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Peace Process

'J'lem will be divided with fire all around'

Rightist MKs work to prevent surrender of Jewish capital


By Ryan Jones
January 02, 2006

A group of right-wing Israeli politicians from the National Union Knesset faction toured the eastern outskirts of Jerusalem Monday in an effort to highlight the growing threat to Israel's sovereignty over all of its ancient capital.

Led by outspoken Knesset Member Effi Eitam, the group spent much of its time inspecting unchecked illegal Arab construction in the areas between eastern Jerusalem and the nearby Jewish city of Ma'aleh Adumim.

That construction is by and large financed by the Palestinian Authority and wealthy donors from Saudi Arabia.

?Jerusalem is being divided before our eyes, and the illegal construction is going to block the continuity between the capital and Ma'aleh Adumim,? Ynet quoted Eitam as saying. ?The capital of Israel will be surrounded by a fence, with a wall in its heart and fire all around it.?

While both Ariel Sharon and Amir Peretz, the current front runners in the race for Israel's premiership, have vowed to never divide Jerusalem, periodic statements by some of their top colleagues suggest otherwise.

In particular, Ehud Olmert, a close confidante of Sharon and a former mayor of Jerusalem, has gone on record as saying Israel would have no choice but to relinquish control over the predominantly Arab sections of eastern Jerusalem, including the Old City.

Observers fear such a surrender would not end with the Arab neighborhoods, but would see Israel also forced to relinquish major Jewish environs such as Gilo, French Hill and Ramat Eshkol.

But its not only Sharon and Peretz that concern some rightists.

Eitam is not convinced a government led by Likud leader Binyamin Netanyahu won't likewise give in to Arab and international demands on the holy city.

During his previous tenure as prime minister, Netanyahu succumbed to overwhelming American pressure and signed away the bulk of Hebron, King David's first capital, to the PLO. The town is now a stronghold for the Hamas terrorist organization.

The answer, Eitam says, is to support and hold accountable a Likud-led government with a strong bloc of MKs to its right.

?Without a strong rightist bloc to watch over the Likud, Netanyahu may divide Jerusalem or fail to prevent its division.?

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