Le Nouvel Observateur
Tuesday 09 October 2007
Do you think, as Israeli Vice Prime Minister Haim Ramon has asserted, that his government will support a partition of Jerusalem during the Annapolis Conference at the end of November?
Three weeks ago, Haim Ramon had already published a letter in which he advocated the partition of Jerusalem. And we were together last week in Madrid, where he reaffirmed his points to Foreign Affairs Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos. It's no gaffe on his part. There is real political will.
Today it's clear that two things will emerge during next month's conference. First of all, a common declaration has been in preparation for several weeks. Teams are working on this agreement. Then, a decision is expected on a clear road map to implement this agreement, which should allow for the dismantling of illegal settlements, the halt to construction in the settlements, the return of 92 to 97 percent of the territory Israel conquered in 1967 and the question of Jerusalem. The East of the city should pass into Palestinian control while the West would remain under Israeli control. As for the holy places, those associated with Islam could change over to Jordanian sovereignty; Christian sites could pass under a UN or international community mandate.
But is that Haim Ramon's position or that of his government? This morning Ehud Olmert's entourage rejected, for example, the possibility of any Jordanian sovereignty over a part of the Old City.
The agreements have to be negotiated. All that is political, and things should not filter through the slant of the media. There are public positions and there are negotiations. But remember that Haim Ramon is one of Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's closest associates and manages the question of the peace process within the government. I am confident.
What does the Israeli population think of a partition of Jerusalem?
I don't think that there are popular movements against the partition of Jerusalem. Today, a majority of Israelis is ready for the creation of a Palestinian state on borders quite close to those of 1967. That's what Clinton already proposed in 2000 at Camp David; that's what was under negotiation in Taba in 2001 and what is still advocated by this government. The governmental coalition is still solid and even Avigdor Lieberman, from the extreme right party Yisrael Beiteinu, has asserted that he would not oppose Jerusalem's partition under certain conditions. Of course, Likud will play its role as opposition by going against it. But there should not be a popular movement against it.
We have to reset our clocks. Jerusalem is physically indivisible and the municipalities will have to share many services in common. Moreover, the division already exists de facto: East Jerusalem harbors a Palestinian population, West Jerusalem, an Israeli population. To give Palestinians legitimacy over the place where they live is only legitimate and logical. Of course, that doesn't count the Old City. But when people talk about Jerusalem, they often mix everything up. It's a big city. The Old City, which, it's true, concentrates all the symbolism, the emotional charge, constitutes no more than four or five square kilometers. And Ramon also proposes solutions for the holy places.
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Le Nouvel Observateur
Tuesday 09 October 2007
Do you think, as Israeli Vice Prime Minister Haim Ramon has asserted, that his government will support a partition of Jerusalem during the Annapolis Conference at the end of November?
At this time, the partition of Jerusalem is at the heart of the negotiations between Israelis and Palestinians. They will undoubtedly call for splitting the city, with the Jewish and Armenian neighborhoods to remain under Israeli sovereignty and the Muslim and Catholic neighborhoods moving under international sovereignty. It's an ever-more-definite probability that is promoted by the two delegations. That possibility has already been evoked in the Sharm El Sheikh and Taba negotiations, and one may consider that American pressure has pushed the parties further in this direction in preparation for the upcoming summit.
What about the refugee question?
That question is still a stumbling block to the ongoing negotiations. It will be tackled, but is not yet successfully completed. One possibility that is envisaged is the proclamation of a Palestinian state on the basis of five points negotiated with the state of Israel: territory, political status, the settlements, Jerusalem and the refugee question. That last question is, however, not yet settled.
Hamas, which rules Gaza, rejects these negotiations. Then what about the future of the Gaza strip?
There's a democratically elected Palestinian president, who governs and negotiates peace agreements. Gaza, within a newly created Palestinian state, will become a domestic Palestinian problem. In fact, Hamas is afraid that the negotiations will end in an agreement, since then Gaza will become an isolated excrescence in the landscape.
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