Cabinet Minister Benny Begin says that damage has been caused by even agreeing to consider proposals to divide Jerusalem.
Speaking at the opening session of the Seventh Jerusalem Conference on Monday evening, the son of the late former Prime Minister Menachem Begin bemoaned the lack of Israeli insistence on retaining Jerusalem specifically because of our historic national bonds with the Holy City.
“For many years,” he said, “the considerations mentioned were exclusively military, to the total exclusion of the others. The [Arab] side succeeded impressively in talking about their rights to Jerusalem, even if some of them were made up - but on our side, we don’t talk so much about our rights, or about justice; these are not ‘modern’ enough, they are too ‘ideological,’ they’re not ‘in’… We of course talk about our historic national connections with Hevron, Shilo, Beit El – but all the more so do we need to emphasize this regarding Jerusalem… We all know that no other nation or religion has a better claim to Jerusalem than we do.”
Interrupted by applause several times, Begin continued with criticism of the previous government, headed by Ehud Olmert, that agreed to negotiate the future of Jerusalem: “Damage was caused by the concealing of these basic [historic-national] considerations - and even more so by the placing of certain proposals on the negotiating table: Not only for giving up parts of eastern Jerusalem, but also for giving up our sovereignty over the Temple Mount, Mt. of Olives, City of David, and having them be run jointly by an international consortium… Yes, this is a grave blow.”
A Positive Lesson
“There’s an ironic lesson here, however, and that is that even these concessions didn’t work, and in fact cannot lead to any agreement, as we see with our own eyes. I want to say here in the name of the government that proposals of this nature will not be repeated, under any circumstances!”
“In our post-modern world, we hear of ‘alternative narratives,’ and that everything is relative, etc., etc. We must state the truth: There is no equality between our ‘narrative’ and anyone else’s. Yes, there must be access for all religions to the holy sites – but in order to guarantee this, Jerusalem must remain under the exclusive sovereignty of the State of Israel… We must be constantly on the alert against ideas of internationalization – as if such a thing could solve the problem.”
"I'll Say This Quietly"
Begin concluded by saying that one of the early Zionist leaders used to write in the margins of his speeches, “If the point is weak, say it loudly.’ “Therefore, I say the following quietly: Jerusalem - our capital - all of it - under Israeli sovereignty - will never be divided again.”
