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SHARING JERUSALEM "PROPOSAL"
The Concept
June 1997 will mark thirty years since the Israeli occupation and subsequent annexation of east Jerusalem . Tensions have rarely been greater. The expropriation of Palestinian land continues through political and administrative procedures. Few, if any, building permits for Palestinians have been issued, house demolition have become a regular occurrence . Palestinians mobility into Jerusalem has been further curtailed, and identity cards of Palestinians Jerusalemites have been systematically confiscated . Despite the official Israeli claim of equal treatment of all Jerusalem inhabitants, there is discrimination against Palestinians in services (including infrastructure, welfare, and education) and also in personal mobility, treatment by authorities, and prospects for development
Since 1993 these discrepancies have been magnified as the question of Israeli control over Jerusalem has become a key issue in Israeli domestic politics. The rise of the Likud in the municipal elections in 1993, and recent national elections have further exacerbated the situation. The rise of religious extreme in the region has been particularly felt in the city, where orthodox and secular Jews are at odds with each other and with their Moslem and Christian neighbors, residents of the city have experienced growing violence and unspeakable terrorism. These worrisome trends including isolating Jerusalem from the rest of Palestinian land, alter the status quo and make the request for a just solution to the Jerusalem issue even more difficult.
The next year will be critical for the future of the city and for the prospect for a full and comprehensive peace. Negotiations over the permanent settlement between Israel and the P. L. O.,with Jerusalem as key stumbling block, are due to begin. Its now abundantly clear that the future of the Jerusalem is central to the entire peace process. Without investing in finding a way to live together in Jerusalem, there will be no enduring peace in the region.
The ground work for dialogue in this most critical of endeavors is dismally absent. Very little contact exists between Israeli and Palestinians within the city. Official statements have only fueled mutual suspision and acrimony. Discussion on the future of the city has been perceived as threatening to both sides, and the willingness to explore constructive means of coexisting in the city has diminished . Even the most minimal conditions for a different, positive discourse on Jerusalem are sorely lacking.
It is necessary to begin to revere these trends immediately, or the prospects for a viable solution will dwindle irretrievably. Despite the existence of academic attempts to explore alternatives for negotiating the Jerusalem question, in the absence of official gestures in this sphere, practical initiatives must be taken by citizens of the city committed to a fair and just solution for both Palestinians and Israelis. Without dividing the city, it is possible to find ways of sharing Jerusalem and recognizing it as containing two capitals for two sovereign states . Jerusalem, the focus of discord, can itself be transformed into living proof on the human capacity for reconciliation and peace.
The first steps in meeting the challenges inherent is sharing Jerusalem require the opening of channels of communication, discussion, and interaction which highlight the themes of diversity and mutual respect. It is vital that the multiple meaning associated with Jerusalem can be discussed, and that the essential pluralism of the city be maintained through advancing viable models of coexistence. In order to achieve these objects it is necessary to demonstrate modes of cooperation based on the principles of mutual respect.
The Jerusalem Link : A women's Joint Venture for Peace , provides precisely such a model . The Jerusalem Link is a coordinating body of two independent women's centers : Bat Shalom – The Jerusalem Women's Action Center located in West Jerusalem . The Jerusalem Link serves as a base for coordination , cooperation, and mutual support for Israeli and Palestinian women, while each center maintains its organizational and executive integrity . The Link was founded in the belief that independent, equal and interactive institutions can embody the vision of a just and fruitful peace between the Israelis and Palestinians, while giving concrete expression to the principles of mutual respect for national and human rights, reciprocity, equality and coexistence.
The Jerusalem Link experience, successfully elaborated and refined over the past three years, can serve as a living model for negotiating the future of Jerusalem like the Link, Jerusalem itself can be a city of good neighborly relations and at the same time, a city where Israelis and Palestinians exercise their independent national rights. The proposed project, Sharing Jerusalem, is another - and - major - step forward in the activities of the Jerusalem Link, which have included a series of symposia, meetings, leadership training seminars, rallies, demonstrations and press conferences organized to promote its principles. By initiating this project, the Jerusalem Link seeks to bring the concept that underlies the organization to bear on the real problems of the city and the conflict it has come to embody .
The project involves three distinct phase . The first planning phase, calls for the establishment of a local organizing committee to work together in the preparation and production of a set of multi- media events. The second implementation phase will take place in Jerusalem in a series of public events, each will constitute a different manifestation of the possibilities of coexistence in the city. The third phase will be devoted to follow- up and continuity, to the formation of going frameworks for joint action in a variety of spheres. Throughout, equal emphasizes will be placed on the process of opening avenues of working together on the activities themselves.
The application of the Jerusalem Link model to the knotty question of sharing Jerusalem highlights the contribution that women have made to achieving peace between Palestinians and Israelis. Women in the region have consistently been pioneer in showing that this debilitating conflict can be solved in non- violent ways. Although initiated and directed by women, Sharing Jerusalem is designed for all the residents of the city and will incorporate both men and women in all stages of preparation and implementation and because the future of Jerusalem is not only the concern of Israelis and Palestinians, but of many people in the international community, the planned events are also envisioned as a demonstration of solidarity of artists, academics, politicians, performers and clerics who believe in peaceful coexistence and in the feminist vision that negotiations based on the recognition of the rights and needs of the other are eventually beneficial to all.
