Weekly Commentary: The Illusion of Divided Jerusalem Solutions
Dr. Aaron Lerner Date: 12 March 2010

How did the philosopher get out of the pit?

He assumed a ladder and climbed out.

And that's pretty much what people do when they assert that dividing
Jerusalem is workable.

Let's make this clear.

It doesn't matter how neat the collection of dotted, hatched and other lines
and colored zones may appear on the map.

Nor does it matter what kind of alphabet soup titles you can come up with
for the various and sundry international forces to be deployed on the scene.

Or even the dazzling security gizmos included in the plan.

At the end of the day, the moment you allow yourself to go beyond best case
assumptions, these schemes all collapse.

The geography is simply too tight and intertwined to support it.

What's the fallback position?

Interesting question: Beyond the rhetoric, does the Palestinian leadership
realize that if they stand firm on Jerusalem at the negotiating table they
may never reach a deal?

Are the Palestinians going to wager their destiny on international
acceptance of a unilaterally declared state with a divided Jerusalem and
that that acceptance can ultimately push Israel out? (Hint: there are many
important countries that could give a damn about Jerusalem, but have reasons
much closer to home not to want the precedent a unilaterally declared state
would be),

Or do they have a face saving fallback position?

Can the Palestinian leadership, for example, find a way to develop a strong
national pride in their possession of the authority to appoint the Mufti of
Jerusalem and pay the salaries of the Waqf on the Temple Mount?

Yes. There are ways down the tree.

And the biggest favor that third parties can do for the Palestinians is to
let them know that they are, indeed, up on a tree when it comes to their
demands and expectations for Jerusalem.

Dr. Aaron Lerner, Director IMRA (Independent Media Review & Analysis)
(Mail POB 982 Kfar Sava)
Tel 972-9-7604719/Fax 972-3-7255730
INTERNET ADDRESS: imra@netvision.net.il
Website: http://www.imra.org.il