Jerusalem's Borders Vanish
Settlement Report | Vol. 4 No. 7 | February 1994- Jerusalem at a Glance
- Israel Builds Greater Jerusalem at the Site of the Eternal City
- To Our Readers
- "Greater" Jerusalem Absorbs West Bank Area
- U.S. Policy: Jerusalem's Final Status must Be Negotiated
- Rabin Builds on the Vision of a Permanent Jewish City
- Jerusalem's Borders Vanish
- Christian Views on Jerusalem
Meron Benvenisti, former deputy mayor of Jerusalem and a well-known
expert on Israel's settlement policies, speaks about the significance
of greater Jerusalem in the following interview which appeared in Ha'aretz on July 6, 1993.
Q: Is there any meaning at all
to the jurisdictional borders of Jerusalem, since we also speak of
"Greater Jerusalem" and "metropolitan Jerusalem," which spread far
beyond the municipal boundaries?
Benvenisti: That is correct.
The settlements established on the periphery of the city develop and
grow. . . . the legal border has been obliterated in many respects.
From the government's standpoint, including the current government,
Jewish settlement in the metropolitan area legitimizes the absorption
of an additional 12 percent of the West Bank [into Israel]--one-half
million dunams [125,000 acres]. It is necessary, therefore, to add
another 40,000 Jews to the metropolitan region as well as 20,000 Arabs
who also live there. This calculation changes the picture of the
relationship between Jews and Arabs in the metropolitan region--52
percent are Jews compared to 48 percent Arabs.
Q: Is it impossible to distinguish between Jerusalem and its metropolitan region?
Benvenisti: It is impossible.
Mutual ties already exist in many areas. The problem is that there is
no general master plan for the development of the area between the
Etzion Bloc in the south and Pesagot in the north. There are two
authorities for this area--the city government and the civilian
administration [for the West Bank], and also the Arabs are trying to
establish facts by building illegally.
Q: Have Israelis succeeded on the demographic front in East Jerusalem?
Benvenisti: They can pat
themselves on the back that they achieved what they wanted, but the
Arabs don't accept these borders that the Jews drew, and therefore they
don't accept these numbers. The Arabs will never permit the Jews to
enjoy the fruits of this victory and as a result, the conflict will
continue. It's impossible to solve the problem of Jerusalem by
power--not by demographic power nor by any other kind of power.
