Israel Harel writing in Haaretz comes out in favour of a united expanded Jerusalem
[..] Olmert himself is waging the “decisive battle” for Jerusalem that he announced a decade ago with about the same skill with which he pursued the Second Lebanon War. This ongoing failure to impose total sovereignty in the capital of Israel – which his predecessors in the Prime Minister’s Office share – requires, as in the wake of the Lebanon failure, a change in philosophy. Above all, we must instill in the people the belief that if we can triumph in a military battle, there is no doubt we can triumph in the battle for sovereignty.
The proposals to withdraw from the eastern part of the city are proposals of desperation rooted in the defeatist spirit that guides many of the country’s opinion makers: Those who pushed for the Oslo disaster, the flight from Lebanon and the uprooting of Gush Katif, one of whose results is the Qassam rockets on Sderot.
