[Dr. Aaron Lerner - IMRA:

What are the odds that the current ruling regime will remain in power with
its current characteristics for the next hundred years? The next twenty?

Let's put it this way: Are there significant odds that the current ruling
regime will not remain in power with its current characteristics for the
next twenty years - not to mention hundred years?

It might not be PC to talk about the first question - but there isn't a
policy maker or pundit - regardless of how starry-eyed he may be - that
would respond "No" to the second question.

And since this is the case, why in the world would Israel create a situation
according to which it could find itself in a crises exacerbated by
arrangements giving Jordan control over an area in Jerusalem?]
=========

'Jordan will have custody of Temple Mt.'
JPost.com Staff , THE JERUSALEM POST Oct. 8, 2007
www.jpost.com
/servlet/Satellite?cid=1191257248078&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull

The Israelis and Palestinians have reached an agreement by which, in a final
peace deal, the Temple Mount's holy sites will be transferred to Jordanian
custody, Al-Quds al-Arabi reported on Monday morning. Also, according to the
London-based newspaper, it was agreed that Jordanian citizenship would be
granted to 90,000 east Jerusalem residents.

According to the report, it is also likely that a supreme supervisory
commission will be established, which will include representatives from the
UN, Egypt, Jordan, Israel and the Palestinian Authority.

When Israel and Jordan signed a peace deal in 1994, it was agreed that
Israel would honor the special role of the Hashemite Kingdom over the
Islamic holy sites in Jerusalem and in a final Israeli-Palestinian peace
accord, Israel would give high importance to Jordan's historic role over the
holy sites.

Israel Radio reported that Jordan had recently set up a new fund for the
renovation of Al Aksa Mosque and Dome of the Rock. The head of the fund even
proposed that Jordan give Jordanian passports to some 90,000 east Jerusalem
residents.

Meanwhile, Vice Premier Haim Ramon told Israel Radio that the question of
who will have custody of Jerusalem's holy sites must not be discussed at the
moment. "We must decide that in that area there will be a special body which
we will discuss in the future," he said.

Also Monday, in an interview with Army Radio, Ramon said that Prime Minister
Ehud Olmert's coalition would support his plan to give the Palestinians
several east Jerusalem neighborhoods in exchange for territory in the West
Bank.

Ramon said that even Israel Beiteinu would back such a concession, as would
the Labor Party.

"There are two central parties that agree to this," Ramon said. "The most
important thing is to preserve the Jewish and democratic state of Israel."

Ramon told Israel Radio that there was a consensus in the cabinet that "no
Palestinian refugee should return to Israel under the law of return - legal
or moral."

However, he proposed a discussion over refugees who wanted to return for
humanitarian reasons, saying that "the idea that this will cause Israel's
collapse is ridiculous."

On Sunday, Ramon hinted that his Jerusalem plan, announced last month, would
be on the negotiating table at the November Middle East peace conference in
Annapolis.

Ramon's associates said afterwards that he had merely stated his own
positions that he has favored for many years. They said his views had become
mainstream and were even adopted by Israel Beiteinu.

According to the plan, Israel would not transfer control of the Old City and
neighborhoods around it to the Palestinians, Ramon said in the Monday
interview.

In Sunday's cabinet meeting, Israel Beiteinu leader Avigdor Lieberman
surprised many by agreeing that Israel should cede control of certain areas
of Jerusalem, while strengthening its control of areas such as the Old City
and Mount Scopus.

Lieberman told Israel Radio on Monday that his party supported swapping
refugee camps in the Jerusalem area with West Bank settlement blocks.