T. Belman. Please note that Abu Dis with its population of 12,000, lies immediately to the east of Jerusalem including the eastern part, and to the south of Maale Adumin. It is 1.5 kilometers from the Al Aksa Mosque. Ramallah is 15 kilometers to the north and has a population of 57,000 Arabs. Both are outside of Jerusalem. Hebron on the other hand, lies 19 miles to the south of Jerusalem and has an Arab population of 216,000. Nablas with its Arab population of 126,000, lies 35 kilometers to the north of Ramallah.
The Save Jewish Jerusalem movement, calls for revoking the residency status of around 200,000 of the 313,000 residents of the Arab neighborhoods in the eastern part of the city, turning them over to the Palestinian Authority.
In other words, they propose dividing Greater Jerusalem (126.4 sq. km.) and transferring half of it (64 sq. km.) to the Palestinian Authority.
To this could be added Bethlehem with its population of over 100,000, of which only 12% are Christians, and Jericho with its population of 30,000 and distance to Amman of 45 kilometers. Those Arabs represent about 1/3 of the Arab population in J&S and Jerusalem.
It may well be that Kushner’s touted peace plan would incorporate all these municipalities, containing over 750,000 Arabs, into a block of land that would be annexed to Jordan in some fashion and together they would constitute the Palestinian state. Although these areas would be limited to their present boundries, there is ample land east of the Jordan R for growth..
By Yoni Ben Menachem, JCPA, JAN 10/18
- Mahmoud Abbas entirely rejects the option of Abu Dis or Ramallah serving as the Palestinian capital in an Israeli-Palestinian settlement, even though this possibility was discussed extensively in the past, and the Palestinian Authority began construction on the Palestinian parliamentary building in Abu Dis.
- The PA has done much to weaken its status in east Jerusalem, and when Abbas is replaced as PA chairman the names, Abu Dis and Ramallah, may again become relevant to an Israeli-Palestinian settlement.
On January 6, 2018, the Jerusalem committee of the Arab League, headed by Secretary-General Ahmed Abu Gheit, met in Amman to discuss President Trump’s declaration on Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.
According to Fatah sources, a heated debate broke out between Palestinian Foreign Minister Riyad al-Maliki and other Arab foreign ministers. Al-Maliki demanded that the committee adopt three significant resolutions:
- An end to the American role in the Israeli-Palestinian peace process.
- Rejection of any American plan or peace initiative until President Trump rescinds his declaration on Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.
- To implement the resolutions of the 1980 Arab summit conference, namely, imposing sanctions on any country that transfers its embassy to Jerusalem.
The Palestinian foreign minister’s demands were rejected entirely.
On January 7, 2017, Al-Araby al-Jadeed reported that Saudi Arabia and Egypt had politely requested of the Palestinian foreign minister not to ask them to adopt any resolution against the United States. In reaction, al-Maliki boycotted the press conference held by Secretary-General Abu Gheit and Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi.
A few minutes before the press conference, the third podium, which was intended for al-Maliki, was surprisingly removed. The Palestinian Authority (PA) suffered a severe setback in the Jerusalem committee’s discussions.
The Palestinians do not doubt that President Trump’s declaration on Jerusalem as the capital of Israel was meant to lower their expectations that the new political plan he is formulating will make Jerusalem their capital.
The Saudis and Egyptians Undermine the PA
Trump’s declaration was followed by a report in the New York Times that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman had demanded that PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas agree that in the permanent settlement, Abu Dis would be the Palestinian capital. Then, another New York Times report said that at the behest of President Sisi, an Egyptian intelligence officer had instructed several Egyptian TV talk-show hosts to persuade the Egyptian public that the Palestinians should be pressured to accept Ramallah as their capital city.
These reports were strongly denied by Saudi Arabia and Egypt and dismissed as media spin aimed at harming the Saudi crown prince and the Egyptian president. The Palestinian “street” is, however, convinced that the reports are accurate despite the flat-out denials.
A month after Trump’s declaration on Jerusalem, the Palestinian public, Hamas, and the PA leadership are united in their consternation at the weakness of the Arab regimes, which, apart from denunciations and warnings, show no inclination to confront the Trump administration about Jerusalem on the Palestinians’ behalf.
Yet, any attempt at new Palestinian intifada is faltering, and the Palestinian street is starting to hear old/new locations like Abu Dis or Ramallah mentioned as a replacement for east Jerusalem as the capital of the future Palestinian state.
Senior Fatah sources say the names Abu Dis and Ramallah are beginning to percolate into Palestinian consciousness.
Ramallah already serves as the de facto PA capital. The Palestinian leadership under Abbas is based in the Muqata complex there, and all the government ministries and other PA institutions operate in the city.
Outside of Palestinian Authority government offices in Ramallah (2013)
The village of Abu Dis is making a return to the headlines. In 1995, it was mentioned as a possible Palestinian capital in understandings reached between Abbas and Yossi Beilin.
Those understandings included a plan to extend the municipal boundaries of Jerusalem, set up an over-arching city council, annex Abu Dis to the adjacent village of Azariya, and call them by the Arabic name Al-Quds.
The village of Abu Dis is 1.5 kilometers as the crow flies from the Al-Aqsa Mosque. Two weeks ago, Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh claimed he had learned that, in President Trump’s new plan, an overhead bridge would be built from Abu Dis to Al-Aqsa so that Muslims could freely come to pray at the mosques on the Temple Mount.
Abu Dis is the point that connects the northern and the southern West Bank. It is also the eastern entrance to Jerusalem, and in the other direction, it leads down to the Jordan Valley. According to the Oslo agreements, it is part of Area B which is under Israeli security control and Palestinian civilian control.
Already in 1996, construction began in Abu Dis for the parliamentary building of the Palestinian Legislative Council. In other words, the Palestinians did not always oppose the notion of Abu Dis serving at least temporarily as the capital of the Palestinian state.
One-third of the building was constructed on land within the municipal boundaries of Jerusalem.
The PA’s Holdings in Jerusalem
The signing of the Oslo agreements weakened the PLO’s demands concerning east Jerusalem as the capital of the future Palestinian state. The accords prohibit the PA from conducting any activity in east Jerusalem.
Some of the Palestinian institutions in east Jerusalem were closed by Israel. The best-known case is that of Orient House (Beit A-Sharq), from which senior Palestinian official Faisal Husseini and his staff operated.
The PA itself has closed institutions and associations operating in east Jerusalem, such as the Palestinian Journalists Associations, the General Workers Union, the staffs of the newspapers Al-Fajr and A-Shav, and the Palestinian weekly Al-Awda.
Other, smaller Palestinian institutions closed themselves down because of a lack of funds. The Shin Bet and the Israel Police have worked to keep members of the Palestinian security mechanisms from operating the city in violation of the Oslo agreements.
At present, there is seemingly no possibility that Abu Dis and Ramallah will play an essential role in a future Israeli-Palestinian settlement. The wave of Palestinian and Arab protest still has not died down completely, and the Palestinians may need incentives to begin to adjust to such a possibility. It was not for nothing that President Trump said Israel would pay the price for his declaration of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.
Palestinian Pragmatism Required
The Trump administration has been holding indirect contacts with the PA to soften its opposition to the president’s declaration. The more the Arab countries downplay the issue, the more the Palestinian leadership will realize that it is standing alone on the matter. At the moment there is no Arab conference on Jerusalem on the agenda, and the discussion might only be renewed at the Arab summit conference in Saudi Arabia in March 2018.
In addressing the status of Jerusalem, Trump’s declaration touched upon one of the red lines for Israel and the Palestinians. Yet, Arab leaders did not fall off their chairs. There has been no real change on the ground, and the administration has conveyed messages to the PA that if the Palestinians return to the negotiating table, it will be prepared to discuss the boundaries of east Jerusalem.
At the moment Abbas is taking a harder line on the Jerusalem issue than Yasser Arafat took. Abbas has already passed the age of 82, and the countdown for the end of his political career has begun.
It is possible that his successor will show greater pragmatism and accept a long-term interim agreement, spanning 10 to 15 years, which will skirt the most difficult issues of the permanent settlement. If so, Abu Dis and Ramallah may become relevant once again to an Israeli-Palestinian settlement.
@ yamit82:
yamit this guy has invented software which is able to recover millions of images which were “lost”
It is an amazing achievement.
Your devotion to the Jews does leads you at times into a nihilistic frame of mind and that you know is NOT Jewish
Jews have survived because they have kept their eyes open tot he real world of science.
@ yamit82:
I think ‘half” is a very modest estimate…..
@ Edgar G.:
Shit, half the world wants us dead = desire but not the ability so they use different means like proxies. politics. trade and lawfare. We are still here and even thriving. Best time to be in Israel maybe ever in our long history… Seems the more they try to kill us the stronger we become. Echoes of biblical Balam
@ Felix Quigley:
What’s relative? Be specific……A few hundred years of mostly decadent European historical images?
@ Edgar G.:
Yeah of course!
@ Bear Klein:
This confirms out my point that if given the opportunity they will attack Israel. A few rockets from Sinai are a mere nothing in the scope of the whole mish-mash, and no doubt they were not conducting an annihilating war on Israel with them. Even oif close to the Golan border, they were not there in limbo, but they had other enemies to contend with and my assertion needs no opposition present and close up to ISIS, and a free hand for their actions. They have the will..certainly…but not the way.
@ Edgar G.:
ISIS sent rockets at Israel from the Sinai, if memory serves me on two occasions. There were ISIS affiliated groups on the border of Israel near the Golan.
Guys with pickup trucks and RPGs normally as their basic weapons are not going to tangle with the IDF unless they have a quick death wish.
They were going to attack Jordan and were enroute but Israel told Jordan about it and the Jordanians decimated the convoy on one occasion that I recall.
Their strong holds were in Mosul and Raqua. The US airforce plus the Iraqi ground forces after a long battle took them out in Mosul. The Kurds in Raqua (SDF) with USA air-power and special forces took them out there. That is why the SDF and USA control 1/3 of Syria.
@ Edgar G.:
This must be relevant to you Jews with your massive history
https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-28976849
@ yamit82:
I believe that the reason that ISIS never could attack Israel was not for want od desire. But because there were several rebel and Syrian etc. forces between them and the Golan. If they had reached the Golan, they definitely would have attempted it. They were barbaric Islamist Koranic meshuggenahs. Beheading as an art form was their forte….
I don’t know how much or how many times Assad made attacks on Israel, certainly never read of any. I can believe that he was allowing terrorists to cross into Israel by stealth, as much as they could get away with, After all he’s an Arab, and technically Syria is still at war with Israel. …I think..
And indeed you and I are of the same mind…the more they kill each other the fewer that Israel will have to wipe out later.
@ Edgar G.:
Facts Assad/syria has a track record of attacking and fighting Israel ISIS has NONE! ASSAD WITH HIS MISSILE AND WMD HAS DETERRENCE AGAINST ISRAEL AS DO Hezbollah. ISIS has none. if the shitty Iraqi Army could defeat a dug in ISIS in Iraq, what do you think IDF could do to them?
@ Edgar G.:
Every day is a good day for Israel when enemies fight and slaughter each other…ISIS vs Hezbollah for me is my kind of SUPERBOWL TO BE WATCHED WITH A BOWL OF POPCORN. Don’t think Syria can be resurrected and repaired…..ASSAD MAY HAVE LOST MUCH OF HIS TERRITORY POPULATION
BUT HE STILL MAINTAINS CONTROL OF HIS ARMY AND ALL HIS WEAPONS INCL. WMD….. dictators come and go and agreements mean little long-term. Ted seems not to have learned the lesson….. His devotion to his peace plan borders on messianic faith and fervor….. 😉
@ Edgar G.:
Every day is a good day for Israel when enemies fight and slaughter each other…ISIS vs Hezbollah for me is my kind of SUPERBOWL TO BE WATCHED WITH A BOWL OF POPCORN. Don’t think Syria can be resurrected and repaired…..ASSAD MAY HAVE LOST MUCH OF HIS TERRITORY POPULATION
BUT HE STILL MAINTAINS CONTROL OF HIS ARMY AND ALL HIS WEAPONS INCL. WMD…..
Getting back to the subject my vote is for a split capital. 1 half political (rabins back yard) 2nd half commercial (peres back yard.)
@ Edgar G.:
He was a kibutznik on Mayan Zvi. He would go out even in winter with a wet suit to the pool to swim. He was a very determined person.
Once when he was training he swung in from the Med and flapped his wings at us by the pool. The Kibbutz was on a hill and the pool was on the highest part of the hill.
I have a comment posted above in Triplicate, and all widely separated in time at 12 mins diff, and 2 more at 6 mins, apiece time diff.. But the “edit” apparatus only allows 4 mins.30+ seconds………
NOW SHOWING…”The Attack of the Mutant Computers” ..all seats available…
@ Bear Klein:
I think I recall that poor guy. and his struggles to fly again. I remember he was being compared to Douglas Bader. It must be the same.
Assad is now under the thumb of Iran and Russia. He does not call his own shots.
When I lived on the Golan the Syrians used to send rapid dogs across the border plus allow terrorists to cross periodically.
Someone else I knew was a pilot for the IAF who was downed over Syria long ago. He landed without injury. The Syrians claimed he needed rescuing so that amputated both legs above the knees. Later he was exchanged in a prisoner exchange. The Syrians cut off his legs so that he would not be able to fly again.
They were wrong he worked very hard and flew for the IAF again. Anyone who says that they can trust the Syrians and work with them is really not knowledgeable about them or is looking for fruit in a garbage dump. Trust me there is no good fruit in a dump!
Yes Assad’s father was in charge in those days. It does not matter same mentality and same family. Mass murders are always good to trust.
@ yamit82:
I just made a point with Bear that Arab Christians cling more to Israel because of Muslim persecution than….(he seems to have a “love affair” going on with well behaved Arabs) … i forgot to also add that a few Christian Arabs, highly educated were leaders of terrorist anti-Israel gangs…George Habash comes to mind and Idon’t want to bother looking up others..@ yamit82:
You are right, but none of those wars were with Bashar Assad as leader…I think they were ’48, ’67 and ’73…..?? He may not even have been in the country. Could have been abroad studying or et…. I don’t mean to make excuses for him, as he is an Arab and I have my opinion of Arabs, but I also have regard for facts.@ yamit82:
Well I’m not comparing the POTENTIAL dangers to Israel of ISIS to Syria. Syria is infinitely more dangerous. But it happens to be under a present leader who has a wholesome respect for Israeli power, and not likely to allow himself to be dragged into a conflict with us, where he’ll lose his gatkes, and maybe his own people stringing him up for the almost certain debacle.
My feelings about Muslems, and particularly our local Arabs are as deeply felt as yours. Like the old American pioneers talking about Indians, that the only good one was a dead one. Well, I feel something like that, but if they move away and don’t bother us again that works just as well for me. But it must be permanent…..Who can guarantee that,…?
@ yamit82:
I just made a point with Bear that Arab Christians cling more to Israel because of Muslim persecution than….(he seems to have a “love affair” going on with well behaved Arabs) … i forgot to also add that a few Christian Arabs, highly educated were leaders of terrorist anti-Israel gangs…George Habash comes to mind and Idon’t want to bother looking up others..@ yamit82:
You are right, but none of those wars were with Bashar Assad as leader…I think they were ’48, ’67 and ’73…..?? He may not even have been in the country. Could have been abroad studying or et…. I don’t mean to make excuses for him, as he is an Arab and I have my opinion of Arabs, but I also have regard for facts.
@ yamit82:
I just made a point with Bear that Arab Christians cling more to Israel because of Muslim persecution than….(he seems to have a “love affair” going on with well behaved Arabs) … i forgot to also add that a few Christian Arabs, highly educated were leaders of terrorist anti-Israel gangs…George Habash comes to mind and Idon’t want to bother looking up others..
Also some of the most vehement enemies of the Jews have been Arab Christian Church “Dignitaries” actually living off the fat of the land in Israel itself.
@ yamit82:
Some very good and valid points made here.
@ Bear Klein:
The “normal co-operative existence” of Arabs lasts just as long as they don’t have the upper hand. It’s different when they do…… VEERRY different. I don’t knowwhy you can’t see all the examples of this all over the world, everywhere the Muslims alight and multiply. It is their KORANIC IMPERATIVE.
As for the Christian Arabs, they are clinging to Jewish Israel because they are persecuted and murdered with property stolen by the Muslim Arabs. Bethlehem once 85-90% Christian, now 12-15%, and falling. This is just an example..