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Moshe Elad: US accepts Arab terminology in respect to Jerusalem neighborhoods

US Special Envoy Mitchell’s demand that the Israeli government refrain from building in Jerusalem’s Gilo neighborhood is merely the prelude to a process meant to erode the legitimate status of Israel’s Jerusalem neighborhoods.

These neighborhoods (including Gilo, Ramot Alon, French Hill, and Neve Yaakov) were built after the Six-Day War within the jurisdiction of Israel’s capital; now, they are finally being granted American recognition of their traditional Palestinian name: Settlements.

A direct link exists between Obama’s speech in Cairo and the American decision that Gilo and French Hill are just the same as the settlements of Ofra and Elon Moreh. We can therefore conclude that the US Administration has started to speak Arabic. Salam Aleikum, America!

The facts regarding Jerusalem’s unification are clear. About four decades ago, Israeli governments headed by Levi Eshkol and Golda Meir took two significant decisions; they did so boldly and openly. One decision was “territorial,” while the second one was “demographic.”

On June 27, 1967 Eshkol decided to annex an area of roughly 70,000 dunams, only 10% of which was part of the Old City. The rest of the area included the land of 28 villages in the West Bank from the Bethlehem and Ramallah area.

In three different stages of confiscation and construction, by 1970 the State of Israel built the following neighborhoods: Shapira Hill (known as French Hill,) Ramot Eshkol, Maalot Dafna, Neve Yaakov, Ramat Alon, Talpiot East, Gilo, and later on Ramat Shlomo – these neighborhoods were built on 23,500 dunams of the annexed territory.

Meanwhile, in 1973 Golda’s government took a decision that would doubtfully even be considered by anyone today, regarding “maintenance of Jewish demographic superiority in the Jerusalem area.” This followed a report by the Gafni Committee that recommended maintaining a ratio of 73.5% Jews compared to 25.5% Arabs in the capital.

To that end, the government built the new neighborhoods in Jerusalem that were meant to counterbalance the 70,000 Arab Palestinians residing in the region, while also curbing the geographical contiguity of their communities with the capital’s metro area...
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