THE CASE AGAINST DIVIDING JERUSALEM

JERUSALEM DIVIDED

ZECHARIAH 12:1-5 King James Bible
1 The burden of the word of the LORD for Israel, saith the LORD, which stretcheth forth the heavens, and layeth the foundation of the earth, and formeth the spirit of man within him.
2 Behold, I will make Jerusalem a cup of trembling unto all the people round about, when they shall be in the siege both against Judah and against Jerusalem.
3 And in that day will I make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all people: all that burden themselves with it shall be cut in pieces, though all the people of the earth be gathered together against it.
4 In that day, saith the LORD, I will smite every horse with astonishment, and his rider with madness: and I will open mine eyes upon the house of Judah, and will smite every horse of the people with blindness.
5 And the governors of Judah shall say in their heart, The inhabitants of Jerusalem shall be my strength in the LORD of hosts their God.

JOEL 3:2
2 I will also gather all nations, and will bring them down into the valley of Jehoshaphat, and will plead with them there for my people and for my heritage Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations, and parted my land.

ZECHARIAH 14:1-9 King James Bible
1 Behold, the day of the LORD cometh, and thy spoil shall be divided in the midst of thee.
2 For I will gather all nations against Jerusalem to battle; and the city shall be taken, and the houses rifled, and the women ravished; and half of the city shall go forth into captivity, and the residue of the people shall not be cut off from the city.
3 Then shall the LORD go forth, and fight against those nations, as when he fought in the day of battle.
4 And his feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east, and the mount of Olives shall cleave in the midst thereof toward the east and toward the west, and there shall be a very great valley; and half of the mountain shall remove toward the north, and half of it toward the south. 5 And ye shall flee to the valley of the mountains; for the valley of the mountains shall reach unto Azal: yea, ye shall flee, like as ye fled from before the earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of Judah: and the LORD my God shall come, and all the saints with thee.
6 And it shall come to pass in that day, that the light shall not be clear, nor dark:
7 But it shall be one day which shall be known to the LORD, not day, nor night: but it shall come to pass, that at evening time it shall be light.
8 And it shall be in that day, that living waters shall go out from Jerusalem; half of them toward the former sea, and half of them toward the hinder sea: in summer and in winter shall it be.
9 And the LORD shall be king over all the earth: in that day shall there be one LORD, and his name one.
http://www.veoh.com/watch/v15908897gA4N3jCR?h1=Mid-East+Bible+Prophecy%3A+Jerusalem+Divided%3F

The Case for a United Jerusalem
By Nathan Diament Jan 15 2012, 6:30 PM ET 1 THE ATLANTIC

Dividing the holy city as part of a final-status agreement between Israelis and Palestinians ignores key realities on the ground Jerusalem / Reuters

Proponents of a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict often insist that the only way to resolve competing claims over the holy city of Jerusalem is to divide it, with each half respectively serving as the capital of Israel and a future Palestinian state. Those who advocate this approach often try to make it more palatable by asserting, as Terrestrial Jerusalem founder Daniel Seidemann recently wrote in The Atlantic, that while many Israelis speak of Jerusalem being a "united" city since its eastern half came under Israeli sovereignty in 1967, such a perception is a "myth" because, in fact, Jerusalem is divided between largely homogeneous and internally contiguous Jewish and Arab neighborhoods across which the two groups rarely venture. Thus, they argue, a border could be drawn relatively easily along demographic lines, re-dividing the city between the two states.

9-11 Ten Years Later
The reality, however, is that Jerusalem today is a demographically intertwined city. To be sure, there are neighborhoods, particularly east of the security barrier, where Jews seldom venture. But modern-day Jerusalem is far more an interwoven checkerboard of Jewish and Palestinian enclaves. The Arab neighborhood of Beit Safafa, for example, lies between the Jewish neighborhoods of Talpiot and Gilo, while the Arab neighborhood Sheikh Jarrah lies between the Old City and the Jewish neighborhood of French Hill. Separating these neighborhoods between two countries would create an unwieldy and unsustainable border. While creative solutions have been proposed to ensure that a re-divided Jerusalem would remain interconnected, as any urban center must to thrive, experience shows that divided cities, such as Berlin and Baghdad, are fragile at best and combustible at worst. One significant reason against dividing Jerusalem is that many of the Palestinians who live in East Jerusalem wish to remain under Israeli sovereignty. Recent polling indicates that, despite the fact that municipal resources and services have not been evenly allocated between Jewish and Arab Jerusalem segments of the city, a plurality of Palestinians residing in eastern sections of Jerusalem would move from Palestinian Jerusalem to Israeli Jerusalem, if given the opportunity, should the city be re-divided. According to one of the pollsters:For most Palestinians who said they wanted to be citizens of Israel, approximately 35 percent said it was practical issues that dominate -- freedom of movement, higher income, health insurance, job opportunities, prosperity, more shops...People were concerned that if they became a citizen of Palestine, they had significant worries about losing employment in Israel, free movement in Israel, Israeli health care, and reduction in city services. ...Three-quarters of east Jerusalem Arabs are at least a little concerned, and more than half are more than a little concerned, that they would lose their ability to write and speak freely if they became citizens of a Palestinian state rather than remaining under Israeli control.But more contentious than the fate of Jerusalem's residential neighborhoods is the debate over the fate of the Old City - home to Judaism's holiest sites and among Islam's holiest sites. On a practical level, dividing the Old City along demographic lines would put Jewish holy sites on the Palestinian side and Muslim holy sites on the Israeli side. Israelis are understandably cautious about putting these sites solely under Arab control; when Arabs last controlled the Old City, from 1948 to 1967, Jews were barred from access.

To address this concern, numerous groups have proposed "special arrangements," such as international or joint Israeli-Palestinian administration over the Old City, to ensure protection of and access to these sites. But these proposals rely on international community support and enforcement to guarantee security and access, which Israel has legitimate grounds to doubt given the lackluster performance of the Multinational Force & Observers (MFO) in the Sinai (who abandoned their posts in the lead-up to the June 1967 War) and the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) along Israel's northern border (who have failed in their mandate to prevent the re-arming of Hezbollah). Furthermore, the international community has consistently shown little regard for the Jewish attachment to holy sites, most recently seen in UNESCO's 2010 declaration that the Cave of the Patriarchs in Hebron is an integral part of the Palestinian territories.An additional problem with special arrangement proposals is that they tend to require more intimate and extensive cooperation between Israelis and Palestinians rather than granting the divorce from one another that both sides seem to be seeking through a peace deal. And this cooperation must succeed in the most sensitive of all locations.

Unlike these untested proposals, Israel has proven over the past four decades that its authority over all of Jerusalem can ensure protection of and access to holy sites. Since Jerusalem was reunited in 1967, pilgrims of all faiths have generally been allowed to visit the holy places of all religions. Muslim mosques, even those built atop the mount where Judaism's Holy Temple once stood, operate relatively freely - and under Islamic religious oversight. While some might contest that Israel does periodically place security restrictions upon entrance to holy sites, free access is the default policy under Israeli rule. But resolving the status of the Old City of Jerusalem is not just about geography nor about the practicalities of access to a single site; it is deeply intertwined with questions of national identity, history, and theology. Proposals for joint sovereignty, deferred sovereignty, or even divine sovereignty ignore the deep-rooted significance of the holy city. The search for a split the difference compromise also ignores the fact that the Old City of Jerusalem has been the national capital of the Jewish people for the past 3000 years and is Judaism's holiest site, while it is Mecca that plays that role for Muslims. The international community would never expect the Islamic world to cede sovereignty over Mecca; the Jewish people ought to be accorded no less respect with regard to the Old City of Jerusalem.One reason peace in the Middle East has not yet been possible is because most efforts to achieve it have been aspirational but untethered from reality. It is clear that re-dividing Jerusalem is neither feasible nor prudent. The international community must take off the table the option of dividing Jerusalem, in the same way that they have ended the debate over a right of return to Israel for Palestinian refugees. A sustainable peace can only be achieved with the entirety of Jerusalem under Israeli sovereignty.

Imagine a Divided Jerusalem
by Eric on January 13, 2011

??? - The Berlin Wall - Berliner Mauerphoto © 1986 siyu | Berlin Wall
This week PA President Abbas said: Jerusalem is the heart of the Palestinian cause, and unless Jerusalem is the capital of an independent Palestinian state, there will not be peace.Imagine if Benjamin Netanyahu said the same thing, but turned the tables: Jerusalem is a Jewish city, the heart of the Jewish nation, and If Jerusalem does not remain in Jewish hands, there will never be peace.That post, from Elder of Ziyon, got me thinking. What if Jerusalem were really divided? What if the city became two? Lets look at a famous example of this situation:The Berlin Wall was built in 1961 to divide East Berlin from West Berlin. The wall divided the Democracy from the Communists. It was a horrible situation for everyone. Families were separated. People were removed from their jobs. A rightfully united city became two.

It didn’t work then and it wouldn’t work now.Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat has the sense to speak up about it. A divided Jerusalem would not just split the city, it would carve out ethnic lines based on an arbitrary war cease fire line from 1949.
Remember, that territory was never a country called Palestine.From 1517-1917, it was part of the Ottoman Empire. From 1917-1948, it was part of the British Mandate of Palestine.In 1948, it was conquered by the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, making it a de-facto part of the country. In 1967, it was captured by the Israelis in a defensive war. It was never Palestine.The Arabs living in the Eastern half of Jerusalem from 1948-1967, a period when Jews were kicked out of the territory, were offered citizenship to Israel in 1967. Since the city was reunited, Jewish neighborhoods have grown next to Arab neighborhoods. The neighborhoods of Jerusalem are generally divided on Jewish/Arab ethnic lines, but there is no law mandating it. Arab Israelis and Jewish Israelis are treated as one under Israeli law.

Many Arabs chose not to accept Israeli citizenship. That was a choice, not a decree. There are many reasons for this, but some of Jerusalem’s Arabs have spoken up about their desire for citizenship. Despite what Hamas and the PLO might tell you, they are not all enthusiastic about having East Jerusalem carved out from the rest of the city.Read about what the Palestinians of Jerusalem really want. Read why some are now taking Israel’s offer for citizenship.If you want to see how bad things are for Arabs in Jerusalem, I suggest going to see yourself. It is a wonderful place with freedom of movement for all residents. There are no borders and no fences. It is a united city.This is not a cut and dry issue, but it is important to look at what everyone wants. Just because Mahmoud Abbas is the voice of West Bank Palestinians does not mean he speaks for everyone. Just because he refuses to move forward on a peace plan that does not include East Jerusalem as a Palestinian capital does not mean all of the Palestinians in Jerusalem want that too.
Do we really want another Berlin Wall? I don’t think so.