Jerusalem Day Celebrated Amidst Political Fireworks
Published on: 25.5.2017Czech Parliament Recognizes Israeli Capital
Israelis flocked to the streets, parks, malls and nature reserves on Wednesday to celebrate the 50th anniversary (according to the Hebrew Calendar) of the liberation and re-unification of their capital city during the 1967 Middle East War (Six Day War) which also saw Israel recover the West Bank, which had previously been under Jordanian occupation. In addition to festivities, the day held plenty of political drama, and political leaders on the Left proclaimed their desire to see Jerusalem divided once again, earning a strong rebuke from leaders on the Right.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu gave an address during the Knesset session dedicated to Jerusalem Day in which he said, among other things, “The Temple Mount and the Western Wall will forever remain under Israeli sovereignty. The correction of a historical injustice that was achieved by the heroism of our fighters 50 years ago will stand forever.”
Opposition leader Isaac Herzog (Zionist Union) gave his own address during the session, saying among other things that widespread poverty in Jerusalem should receive more attention than a potential move there of the US Embassy, declaring“with all due respect, an American embassy is not the main thing that the city is missing…“To protect Jerusalem, we don’t need big words, we need to look at reality…Today, Jerusalem is only united on paper,” he said. “In reality, the eastern neighborhoods are forbidden to Jews. Sometimes they’re also forbidden to law enforcement, and they are excellent exporters of terrorists. Is that the united city we dreamed of?” He added that in his opinion, the only way to keep Jerusalem as a united city with a Jewish-majority “we must separate from the Palestinians with a diplomatic agreement as much as possible and as quickly as possible. We must separate the Palestinian villages from Jerusalem.”
Knesset Speaker Yuli Edelstein countered during his own remarks that it is an “unequivocal truth…all of Jerusalem and Judea and Samaria, just like the Galilee and Negev, the Shfela and the Golan, will stay under Israeli sovereignty forever, and will continue to flourish and develop more and more with God’s help, despite all the hardships and all the challenges.”
In related news, Meretz chairwoman Zehava Gal-On joined with Joint (Arab) List chairman Ayman Odeh and Palestinian Authority official Mahmud Habash for a press conference at the American Colony Hotel in eastern Jerusalem in which they gave their united support to dividing Jerusalem.
“There will be no peace without the division of Jerusalem,” Gal-On said, adding that in the agreement she envisioned “west Jerusalem will be the Israeli capital, and east Jerusalem will be the Palestinian capital. Exchanges of land will be a part of an agreement.”
“The PLO peace program includes the establishment of a Palestinian state with east Jerusalem as its capital,” Habash said. “This program is still standing. The idea is on the table, but the problem is that Netanyahu wants to take from the tree before it has been planted.”
“It is not my place to discuss that issue, because I am not at the negotiating table,” Odeh said. “But if the Israeli government and the PLO reach an agreement, I will certainly have a position.”
Finally, The Czech Parliament approved a measure on Wednesday recognizing Jerusalem as Israel’s capital city while also condemning United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) for its recent anti-Israel resolutions. The move was promoted and by the International Christian Embassy Jerusalem’s Czech Branch under the leadership of Director Vladimir Kalos.
Here are some videos posted for Jerusalem Day 2017