One Jerusalem for two nations

[Violet_Crumble]

By Danny Rubinstein

The scenery in the Old City of Jerusalem has changed in the last few months. After more than four years, we are once again seeing groups of tourists from abroad touring the city. These are not only Christian pilgrims bearing crosses and singing hymns as they walk the Via Dolorosa on their way to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, but rather ordinary tourists trekking through the markets and alleyways inside the walls.

Among the tourists are many Israelis, too. Early on Saturday mornings, it is already difficult to find parking on Mamilla Street, from which stairs lead up to the Jaffa Gate. Until not long ago, the road was empty. The markets are filled with many more shoppers than in the recent past, there are few incidents and tourists feel safe. Are the walls and fences constructed around East Jerusalem the reason? Perhaps.

Sheikh Taysir al-Tamimi, the chief kadi (Muslim religious judge) of the Palestinian Authority, said in honor of Jerusalem Day ("Jerusalem Occupation Day," to the Palestinians) last week that the Old City has been turned into a veritable military fortress, with many hundreds of soldiers and police officers constantly on patrol. Cameras follow all movement in every alleyway and corner, in addition to the cameras trained on the city from a blimp that constantly hovers overhead on weekends. And of course, there are the dozens of checkpoints and improvised roadblocks at the entrance points to the city and on its streets. Al-Tamimi called upon Israel's Arabs ("1948 Arabs," as he calls them) to mobilize and help stave off the Israeli assault to "Judaize" Jerusalem. And in fact, each weekend, many thousands of Muslims from the Galilee, the Triangle and the Negev throng to the Old City to pray at Al-Aqsa and shop.

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Among the Palestinian public - just as among the Israeli public - public opinion surveys show that the majority still favors the idea of establishing two countries for the two nations. Eliminating the option of a Palestinian capital in Jerusalem means the end of the two-state solution. If any possibility for a solution on the basis of this principle exists, what is being done now in Jerusalem is destroying it.

And if there are not two nations for two states here, the only other option is one state for two nations. There is nothing else.

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/586965.html