governments and I would like to say that it is indeed being implemented because in recent years hundreds of apartments in Jewish neighborhoods and in the western part of the city have been purchased by - or rented to - Arab residents and we did not interfere. This says that there is no ban on Arabs buying apartments in the western part of the city and there is no ban on Jews buying or building apartments in the eastern part of the city."
The problem with this argument is that it isn't true. Israeli lawyer and Jerusalem expert Daniel Seidemann sets the record straight with the following points:
- Most of West Jerusalem is off-limits to Palestinian residents of Jerusalem in terms of their ability to purchase property. This is because most of West Jerusalem, like most of Israel, is "State Land" (in all, 93% of land in Israel is "state land"). Under Israeli law, to qualify to purchase property on "state land" the purchaser must either be a citizen of Israel (Palestinian Jerusalemites are legal residents if the city, not citizens of Israel) or legally entitled to citizenship under the law of return (i.e. Jewish). This means an Israeli or a Jew from anywhere in the world can purchase such property in West Jerusalem, but not a Palestinian resident of the city. (Technically, by the way, these are actually not purchases but long-term leases.)
- With respect to private land in West Jerusalem, legally there are no limitations on Palestinian residents of East Jerusalem purchasing in such areas. Similarly, there are no legal limitations on Palestinian residents of Jerusalem renting in West Jerusalem. However, Danny (who is extremely familiar with East Jerusalem and its residents) does not know of a single case of a Palestinian resident of Jerusalem residing in West Jerusalem, either through purchase or rental of property. (This is distinct from Arab citizens of Israel, a small number of who do live in West Jerusalem). The reasons for this are social, cultural, and economic, and as far as State Lands go, legal.
- In addition, it should be emphasized that the ban on purchase of property on "State Lands" by Palestinian residents of Jerusalem extends to East Jerusalem. Not only are Palestinian Jerusalemites barred from purchasing property in most of West Jerusalem, but they are also barred from purchasing property in the 35% of East Jerusalem that Israel has expropriated as "state land" since 1967, and on which Israel's East Jerusalem settlements have been built. This means that in more than 1/3 of East Jerusalem, Israelis and Jews from anywhere in the world have a right to buy property in Israeli settlements, but not Palestinian residents of Jerusalem, including the very residents whose land was expropriated to build these settlements.
- A small number of Palestinian residents of East Jerusalem have rented apartments in some East Jerusalem settlements (principally French Hill, Pisgat Zeev, and Neve Yaacov - all settlements that are so far "east" that they are increasingly less attractive to Israelis). This does not appear to reflect any political agenda to move to these areas, but rather is a byproduct of the severe housing shortage that exists in Palestinian neighborhoods of East Jerusalem. And it should be noted that these are short-term rentals from their Israeli owners (as opposed to formal leases by the titular land owner, the government of Israel, to Palestinians).
When the threat of genocide is gone I will get all choked up over this oh so outrageous injustice. Until the Arabs give up annihilation as a goal I will support defensible borders over Arab racist demands.
Good Grief Michael - There is no threat of genocide from the arabs. They have absolutely zero capability to inflict that kind of horror on Israel. The Palestinians are so damn weak the best they can do is toss homemade rockets at Israel. They have no heavy weapons to threaten Israel. Syria's armed forces are a joke - do any of their tanks and airplanes even work or have they all gone to rust. Egypt is nowhere near as strong militarily compared to Israel as they were in 67 and 73 and even then they were no match.
Is hezballah with their Katyusha rockets going to be able to invade Israel and commit genocide. Israel can use good spokesmen for their cause but your hyperbole does not help. If you are worried about Iran's potential for atomic weapons then start talking about Persians not arabs.
great approach, michael. germans used similar paranoid fantasies in the nazi era to guard against feelings of sympathy for jews. it worked out fantastically for them. it's also the approach that the racist idiots who are your counterparts among the arabs will adopt when they gain the political upper hand. for everyone's sake i hope such stupendous idiocy ceases ASAP, but the preponderance of asses like yourself does not bode well.
Jdledell-
During Arafat's suicide bomber war against Israel, something like 1500 Israelis were murdered. For a country the size of the United States, that is equivalent to 75,000 fatalities. On 9/11 something under 3000 were killed. So, don't call it "genocide", call it mass killing. The Arabs may not have the power to "throw us into the sea" in a single shot, but they have been and are now carrying out a war of attrition against us. Ask the people of Sederot who suffered for 7 years under rocket attacks if they worry about "homemade rocket". Even those can and have killed.
The issue here is Bibi defending a new settlement project in the heart of East Jerusalem by misrepresenting Palestinian rights in West Jerusalem (and East Jerusalem). If you want to defend Israel's right to bar Palestinian residents from purchasing property in virtually all of West Jerusalem (and in East Jerusalem settlements), fine, that is your right, but at least be honest.
And misdirection is fine for magic shows, but it doesn't work in political debates. Trying to change the subject by talking about genocide and terror just underscores that the facts here speak for themselves.
Thanks for posting, I really liked that post, wish you would post more often
Israel has the right to deny land purchases by enemy aliens. If the North Koreans wanted to buy property in New York City, they would have similar obstacles. I dont have a problem restricting sales to those who want to run over us in Jerusalem with bulldozers
Y. Ben-David,
You wrote:
"During Arafat’s suicide bomber war against Israel, something like 1500 Israelis were murdered. For a country the size of the United States, that is equivalent to 75,000 fatalities."
Nearly five times as many Palestinians were killed by Israel during the same period. For the US that would be more than 375,000 dead. What shall we call that? Attrition? Genocide? Exuberant self-defense?
Lara, first of all Danny Seidemann makes a "samatokha" of the 93% of Israel land under control of the ILA. While the privately held Jewish National Fund is intentended for Jewish use only, this only accounts for about 14% of the land administered by the ILA under agreement between the two bodies. However, nearly 80% of what is categorized as "State Land" only has the restriction that it may not be sold to anyone: Jew or Arab.
Secondly, I take issue with your characterization of the Shepard's Hotel project as "a new settlement project in the heart of East Jerusalem...." This is completely inaccurate. Moskowitz, for better or worse, bought the hotel and presumably holds legal title to it. He also has zoning approval from the municipality to refurbish the building and create about 20 residential units. This is hardly a "settlement" and it is no different than what a developer would do in any other city in the world.
What I find disturbing - and believe me I am on the left side of most issues - is that Abu Mazen and others have openly said that this project threatens the Arab (viz. Muslim) character of Jerusalem. At the same time they refuse to acknowledge the Jewish character of the State of Israel. That strikes me as at least odd, if not downright hypocritical.
Whoa, hey I missed this, I know I am none days late to respond, but I will come back if any of you misguided War Now advocates want to have a dialog.
@ jdledell,
Technology, arms superiority, relative strength, competence of leadership, all these bits are transient. What has not changed is an ideology that dooms the Jews to a climactic apocalypse, an ideology that maintains that any reversal of a centuries old expansionist imperialism is an abomination. How do you combat a belief that the world will be so sickened by the presence of Jews some day that the very trees and rocks will animate and cry out for Muslims to come kill one hiding behind it? These are not fairy tales to the Arabs. These are facts that guide their interactions with Jews and the rest of us they have determined to be the House of War, Dar al Harb.
How cavalier of you to advocate for the US and the world to punish Israel on the one hand, and using irrelevant benchmarks to determine the threat level Israel faces on the other hand to justify your demand that Israel expose itself to greater and more devastating potential attacks. What obtuse logic do you use when floating the idea that "all they have is home made rockets", while at the same time demanding the Mandate for Palestine area be divided yet again to create a new Terrorstan where unrepentant Arabs will have access to undeserved legitimacy and access to all the weapons of war that will open doors to. What will you do then when it is no longer home made rockets and mortars they have to fire at Israel?
And let's talk about the intense psychological and social impact that terrorism has on Israeli society. Let's talk about a complete disregard for any acceptable standard of human behavior, suicide bombers, incitement to kill and maim Jews in the name of Islam, the ghoulish culture of mass murdering hero worship, the hiding amongst civilians to create mass innocent casualties, the targeting of children for execution, etc...
And sure, let's talk about acquiring the bomb. Persians, Arabs, it matters not. The common thread is the codified anti-Semitism and supremacy in the shared ideology which is the locus of the hate. Land has nothing to do with it.
To answer your question, no, Hezbollah and Hamas does not currently have the strength to invade and prevail. But the desire for genocide is there awaiting the day they do. When that threat no longer exists I will feel sorry for inconvenience Arabs.
@Ira
Gee Ira, speaking of Nazis and Jews, how many Jews do you speculate may have survived the Holocaust if the Chamberlain approach you are shilling would have been rejected early enough to put a stop to it? It's not your pathetic ass on the line when the Arabs finally get a leader that can actually deliver a victory and it will only take one Arab win to test who is delusional or not. The evidence is clear for anyone with his or her head out of the sand.
Like it or not you are a dupe for insidious racists bent on preserving the politics of victimization. The flat earth, fantasy world you inhabit doesn't have the calls for jihad coming from the highest Muslim authorities, or the posters plastered all over Gaza honoring the equivalent of the Texas Chainsaw Massacrer, or anyone talking about these things. See no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil.
@ Lara Friedman
Sorry to intrude on the vacuum you have sealed yourself inside of, but the threat of genocide is the crux of the matter for a non-Jewish American like me. The so called "facts" you present are nothing but a red herring to misdirect the ignorant with. The conflict has nothing to do with land. There are miles and miles of empty land sitting on top of fabulous resources in the Middle East. It is about religious bigotry, Arab racism, and little else.
Sur Bacha is an Arab community in East Jerusalem and it has over 30,000 illegal Arab buildings there. Are these "settlement projects" in your eyes? Or is it just the quarter million or so Jews living in thriving communities like French Hill, Gilo and East Talpiot that are the problem for the likes of you?
Don't bother answering. It's obvious from the sappy tone of your article that you have bought into a historical revision hook, line, and sinker where the Arabs are completely disempowered and incapable of taking any responsibility for their own actions. Innocent Jews are getting shredded by nails and ball bearings on buses and in crowded places, hacked to death when they turn their backs out hiking, strangled, raped, kidnapped, gunned down in their own homes, their children are shot in their cribs, forced to watch their parents traumatized and murdered, they are maimed, crippled, and scarred, they are forced to take defensive measures, and they have to deal with ignorant dupes that think settler is a dirty word. And for what? Do you even understand why? I doubt you do, because if you truly understood why they endure, you damn sure wouldn't be on here helping the racist bigots you seem enamored with.