"The status of Jerusalem is among the most explosive issues in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, defying resolution throughout two decades of on-again, off-again peace talks. Today, the Arab and Jewish sections of the city are worlds apart.
Job discrimination against Arab Jerusalemites is common and investments in infrastructure and education in east Jerusalem are far below the levels plowed into the western sector. The discrimination has stifled economic development, fueled chronic joblessness and stoked poverty.
"We often use slogans in regard to Jerusalem and refrain from looking at the reality of Jerusalem. The result is that the discrepancy is something that many people have trouble adjusting to and accepting," Olmert told Israel TV." Foxnews/AP
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Ehud Olmert was Deputy Mayor of occupied Jerusalem under that great and good man, Teddy Kollek. At the time he looked like a genuine hard a-s on this subject and would glower at Kollek in meetings when the subject of the rights of the Arab citizens of the city came up.
When he became PM, he evidently had his "road to Damascus" moment (irony alert), and began to make offers to the Palestinians of some sort of shared sovereignty as a road to peace. The Palestinians, never wishing to miss an opportunity to miss an opportunity grandly rebuffed him with the "not enough" slogan.
The old, walled city of Jerusalem lies at the heart of any chance of a settlement not built on Arab and Israeili skulls. The Christian and Muslim quarters of the Old City plus other parts of East Jerusalem, like Shiekh Jarrah, the Mount of Olives south of Mount Scopus and Abu Dis are indispensible parts of any partition that the Palestinians might accept.
A shared administration of such necessities as electricity, water, trash disposal, sewage and policing is possible. There have been existing plans for schemes of government based on such ideas for many years.
!n 1973 I heard Admiral Moorer, then CJCS lecture on peace for the Holy Land. When he finished, I asked him how he would deal with Jerusalem in a settlement. He fell silent and then said that this could be settled "at a later time." Is this the time? pl
Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/world/2012/05/20/former-israeli-pm-jerusalem-must-be-partitioned/#ixzz1vQgkL56M
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jerusalem
