Wednesday, May 12, 2010
Elder of ZiyonIsrael marks 43-year rule of Arab east Jerusalem
JERUSALEM — Israel will on Tuesday start celebrating the anniversary of what it calls Jerusalem's unification , its 1967 conquest of the city's Arab sector which has since become a major hurdle in peace efforts.
JERUSALEM — Israel will on Tuesday start celebrating the anniversary of what it calls Jerusalem's unification , its 1967 conquest of the city's Arab sector which has since become a major hurdle in peace efforts.
It captured Arab east Jerusalem on June 7, 1967, the third day of the Six Day War and unilaterally annexed the sector in a move not recognised by the international community.
The Palestinians are determined to make east Jerusalem, which includes the walled Old City and its holy sites, the capital of their promised state.
Israel considers Yom Yerushalayim to be the day that Jerusalem was re-unified after 19 years of division. It is difficult to dispute that characterization.
To Zionists, the status quo of Jerusalem is that it is a Jewish city. Even before the "new city" was built, Jews were a majority in Jerusalem since the middle of the 19th century. Beyond that, Jerusalem was always in the hearts of Jews since the diaspora began, and of course it was the capital of Israel before that.
For a mere 19-year span over the past 2500 years has the old city been Jew-free.
Yet AFP adopts the Arab point of view wholeheartedly.
To Arabs and AFP, those 19 years define the status quo of Jerusalem. Not the decades of Jewish majority in the old city for the previous century, not the Jewish control of the city for the past 43 years, not the millenia of history of Jews in Jerusalem - no, to AFP, the status quo is a tiny blip of 19 years, an quirk of history that represents when Jews were ethnically cleansed from their holiest city.
To Arabs and AFP, those 19 years define the status quo of Jerusalem. Not the decades of Jewish majority in the old city for the previous century, not the Jewish control of the city for the past 43 years, not the millenia of history of Jews in Jerusalem - no, to AFP, the status quo is a tiny blip of 19 years, an quirk of history that represents when Jews were ethnically cleansed from their holiest city.
The only time that east Jerusalem could be accurately called "Arab" was for less than two decades of the past 3,000 years. But AFP considers that anomaly to be the ideal.
(h/t Richard L)
UPDATE: No surprise, Al Arabiya featured the AFP article.
