Jerusalem - Palestinian Capital?

JERUSALEM - APRIL 2010

Israel plans residential building in East Jerusalem. East Jerusalem is where the Palestinians are planning to establish their capitol when a two-state solution to the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinians is achieved.
An immutable law of physics is that two bodies cannot occupy the same space at the same time. That physical law is accepted by both parties. Therein lies the problem facing the Jews and the Arabs. The solution to the problem is the non-existence of one of the parties; the State of Israel or the State of Palestine (which is yet to come into existence.) They cannot both own Jerusalem.

It has become obvious to reasonable minds after sixty plus years of war and non-agreement, that the elements of agreement in this conundrum can never suffice to establish a two-state solution. Over eighty percent of the Palestinians wish to throw Israel into the sea. An unknown but dedicated percentage of the Jewish population of Israel will not agree to give up a single biblical rock of the ancient Land of Israel. Least of all, would they ever agree to give up a portion of the City of David, the City of Peace that is the literal Hebrew name of the city where David’s son, King Solomon, built the ancient temple of the Jews, the place where Abraham, the founder of Judaism and Father of the Jewish People, prepared to slaughter his son Isaac to show the actuality of his belief in God.

In the past, the United States has balanced the Arab/Islamic world in Israel’s life and death struggles. Presently, that support appears to be weakened by the United States’ need to establish peace in the area for its own needs. And an implausable win-win situation in a two-state solution to the conflict has not saved Israel from the Obama Plan. And the world is now almost unified in its demands on Israel without regard for the constant unwavering threat to Israel’s existence by over a billion Muslims.

Sadly, Israel has treated its own Palestinian population as second class citizens rather than lifting them up to parity with Jewish citizens to create a much-needed democratic buffer to their Arab brethren. Perhaps Israel would have faced fewer wars, fewer rockets, and fewer suicide bombers over the years of its existence surrounded by aggressive neighbors.. Role models for modernity and relative equality might have defanged somewhat the oligarchs in the countries surrounding Israel and Israel’s political stance in the rest of the world would have been enhanced dramatically. Just imagine the impact that Israeli-Arab ambassadors might have had in the world’s corridors of power.

This lost opportunity will not return easily, if at all.