Jerusalem Mayor Uri Lupolianski warned Sunday of a demographic collapse that could cause the capital to lose its Jewish majority and transfer the city into the hands of Hamas.
Speaking at a special cabinet meeting at the Begin Heritage Center in Mishkenot Sha'ananim in honor of the 40th anniversary of the unification of Jerusalem, Lupolianski said that Hamas could gain demographic control of the capital within twelve years.
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Israel, he said, needs a long-term plan so that Jerusalem will forever remain Israel's
capital. "We will not be satisfied with crumbs," said the mayor.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert promised at the meeting to allocate NIS 5.75 billion to the city and to cancel Jerusalem's employers' tax.
Earlier, a poll conducted by the Zionist Council in Israel found that 31% of Jewish Israelis cited Jerusalem's dwindling Jewish majority as the city's main problem, while 26% said that its lack of jobs was the critical issue.
Jerusalem residents cited lack of work opportunities as the city's main problem.
Jerusalem's current population stands at 720,000, 66% Jewish, 34% Arab.
A recent study carried out by Hebrew University demographer Prof. Sergio Della Pergola predicted that if the situation - and Jerusalem's borders - remained unchanged, only 60% of Jerusalem's residents would be Jews by 2020, with the remaining 40% Arab, while another survey predicted that the number of Jews and Arabs living in the city would reach parity within a quarter century.
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