Jerusalem's time bomb
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu may have averted potential violence when he ordered the Jerusalem mayor to halt a project to build a Jewish settlers' enclave in a strong Arab neighborhood in the eastern part of the city. But given his remarks, as reported by his spokesman David Bar-Illan, that the project ought to be stopped "for now", one wonders if he really has defused a time bomb, or simply reset the clock.
His action should nevertheless be welcomed, albeit with reservations. The project, if allowed to go ahead, is an almost sure-fire recipe for all-out violence that will likely expand beyond East Jerusalem's walls.
A very precarious stage has been reached in the negotiations between Israel and the Palestinian Authority to resume their stalled peace talks. Palestinian President Yasser Arafat met with Israeli Foreign Minister David Levy in Brussels last week in which they reported progress in bridging their differences. The situation on the ground is already unstable and a tiny incident could spark a fire. The Jewish housing project would cause an inferno which would surely undo all the hard work that has gone into the process before and since the signing of the 1993 peace agreement.
To those who have been following the Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations, the latest housing project did not come as a surprise. It is the latest of many Israeli moves this past year designed to undermine the 1993 peace agreement. It follows a pattern detectable since Netanyahu came into power: reneging on commitments made by his predecessors, provoking Palestinians and testing their patience to the limit.
Israeli's previous moves included the opening of a tunnel near the Moslem shrine of Al Aqsha mosque (the tunnel was closed after a storm of protests); delays in the withdrawal of Israeli troops from Hebron as mandated by the 1993 agreement (carried out after some pressure); and construction of Jewish apartments near the predominantly Arab East Jerusalem (still going on despite Arab protests). One cannot see the practicality of building a Jewish enclave in a strong Arab neighborhood except with the intention of provoking Palestinians and setting off a new conflict. This move, when considered with the previous maneuvers of the Israeli government over the past year, raises questions about Netanyahu's intentions and whether he genuinely wants peace.
To Arabs in East Jerusalem, however, there is a lot more at stake than the Israeli-Palestinian negotiations that the latest housing project entails. They stand to lose their homes. The project therefore must be particularly upsetting, and their harsh reactions were understandable.
Netanyahu's decision is naively seen in Washington as a gesture of goodwill and as providing a new momentum to resume the peace negotiations. It is but a small gesture to avert an immediate violent conflict in which there would be no winners. Netanyahu has to do a lot more than simply halt the housing project to convince Palestinians to restart the stalled talks. The ball has always been in his court and this latest incident is no different. Palestinians, and we believe many Israelis too, as well as the rest of the world, are still waiting for his real contribution towards peace in the region.