The sharp and unabated criticism that the Obama administration has levelled against the presence of Jewish communities – or “settlements” as most people prefer to call them – beyond the Green Line of June 4, 1967, has been surprising as well as disappointing.
But the harsh, impatient castigation last week by the Americans of the proposed construction of some 20 residential units in the former Shepherd Hotel in the east Jerusalem neighbourhood of Sheikh Jarrah – property that was legally purchased almost 25 years ago by Jews and approved for development by appropriate municipal authorities – was shocking and deeply disturbing.
The United States demanded of Israel that the project be stopped. For the Obama government views Jewish life in east Jerusalem as it does other “settlements” and outposts in the West Bank: it is illegal and must be frozen, if not dismantled.
The imperious, peremptory tone of the U.S. State Department’s missive was unexpected by the Israeli government. To its credit, it reacted respectfully but forcefully to the American dictate. At the very first cabinet meeting last week after the diplomatic note was received in Jerusalem, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told his cabinet – and the world – that “Israel will not agree to edicts of this kind in east Jerusalem.”
He elaborated.
“United Jerusalem is the capital of the Jewish people in the State of Israel, and our sovereignty over the city is not subject to appeal… Jerusalem residents can purchase apartments anywhere in the city. This has been the policy of all Israeli governments. There is no ban on Arabs buying apartments in the west of the city, and there is no ban on Jews building or buying in the city’s east. This is the policy of an open city. I can only describe to myself what would happen if someone would propose that Jews could not live in certain neighbourhoods in New York, London, Paris or Rome. There would certainly be a major international outcry. Accordingly, we cannot agree to such a decree in Jerusalem.”
As long as all residents are compelled to comply with lawfully enacted rules, regulations, standards and bylaws concerning the acquisition and development of property, it is inconceivable that Jews would be prohibited from living in any part of Jerusalem.
The U.S. administration did not demand that Arabs desist from living in west Jerusalem. It confounds the mind and troubles the heart that it called for Jews to desist from living in east Jerusalem.
Presidential candidate Barack Obama said that Jerusalem should not be divided. His government’s summary decree regarding the development of the Shepherd Hotel is inconsistent with his campaign rhetoric. More important, however, it is inconsistent with the justice and the right of Jews too to live in an undivided and united Jerusalem.