Symbols, semantics key to Jerusalem peace

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drafted a plan to expand Jerusalem's borders • 2 sides explore an 'expandto include Abu Dis and create two capitals in the west and east, with areas of shared control "The Palestinians feel and-share' plan for the city in the middle. that every time they It was never adopted, but Israeli negotiators By SARI BASHI ASSOCIATED PRESS say they have again raised the expand-andnegotiate an agreement share idea with their Palestinian partners. with the Israelis, the ABU DIS, West Bank - Hidden in a wellAbu Dis, a neighborhood of about 13,000 Palguarded construction site on Jerusalem's outestinians, straddles the Jerusalem boundary, Israelis renegotiate it." skirts, workers drill the finishing touches on a with 10 percent in the city and the rest in the West Bank, under administrative control of the four-story stone auditorium some say will one Edward Abington, Palestinian Authority. day be the Palestinian parliament. former U.S. diplomat The Jordanians included Abu Dis in a 1965 But the gleaming hall is in Abu Dis, a West plan for greater Jerusalem that was never Bank suburb, and not in Jerusalem, claimed by adopted because Israel seized the eastern part Israelis and Palestinians as a capital. warned the Palestinians would use Abu Dis of the city in the 1967 Middle East war.

It was "for continuous sabotage activities" aimed at Abu Dis may become part of the city in the also part of a U.N.-designated international eventually winning control of east Jerusalem. future.

Despite public pledges by both sides zone for Jerusalem, proposed in 1947 but never never to compromise on Jerusalem, negotiaThe chief Israeli negotiator, Oded Eran, said implemented. tors have considered redrawing the city's borthat in light of such opposition, Barak did not In the 33 years since Israel captured east Jeders in hopes of finding a solution to the stickiwant to hand over Abu Dis and the other subrusalem, Abu Dis has grown from a sleepy agest issue on the table. urbs now, but only as part of a full peace packricultural village to a bustling commercial age.

"Right now, to raise it is not smart politimeantime, though. Abu Dis has In the hub. cally," Eran said. emerged as more of an obstacle than a soluThe four-story building under construction tion.

Peace treaty talks have collapsed - and Jerusalem's current borders make little histhere is officially designated an economic studa U.S. envoy failed to revive them in a weektoric or demographic sense. ies center.

However, officials privately admit long shuttle that ended yesterday - in part beThey were drawn after Israel captured east it is the future Palestinian parliament. cause of a dispute over the status of Abu Dis Jerusalem from Jordan in 1967 and then added and Jerusalem's two other Palestinian subA rare look inside by an Associated Press re28 square miles to the municipal area, annexurbs. porter revealed an amphitheater-like hall reing West Bank land. splendent with skylight roof, about 500 seats in The Palestinians complain that Israeli The considerations were purely strategic. a semicircle overlooking a speaker's stand and Prime Minister Ehud Barak has reneged on a stone stairs snaking up the sides.

"The principle was to annex maximum terripromise to give them control of the suburbs in tory with minimum (Arab) population," said an upcoming troop withdrawal. Barak says he The site is just yards from Jerusalem's made no such commitment. Yisrael Kimchi, a researcher at the Jerusalem boundary and two miles from the Al Agsa Institute who helped draw the boundaries.

Mosque, Islam's third holiest site. *The Palestinians feel that every time they The new border largely ignored the natural negotiate an agreement with the Israelis, the But suggesting Abu Dis could - or couldn't Israelis renegotiate it." said Edward Abington, demography, cutting Palestinian villages in - become a capital raises hackles on both half.

It left Israel with a large Palestinian mia former U.S. diplomat in Jerusalem and now sides. nority in the city, now 200,000 compared to a Washington-based lobbyist for the PalestinPalestinian Parliament Speaker Ahmed Qu430,000 Jews. ian Authority. reia, whose home is in Abu Dis, said the neighMoussa Abu Hilal, an Abu Dis storekeeper, While Jerusalem is the most difficult issue borhood is a "village of Jerusalem," but cannot said that whatever the outcome of peace talks, on the table, Israeli Justice Minister Yossi Beibe an acceptable substitute for east Jerusalem the gerrymandered borders of his neighborproper. lin says it may also be one of the easiest.

"These hood will not remain as they are Jerusalem Mayor Ehud Olmert, who opposes Five years ago, Beilin and Mahmoud Abbas, lines?" he said. "No. There will be negotiations." a deputy of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat. granting the Palestinians a foothold in the cily.

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"Symbols, semantics key to Jerusalem peace," Staten Island Advance, 29 February 2000. Covering Palestine archive, CP-2000-038. https://coveringpalestine.org/archive/cp-2000-038