March 1, 2000. Copyright, 2000, Graphic News. All rights reserved

RESOLVING THE ISSUE OF JERUSALEM

LONDON, March 1, Graphic News:  DESPITE PUBLIC pledges by Israelis and Palestinians never to compromise on Jerusalem, considered by both sides as their capital city, negotiators are considering redrawing the cityÕs borders in hopes of finding a solution to one of the toughest issues in the Middle East peace process.
Redrawing the boundaries is not a new idea. A plan drafted five years ago by Israeli justice minister Yossi Beilin and Mahmoud Abbas, a deputy of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, involved expanding JerusalemÕs borders to include the Palestinian suburb of Abu Dis and creating separate capitals in the west and east of the city, with areas of shared control in the centre. The proposal was not adopted.
As long ago as 1965, Jordan included Abu Dis in a plan for greater Jerusalem, but this foundered when Israel seized the eastern part of the city in the 1967 Six-Day War.
Since then Abu Dis has mushroomed from a quiet backwater into a bustling commercial hub. Home to around 13,000 Palestinians, it straddles the Jerusalem boundary, with 10 percent in the city and the rest in the West Bank, under the administrative control of the Palestinian Authority.
Among new construction work is a four-story building officially designated an economic studies centre but privately acknowledged to be the home of a future Palestinian parliament. Inside, an amphitheatre-like chamber contains around 500 seats arranged in a semicircle facing a speakerÕs stand.
The building is just outside JerusalemÕs boundary and only two miles from the Al Aqsa Mosque, IslamÕs third holiest site.
But the implacacably opposed sides seem no nearer agreement. Palestinian Parliament Speaker Ahmed Qureia, a resident of Abu Dis, says the suburb is no more than a Òvillage of Jerusalem,Ó and not an acceptable substitute for east Jerusalem proper.
Jerusalem mayor Ehud Olmert, determined to keep the Palestinians out of the city, warns that the Palestinians will use Abu Dis as a platform from which to wrest eventual control of east Jerusalem.
Disagreement over the status of Abu Dis and JerusalemÕs two other Palestinian suburbs in part contributed to the collapse of the latest round of peace talks, which failed despite a weeklong shuttle by a U.S. envoy to revive them.
/ENDS

Source: Associated Press