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Photo: AFP
Security forces at the Temple Mount. 'Stop provocative visits'
Photo: AFP
Photo: Gil Yohanan
Major-General (res.) Danny Yatom
Photo: Gil Yohanan

Security separation neeeded in Jerusalem

Op-ed: Israel must regain control of East Jerusalem and restore Jewish residents' security by creating a fence like in the West Bank. At the same time, it must prevent provocations on the Temple Mount and resume peace talks with the Palestinians.

There is not a single capital in the world today which is experiencing an ethnic, political and religious conflict like the one Israel's capital is experiencing.

 

 

Jerusalem, and mainly the Temple Mount, are at the heart of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The Palestinian national movement has realized that the battle against Zionism begins and ends in " Haram al-Sharif" (the Noble Sanctuary), the third most important place for Islam, the place with a pan-Arab consensus over the need to defend it.

 

As the Temple Mount is also the holiest place for Judaism, any future agreement must be derived from this status. Therefore, it is critically important for Israel to restore security in Jerusalem and prevent a spillover of the conflict from its limited political framework between us and the Palestinians to the broad religious framework of the Muslim world, which is sensitive towards anything happening in Jerusalem.

 

In this case, both aspects are highly important: Preventing terror, riots and restoring the security of Jerusalem's Jewish residents, and preventing an Israeli provocation on the Temple Mount.

 

The policy of Israel's governments since the city's unification has failed to make some 30,000 Palestinians – about one-third of Jerusalem's citizens – feel like residents with equal rights. The municipality and governmental authorities continue to neglect the Arab neighborhoods, and even the security services and police treat them as if they belong to a different authority.

 

Israel has in fact given up its sovereign status in the Arab part of East Jerusalem, an area which makes up about 40% of Jerusalem's territory.

 

The new government which will be established after the elections and the Jerusalem Municipality must regain control of the eastern part of the city.

 

And in order to restore the Jewish residents' security in Jerusalem, it's time to create a security separation in the city like we did with the fence in Judea and Samaria, which significantly decreased terror. Palestinian residents and vehicles will pass through the fence's gates under supervision, and the security services and police, the government ministries and the municipality, will operate on both of its sides. That's the way to tighten our grip on the place.

 

At the same time, the security forces must be instructed to prevent Israelis from visiting the Temple Mount for provocative acts. The attorney general must issue a clear order that such visits not only change the status quo of all of Israel's governments, but could also lead to a life-endangering situation.

 

In order to restore peace in Israel's capital, we must start by restoring security. From my experience in the IDF, in the Mossad and in the negotiations with the Palestinians, I know that there is no peace without security and that restoring peace is a necessary move ahead of a possible agreement with the Palestinians.

 

Our conflict with the Palestinians can only be solved through negotiations, not just by using force (I believe Israel was wrong not to leverage Operation Protective Edge for a resumption of the negotiations with the Palestinians.)

 

The elected government should adopt the Arab initiative – with necessary amendments – as a basis for an agreement. It must also renew the negotiations in order to pursue an regional agreement with other Arab states as well.

 

For that purpose, there is a need for a Middle Eastern conference together with international elements, which will work to resume and advance the peace process, a process which will reduce the level of violence and terror in Jerusalem as well.

 

We, Israel's citizens, must demand that the election candidates present a practical plan for both reinforcing security in Jerusalem and resuming the peace process.

 

Major-General (res.) Danny Yatom served as head of the Mossad and as an advisor to Prime Ministers Yitzhak Rabin and Ehud Barak in the peace negotiations with the Palestinians, Jordan and Syria.

 


פרסום ראשון: 12.12.14, 01:25
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