Jerusalem Undivided
Dep. Minister Kara: United J'lem Must Remain Israeliby Hillel Fendel
Zionist-Druze Deputy Minister Ayoub Kara insists that Jerusalem must remain united and under Israeli sovereignty; there is "no law or democracy in Arab world."
Kara, who serves as Deputy Minister for the Development of the Galilee and Negev on behalf of the Likud Party, was treated to an exclusive strategic tour of Jerusalem and environs on Tuesday. The tour was sponsored by the "Keep Jerusalem" organization, and his guides were Keep Jerusalem's President and CEO Chaim Silberstein and former World Likud CEO Rafael Cohen.
The tour began on a hilltop on which the late King Hussein of Jordan began building his summer palace in 1967 – and which was captured by Israel in the Six Day War. The skeleton of the building still stands there, exactly as it stood when its construction was interrupted.
The hilltop – the Biblical Givat Sha'ul - enjoys a commanding view of the entirety of northern Jerusalem and surrounding areas, emphasizing the negative implications of dividing Jerusalem. Silberstein stressed the dangers of such a division from strategic, security, and political standpoints.
Minister Kara also noted the vast extent of illegal Arab construction throughout what is known as "eastern Jerusalem." Silberstein said that the "creeping concrete conquest" is the correct way to refer to the Arab attempt, largely successful, to create a building continuum from Ramallah in the north to Bethlehem in the south.
The tour concluded with a visit to the Shimon HaTzaddik compound adjacent to Sheikh Jarrah. Kara met and talked with Jewish families residing there.
Deputy Minister Kara declared that "we, the Zionist public in Israel, must do everything in our power to preserve a united Jerusalem under Israeli democratic sovereignty. In the Arab entities, there is no law or democracy, and people are judged and sentenced by 'kangaroo courts.'"
Kara said he calls "on all who define themselves as Zionists to participate in the Public Advocacy Tours run by Keep Jerusalem-Im Eshkachech and educate themselves on the critical issues and dangers facing Jerusalem."
Jewish International Rights to Jerusalem
Contrary to anti-Israel public opinion in much of the world, Israel enjoys significant international rights to Jerusalem. Dr. Jacques Gauthier, a non-Jewish Canadian lawyer who spent 20 years researching the issue, has concluded: "Jerusalem belongs to the Jews, by international law." His doctoral dissertation on Jerusalem and its legal history concludes that the League of Nations and the United Nations gave the Jewish people title to the city of Jerusalem.
This process began at the famous San Remo Conference of April 1920, when the four Principal Allied Powers of World War I - Great Britain, France, Italy and Japan - agreed to affirm the Balfour Declaration and create a Jewish national home in what is now the Land of Israel. The San Remo resolutions were confirmed by all 51 members of the League of Nations on July 24, 1922.
Keep Jerusalem particularly emphasizes that the League of Nations made sure to grant the Arabs of the Holy Land individual civil and religious rights - but specifically not those of a national political nature. Calling for "the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people," it emphasized that "nothing shall be done which may prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine." No distinction was made, of course, regarding Jerusalem.
As published online at Arutz Sheva, 23 March 2011
Labels: Heritage, Israel, Middle East
posted by Pieface @ Wednesday, March 23, 2011
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