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Jerusalem expansion plan draws flak
NAOMI SEGAL
Jewish Telegraphic Agency
Israel's decision to expand its capital city has prompted a new international dispute over the status of Jerusalem. The Palestinian Authority, as well as the United States and Israel's closest allies in the Arab world, this week criticized the move as a provocative act that could deal another blow to the long-stalled peace process.
But a primary motivation for the move - to boost Jerusalem's economy - has nothing to do with the peace process, say Israeli officials, who sought to make a distinction between economic and political issues regarding Jerusalem.
"I'm afraid to say there has been a deliberate campaign to try to distort our decision," Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told a news conference June 21. The Cabinet's decision "has no political implications whatsoever either in Jerusalem or outside of Jerusalem."
The premier's remarks followed the Cabinet's decision June 21 to create an umbrella municipality for the greater Jerusalem area, which would include such communities as Givat Ze'ev and Ma'aleh Adumim, which are in the West Bank. The proposal, drawn up by a government committee in a bid to strengthen the economic development of the capital, also includes annexation of land and suburban communities west of the capital within Israel proper. This fact has sparked sharp opposition from Jewish residents.
According to the Cabinet decision, eight main points were addressed in the plan:
- Widening the city's jurisdiction, to annex outlying communities west of the capital. Following sharp protests from residents of Mevasseret Zion, a suburb of Jerusalem, the community was excluded from the plan.
- Creation of an umbrella, or "super-municipality," that would provide services for additional communities, including some located in the West Bank, in such areas as planning and building.
- Encouraging development of a high-tech area.
- Offering housing benefits to reduce the current gap in prices between housing in Jerusalem and lower-cost areas outside the city.
- Improving train service between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv.
- Integrating a mass transit system of light rail and buses.
- Development of a major road system surrounding the city.
- Speeding up implementation of neighborhood renewal projects.
Netanyahu, who was joined at his news conference by Jerusalem Mayor Ehud Olmert, said the purpose of the plan was to streamline services already provided to outlying communities and to give Jerusalem greater control over areas west of the capital. They said the plan's inducements for housing, jobs and transportation would benefit both Jewish and Arab residents of the city.
The Israeli government's efforts to separate political from economic concerns surrounding Jerusalem did not mute criticism of the plan. U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright said unilateral moves linked to the final status of the city were not productive. In a conference call June 19, Albright asked the chairman of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, Melvin Salberg, who was in Israel, to press Netanyahu to cancel the plan.
Albright, who initiated the call on four hours notice, told a dozen U.S. Jewish leaders that in an earlier call Netanyahu had denied that such a plan existed. According to a participant on the call, Albright said that Netanyahu blamed the reports on "Palestinian propaganda" and promised to clarify his government's position at the news conference June 21. The news conference, however, did little to mollify American or Palestinian concerns.
Despite the Israeli clarifications, Palestinian officials denounced the move as a de facto annexation of areas in the West Bank and an attempt to alter the status of Jerusalem and the city's demographic balance between Jews and Arabs, in violation of the signed accords. Netanyahu rejected the criticism, saying that the plan deliberately did not do anything to alter the political status of the city, which is slated to be resolved in final-status talks between Israel and the Palestinian Authority.
Speaking at the news conference, Netanyahu suggested that there was a deliberate effort to distort the plan's details and turn it into a "political hot potato." Netanyahu denied that the plan represented any violation of Israeli-Palestinian accords.
The Israeli move comes as the United States is trying to achieve a breakthrough that would revive Israeli-Palestinian peace talks. At the same time, Washington has been seeking to dissuade Western European countries from backing an Arab effort to upgrade the status of the Palestine Liberation Organization at the United Nations.
Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat termed the Israeli Cabinet's decision a "declaration of war." Ahmed Tibi, an Israeli Arab adviser to Palestinian Authority leader Yasser Arafat, said it was a "slap in the face" of American efforts to end a 16-month-long deadlock in Israeli-Palestinian negotiations.
Egypt and Jordan, the two Arab countries that have signed peace treaties with Israel, also denounced the plan, as did members of opposing political parties within Israel.
The Labor Party accused Netanyahu of mistakenly bringing Jerusalem to the center of political debate. Labor Knesset member Hagai Merom suggested that the decision was an attempt by the premier to placate far-right members of his coalition, who have been clamoring for action on such building projects as Har Homa in southeastern Jerusalem. Merom also said Netanyahu might be trying to convince right-wing members of his coalition to agree to a further redeployment of Israeli troops from the West Bank.
The United States has been pressing Israel to carry out a redeployment of some 13 percent, but Netanyahu has balked at making a decision on the size of a redeployment, and the National Religious Party has threatened to bring down his government if he agrees to a redeployment.
Naomi Segal writes from Jerusalem.
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