The truck used to carry out the attack in East Talpiot, Sunday
Photo: AFP
Israeli foolishness is making terror attacks possible
Op-ed: The annexation of 22 villages to Jerusalem, although they are not part of the city, is pure foolishness. At any given moment, a young Palestinian from one of these hostile villages can grab a knife, a gun or jump into a truck and launch an attack. It has happened again and again, and it will keep happening.
Let’s start from the end. We must do to Jerusalem what we did to Israel. In other words, separation. A separation fence. The murderer who carried out Sunday’s vehicular attack
came from Jabel Mukaber. He has an Israeli ID, although he, and most of the young people in his area, were and will remain Palestinian, and quite a few of them support Hamas. That is the current climate.
Why the hell is this village part of Jerusalem? Why is Israel giving them the option to carry out attacks? We can protect all of Jerusalem by creating a separation line that will not affect the idea of Jerusalem as Israel’s united capital and will only benefit the Israeli interest.
The Save Jewish Jerusalem movement has already published the figures. Today, 40 percent of Jerusalem’s residents are Arabs. Sixty percent of young residents aged 18 or younger are Arabs. A new separation line, which will not affect the city’s unity, would give the Jews an 80 percent majority. After all, Jews have no access to most of the 22 villages that were annexed to the greater Jerusalem area. Those who are careful keep away.
Honoring terrorist in Jabel Mukaber. Why is this village part of Jerusalem?
These villages are not handled by the Jerusalem Municipality. They suffer from neglect and crime, because both the Israeli and the Palestinian security forces stay away from them. That is how hotbeds of hate grow. These neighborhoods produced 60 percent of the terror attacks of the “knife intifada.” One of the most serious attacks was carried out on Sunday.
For years, there has been a profound public debate over the separation barrier in the West Bank. The opponents had excellent arguments, but the terror attacks just kept happening. The barrier was installed only after the free passage claimed a heavy price, too heavy. The number of terror attacks dropped dramatically, not just because of the barrier, but definitely thanks to the barrier, and perhaps mostly thanks to the barrier.
In the not-so-distant future, only a few years from now, there will be an Arab majority with the right to vote for mayor in Jerusalem. At the moment, most of them do not vote at all. Hoping that they will continue to refrain from voting is completely foolish, because that could change. And then what? By the time the American Embassy’s move to Jerusalem is completed, it will have to be moved back to Tel Aviv because Jerusalem will turn into an Arab city.
Yasser Arafat threatened at the time that “The womb of the Arab woman is my strongest weapon.” Jerusalem is about to be the first place where this weapon may fulfill the goal. And as always, the right wing, in its insistence, is fulfilling Arafat’s vision.
If we wish to know what the right wing's vision of “one big state” looks like, we don’t have to wait for the future. It’s already here. Instead of a united Jerusalem, we have received a large, violent city of conflict. Mixing hostile populations is a disaster everywhere, and it’s definitely a disaster in Israel. This ill cannot be destroyed completely. The terrorist, his education and the incitement are to blame for Sunday’s attack, as in all or most terror attacks. But in order to act, the terrorist requires some Israeli foolishness too. The annexation of the 22 villages to Jerusalem, although they are not part of Jerusalem, is pure foolishness. At any given moment, a young Palestinian from one of the hostile villages near Jerusalem can grab a knife, a gun or jump into a truck and launch an attack. It has happened again and again, and it will keep happening.
We can engage in a political argument on a united Jerusalem as a city that has been joined together. It’s a legitimate argument. However, there is a difference between Jewish Jerusalem and the greater Jerusalem, just like there is a difference between Jewish Israel and one large bi-national state. United Jerusalem should mainly include east Jerusalem. The greater Jerusalem includes villages that have nothing to do with Jerusalem.
Most Israelis know that one large, bi-national state is a disaster to the Zionist vision, regardless of whether only 40 percent of its citizens are Arabs or more than 50 percent. The result is the end of the Jewish state. This future, which is already taking place in Jerusalem, is not the will of God. The process can be stopped. For this purpose, the Right must come to its senses. For the sake of Jewish Jerusalem and in order to stop the Jewish bloodshed, this had better happen fast.
