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In-Depth Coverage

Original Commentaries

08/07/08
How to Deal with Jerusalem  —Lt. Col. (Res.) Ron Shatzberg, Project Director, Economic Cooperation Foundation. Interview with Middle East Bulletin.
08/07/08
How to Deal with Jerusalem  —
08/05/08
Why Did Maliki Call for a Timeline?  —by Christopher Kojm who teaches at the Elliott School of International Affairs at George Washington University and is a former senior advisor to the Iraq Study Group. Original Commentary for Middle East Bulletin.

Setting the Record Straight

Already Divided

“Even the Arab minority in the city has shown its preference for living under Israeli rule, as many have moved to the Israeli side of the security barrier being built around Jerusalem. Their choice is reasonable, as Jerusalem offers the quality of life of a modern western city while only a few kilometers away the norm is a third world standard of living, chaos and religious intolerance. An undivided Jerusalem is the best guarantee of a better life for all Jerusalemites.”
—Nathan Diament, Director of Public Policy, Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America, July 23, 2008 versus
  • “Those who believe that Jerusalem should not be divided, and mean by that that the Arab neighborhoods should not be separated from the city, should be the first to insist that an active policy be adopted by the government and the municipality to improve the lot of local Arab residents. Barring that, Jerusalem will continue to remain a divided city.”
    —Moshe Arens, former Israeli defense and foreign minister (Likud), “A Story of Neglect,” Haaretz, July 28, 2008

    • Middle East Analysis

    A Lawful Barrier is the Best Security Measure

    September 7, 2007
    “The interference of the Israeli Supreme Court in matters which are solely under the jurisdiction of the security system– a repetitive interference – highlights the absurd situation in which the Israeli governing system is at the moment and immobilizes the functioning of the authorities.”
    -- MK Effie Eitam, "Undermining Security," NRG, Israeli Daily Maariv’s online publication, September 5, 2007 on the High Court of Justice's ruling on Bilin
  • "[I]f we compare this period to the period before the fence was operating, we’re talking about hundreds of terror attacks before and almost nothing inside Israel after... no one can argue with these effects. And the only question and my obligation over the fence is the way — the route of the fence. And as I said before, I think that Israel should move or remove the... route of the fence toward the green line — maybe exactly on the green line... wherever the route of the fence is inside the West Bank and separates families from their land or children from their school, it is wrong and we should change it."
    -- Brigadier General (Ret.) Ilan Paz, Former head of the Israeli Civil Administration in the West Bank (2002-2005), Center for American Progress, July 12, 2007