The next battlefield

[TomClash]

The next battlefield

By Danny Rubinstein

The Housing Ministry's plan to build a particularly splendid synagogue topped with a golden dome close to Herod's Gate in Jerusalem's Old City does not appear to be very practical. According to the plan, the synagogue's dome will tower above the walls of the Old City and constitute "the Jewish answer to Al-Aqsa Mosque," as reported in the latest issue of the local Yerushalayim magazine (the writer of the report presumably meant the Dome of the Rock and not Al-Aqsa).

The owner of the Abu-Shnab restaurant at Herod's Gate, like the nearby vegetable sellers, dismissed the report on Saturday. They have become accustomed to the adjacent settler neighborhood where the families of 10 Ateret Cohanim yeshiva students have been living for quite some time. For its part, the Ateret Cohanim yeshiva is leading the Jewish effort to take over assets and settle in the Arab neighborhoods of Jerusalem, particularly within the Old City.

The media and the Palestinian leadership, on the other hand, are taking all the reports published recently on the expansion of the Jewish settlement enterprise in the Muslim neighborhoods of the city very seriously. Last weekend, the Palestinian Authority harshly condemned the renewed "settlement assault" on Jerusalem, referring to that tiny Jewish neighborhood at Herod's Gate. At present, archaeological excavations are under way at the site, but at the various planning and building committees, there are processes in the works with a view to construct 30 housing units around the synagogue with the golden dome.

Attempts to reinforce the Jewish hold on the Old City appear ridiculous of late on the backdrop of the sharp increase in the number of Arabs in the city. There are no precise figures, but thousands of Arabs have clearly been added recently to the population of Jerusalem's Old City. This is clearly evident in every corner of the alleys between the walls. For example, the Khan al-Sultan courtyard, an ancient Mamlukian structure close to Hashalshelet Street, is filled with patios and yards that have been covered with wooden planks and sheets of metal so that people can live there. Hundreds of Arab families who fear that the separation fence and checkpoints will cut them off from their sources of livelihood and various services, are abandoning the comfortable residences in the distant neighborhoods and returning to the Old City.


http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/606948.html