Discussing Jerusalem (reasonably)
I got a wonderful item in the mail this week: the latest issue of the Palestine-Israel Journal, a quarterly, now co-edited by (Palestinian) Ziad AbuZayyad and (Israeli) Hillel Schenker, that's been coming out since 1994.
This issue is focused on the situation in and prospects for Jerusalem, 40 years after the Eastern half of the city, including its historic, walled "Old City" area, came under Israeli occupation in 1967. You can read some of these articles online (the portal is here.) I think it's a pity they didn't also make freely available there the article in which former City Council member Meir Margalit writes quite explicitly, and with apparent personal contrition, about the ways in which the Israeli-dominated City Council has practiced, and continues to practice, systematic discrimination against the 35% or so of Jerusalem's current residents who are Palestinian Arabs.
For example, Margalit writes (pp.24-25),
East Jerusalem [i.e. Palestinian]
residents, who make up 35% of the population, receive 9-12% of the
municipal budget-- well below their urgent and legitimate needs--
suffer from deprivation and a chronic lack of infrastructure...
Regarding demography, the State determined, in one of its most shameful
decisions, that the Arab sector should not exceed 30% of the population
of the city in order to maintain an absolute majority of Jews.
The latest master plan ... sets a new limit-- 40% Arab. The
decisionmakers are apparently incapable of understanding the moral
implications of their untenable policy. It is not difficult to
imagine how the State of Israel would react if a European country
intended limiting the number of its Jewish residents. (pp.24-25)
His exploration of the mindset of the Israeli officials who administer what is, in intent as well as in effect, a very racist policy, as well as his comparison of this with the mindset of officials implementing European colonial policies in Asia and Africa, are very interesting and could well have been developed even further.
Menachem Klein's short reflection on his his own personal journey-- from having been a religious nationalism-infused teenager who in 1971 proudly took part in establishing a new Jewish settlement near Bethlehem to being a convinced peacenik who worked with Yossi Beilin and Yasser Abed Rabbo on drafting the "Geneva Initiative"-- is also well worth reading.
The paper edition also carries the transcript of an intriguing round-table discussion on the Jerusalem question among eight of the city's sons and daughters-- four of them Israelis, and four Palestinian.
I just note, yet again, the degree to which discussions that are held on these weighty issues on the Palestinian-Israeli agenda among the people most directly concerned can frequently be so much more calm and realistic than the one-sidedness, ideological rigidity, and name-calling that one so frequently encounters in discussions of these issues in the US.
So anyway, go and get hold of the paper version of this issue of the PIJ if you possibly can! (Ordering instructions are there, on their website.) The articles on Jerusalem in this volume, in particular, will make an excellent addition to any library in the west.
Comments
Comment from...
JES, at
June 26, 2007 11:53 PM:
Thank you for that link. I have always admired Ziad AbuZayyad. He is not just a slogan repeater, and I appreciated his calm, reasoned arguments. After reading several of the articles available online, I am impressed by the variety of opinions that the editors have selected for the journal.