That was to cut Jerusalem in two.....
O Jerusalem! America drafts plan to cut in 2
Allows Palestinian security control, asks Israel to forfeit Temple Mount
JERUSALEM – The United States, which has been mediating negotiations
between Israel and the Palestinian Authority here, has proposed a plan
to divide Jerusalem, WND has learned.
The plan, divided into separate phases, among other things calls for
Israel eventually to forfeit parts of the Temple Mount, Judaism's
holiest site.
According to the first stage of the U.S. plan, which was obtained by
WND, Israel would give the PA some municipal and security sovereignty
over key Arab neighborhoods in eastern Jerusalem.
The PA would be allowed to open some official institutions in
Jerusalem, could elect a mayor for the Palestinian side of the city and
would deploy police forces to maintain law and order.
The initial stage also calls for the PA to operate Jerusalem municipal
institutions, such as offices to oversee trash collection and
maintenance of roads.
After five years, if both sides keep their certain commitments called
for in a larger principal agreement, according to the U.S. plan the PA
would be given full sovereignty over the eastern Jerusalem
neighborhoods and also over sections of the Temple Mount. The plan
doesn't specify which parts of the Temple Mount would be forfeited to
the Palestinians.
After the five year period, the PA could deploy official security
forces in Jerusalem separate from a police force and could also open
major governmental institutions, such as a president's office, and
offices for the finance and foreign ministries.
The U.S. plan leaves Israel and the PA to negotiate which Jerusalem
neighborhoods would become Palestinian. According to diplomatic sources
familiar with the plan, while specific neighborhoods were not
officially listed, American officials recommended sections of
Jerusalem's Old City as well as certain largely Arab Jerusalem
neighborhoods such as Jabal mukabar, Beit Hanina, Shoafat, Abu Dis and
Abu Tur become part of the Palestinian side.
As WND reported previously, many of the Arab neighborhoods of
Jerusalem, including all of Shoafat, a large Arab section, were
constructed illegally on property owned by the Jewish National Fund, a
Jewish nonprofit that purchases property using Jewish donors funds for
the stated purpose of Jewish settlement.
According to diplomatic sources, the plan is being discussed by Israel
and the PA but has not yet been accepted.
The sources said the plan was delivered earlier this month by Secretary
of State Condoleezza Rice during her trip to the region to push
Israeli-Palestinian negotiations started at last November's U.S.-backed
Annapolis summit, which aimed to create a Palestinian state before the
end of the year.
Since Annapolis, negotiating teams including Israeli Foreign Minister
Tzippy Livni and chief Palestinian negotiator Ahmed Qureia have been
meeting weekly while Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and PA President
Mahmoud Abbas have been meeting biweekly.
The U.S. is "very deeply involved" in all aspects of the negotiations,
according to a top diplomatic source.
To demonstrate the level of U.S. involvement, the source pointed to
recent U.S. supervision of Israeli commitments to dismantle about 50
West Bank anti-terror roadblocks and to bulldoze what are called
illegal outposts, or West Bank Jewish communities constructed without
government permits.
"The U.S. oversaw the removal of each and every roadblock, making sure
the roadblocks were actually removed," said the source.
"Also, even though Israel prepared a report of all illegal outposts and
handed it to the Americans, U.S. officials have been doing their own
very specific independent investigating to find each and every illegal
outpost and then oversee their dismantlement," the source said.
Olmert's government has hinted a number of times it will divide
Jerusalem.
In December, Israeli Vice Premier Haim Ramon said the country "must"
give up sections of Jerusalem for a future Palestinian state, even
conceding the Palestinians can rename Jerusalem "to whatever they want."
"We must come today and say, friends, the Jewish neighborhoods,
including Har Homa, will remain under Israeli sovereignty, and the Arab
neighborhoods will be the Palestinian capital, which they will call
Jerusalem or whatever they want," said Ramon during an interview.
Positions held by Ramon, a ranking member of Olmert's Kadima party, are
largely considered to be reflective of Israeli government policy.
Olmert himself recently questioned whether it was "really necessary" to
retain Arab-majority eastern sections of Jerusalem.
Israel recaptured eastern Jerusalem, including the Temple Mount –
Judaism's holiest site – during the 1967 Six Day War. The Palestinians
have claimed eastern Jerusalem as a future capital; the area has large
Arab neighborhoods, a significant Jewish population and sites holy to
Judaism, Christianity and Islam.
About 231,000 Arabs live in Jerusalem, mostly in eastern neighborhoods,
and many reside in illegally constructed complexes. The city has an
estimated total population of 724,000.
Original
Source
|
|
|||||||||
|
Shabbat Times
Subscribe 4 Updates
About Us
Search
Donations
This Month
Month Archive
Recent Photos
Login
|
WND:America drafts plan to cut in 2...asks Israel to forfeit Temple Mount
Comments
No comments found.
Trackbacks
TrackBack URL: |
||||||||
|
|
|||||||||


![Validate my RSS feed [Valid RSS]](http://www.battalionofdeborah.org/logos/valid-rss.png)