Strategic Threats Minister Avigdor Lieberman and fellow MKs of his Yisrael Beiteinu party toured the City of David (Silwan) just below the Western Wall on Wednesday, and said it must remain in Israel's hands.
Minister Avigdor Lieberman made headlines and angered nationalist camp members recently when he said that he would not object to having Jerusalem-area Arab neighborhoods given away to a Palestinian state-to-be-created. During his tour, however, of the City of David - an eastern-Jerusalem, mostly Arab-populated area just below and to the south of the Temple Mount and the walled city - he said it must remain Israeli.
Lieberman continues to feel that neighborhoods in the vicinity such as Abu Dis and Anata are dispensable in a final peace treaty with the Arabs of the Palestinian Authority, but now emphasizes that the City of David is not.
The City of David, known in Hebrew as Ir David and in Arabic as Silwan, is actually the original city of Jerusalem - the Jebusite area captured by King David well before his son Solomon built the Holy Temple above it. Of well over 100 Jewish families currently living in the areas under and to the south of the Old City of Jerusalem, some 40 reside in the City of David (Ir David). Constantly seeking to expand the Jewish presence in the area, the Ir David project is run by Elad (an acronym for To the City of David) Association. Elad was founded by David Be'eri, one of the area's first Jewish residents and the host of Lieberman's visit today.
(Fifty-one Jewish families live in Maaleh HaZeitim, nine in the two Yemenite Village buildings, and six in the slightly-further away Kidmat Zion. In addition, Jewish families live in Shimon HaTzaddik, Beit Orot, and Mt. of Olives.)
Lieberman explained that he would be willing to give away Arab-populated areas that do not block Jewish contiguity, in exchange for Arab agreement to Israel's annexing of Jewish-populated areas such as Gush Etzion, Givat Ze'ev and Maaleh Adumim. He also said that E-1, an unpopulated area just northwest across the highway from Maaleh Adumim, must remain Israeli.
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert implied this week in a Knesset speech that not all neighborhoods around Jerusalem must be retained by Israel. "Was it necessary [in the 1967 annexation of Jerusalem] to also add the Shuafat refugee camp, Sawakra, Walaje and other villages and define them as part of Jerusalem? On that, I must confess, I am not convinced," stated Olmert, who served as Mayor of Jerusalem for 10 years and staunchly opposed any territorial compromise in the city.
Olmert's Diaspora Affairs advisor has written a letter to the Orthodox Union (OU) stating that Jerusalem - which he did not define - "will remain united and that the issue of Jerusalem is currently not under negotiations with the Palestinians."
Asked what would prevent rockets from raining down on Jerusalem from areas given over to the PA, Minister Lieberman said, "Israel's strength will stop them, just as in Beit Jalla; it is very close to [the southern Jerusalem neighborhood of] Gilo, but mortar shells are no longer fired upon Gilo." He did not explain why the same deterrence effect does not seem to be working in Sderot and the Negev.
Minister Lieberman also commented during his visit on the scheduled summit meeting in Annapolis. While the PA demands a detailed commitment by Israel as a pre-condition to the summit, Lieberman made a demand of his own: "Without a cessation of Kassam rocket fire from Gaza, no diplomatic process can be advanced. We will not be able to accept a situation of incessant rocket fire upon a city [Sderot - ed.] that is under Israeli sovereignty."
Like the Shas Party, Lieberman feels that the summit can be dangerous - "it can define the problems, but can't solve them" - and says it should deal only with economic issues.