Palestinians in east Jerusalem
Photo: AFP
Jerusalem disengagement
It's time to give Palestinian Jerusalemites a choice – Israeli or Palestinian citizenship
It is an anomaly that doesn't exist, apparently, anywhere else in the world: Residents of eastern Jerusalem enjoy the status of being residents of Israel, with all the attendant benefits, including national insurance, education, freedom of movement, education and health care.
Yet they vote in elections as part of the Palestinian Authority. That makes them the only people in the world to reside simultaneously in two countries. At once, they are Israelis and Palestinians.
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Residents of eastern Jerusalem, who enjoy the best of both worlds, are not responsible for this predicament. Rather, responsibility falls squarely in Israel's court for allowing this bizarre situation to continue at all.
Israeli policy makers must be strong enough to put an end to this anomaly: Either grant Jerusalem Arabs full citizenship, in which case there would be no case to allow them to vote in elections for a foreign government, or take away their Israeli residency rights and make them Palestinians in every way.
Because residents of eastern Jerusalem value their privileges over citizenship, but rhetoric requires them to remain silently on the right side of the Palestinian political map, they are likely to prefer joining their Palestinian brothers.
The world would scream out at such a move, in which Israel would forego its territorial rights and responsibility for a quarter-million residents. And at current reproduction rates, Jerusalem Arabs will number more than a million before too long.
Decision time
The time has come to make some decisions. If in the past Israel has freely granted citizenship or residency rights to Druze residents of the Golan Heights, residents of Rajar in the north and Arabs in eastern Jerusalem in order to establish ownership of the land, and if territory was more important than demographics, then Israel must reverse its priorities.
Demographic stats have done their work, and now we understand that demographics are more important than land area, because people, not land, are the determining factor in a democracy.
Today, Israel is foregoing its rights to certain areas, such as the Gaza Strip, in order to preserve its identity as a Jewish country.
Disengaging in Jerusalem
If this is, in fact, the prevailing thought today amongst the Israeli establishment, it should be carried out in eastern Jerusalem as well. Why object to elections in eastern Jerusalem if the Palestinians themselves want them, and the Palestinian Authority refuses to take responsibility for them?
And because we are speaking about a unilateral move, Israel can set the terms of the move and retain control of Jewish neighborhoods in eastern Jerusalem (something even Bill Clinton agreed to at Camp David (Israelis to Israel, Palestinians to the Palestinian Authority), as well as the 1-square kilometer old city.
Palestinians view the demographic issue as a sword with which they can threaten Israel. Why should we not turn it on them?
That way, Israel's "Palestinian problem" in eastern Jerusalem will become the "Palestinian problem” for the Palestinian Authority, who will then be forced to look after education, health care and welfare for residents of eastern Jerusalem.
If Israeli decision makers were even wiser, they could pass the whole thing off as a major Israeli concession to the Palestinians (which must then be repaid).
But we know the truth. Such a move would be beneficial for Israel in every way.
Guy Bechor is a regular contributor to Israel’s leading newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth
