Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Salam Fayyad Saturday night copied a 2,000-year-old Jewish prayer and told Christians in Bethlehem, "Next year, Inshallah (G-d willing), we will celebrate in the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in east Jerusalem, the capital of the Palestinian state…according to 1967 borders, a state whose capital shall be Jerusalem."
The city is the home of the two Jewish Holy Temples, the second of which was destroyed nearly 2,000 years ago. Jews have been praying ever since for the return of Jerusalem to Jews. Part of the city came under Israeli sovereignty with the re-establishment of the modern State of Israel in 1948. The remainder of the city, including the site of the Temple Mount, was restored to Israel in the 1967 Six-Day War.
However, the Arab Muslim world has increasingly denied any Jewish connection with the city. Fayyad's assertion that Jerusalem is the “eternal” home of Arabs is one of several twists of history by the Muslim world, which also claims that Ishmael and not Yitzchak (Isaac) was bound by Abraham as a sacrifice to the Almighty, whose command was considered a test of Abraham’s faith.
Fayyad’s speech was the latest of several bold statements. Several months ago, he completely disengaged from the American Roadmap plan and declared that the PA will declare itself an independent country by 2011.
He has been drumming up international support for a possible United Nations resolution to recognize the PA as a country, a unilateral initiative that attempts to force a de facto situation that would test Israeli sovereignty over the united city of Jerusalem.
Fayyad, who was hand-picked by the United States to lead PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas’ government, vowed that “the dawn of liberty shall sprout from all of the Old City's alleys in Shechem, in Hebron and in all of the communities and refugee camps” in Judea, Samaria and Gaza.
His comments indicate that the PA will stand fast on its demand for the right of immigration of several million PA Arabs claiming ancestry in Israel.
The PA’s threats for unilateral declaration as an independent state coincide with the Obama administration’s attempts to in effect present Israel with a final status agreement based on PA demands.
