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Israel as a Jewish state, they cannot
from page 9
control the capital of Jerusalem,"
nize it's not just the capital for Jews.
said Siblani, a Lebanese-born
There's no question it [Jerusalem]
Muslim. "Jerusalem should be gov-
has to be on the table for discus-
erned by a civil administration.'
sion."
Terry Ahwal, an executive assis-
Joseph Savin of West Bloomfield,
tant
in the Wayne County
the Zionist Organization of
Executive's
Office, is a Palestinian
America's Michigan region presi-
Catholic
who
grew up about 7
dent, said Arab rights to Jerusalem
miles
from
Jerusalem.
Former
are tenuous."
regional director of the ADC, she
"Arabs never had a nation there,"
now works with the Ramallah
Savin said. "It belonged to the
Federation, a national organization
Otwrnon Turks and then to the
of former residents of the
British. Before that, it was always
Palestinian
city of Ramallah.
part of another Arab entity.
28 years ago,
Since
emigrating
"I would like to see Jerusalem as
Ahwal
said
she
has
seen
many changes
the undivided capital of Israel," he
she's
not
happy
with,
including
the
said. "I believe it's a just and natural
'zoning
and
rezoning
of
land,
taking
growth."
land away from Palestinians and
The America.n Committee on
putting in laws that would exclude
Jerusalem (ACJ), an umbrella group
people of the Muslim and
formed several years ago
Christian faiths from liv-
by chapters of the
ing in Jerusalem."
American Arab Anti-
Ahwal's ideal solution
Discrimina.tion
would
be to create an
Committee and the
international
community
National Association of
in
Jerusalem.
"It's not a
Arab Americans, advo-
solution
the
Palestinian
cates for municipal gov-
community wants," she
ernance of Jerusalem.
said, "but it's the only
Based in Washington,
way
people will have the
the coalition presses for
right
to go there and
"the legitimate interests
basically
be allowed to
of all the monotheistic
Rabbi Joseph Klein
worship
without
having
faiths for which
one
group
or
another
Jerusalem is sacred."
stopping them.
e are all kinds:'
In October, the Israeli
sAi5as that can be
government revoked one
d - ive been
of the policies Ahwal had
a solution,"
ex
criticized, a policy that
removed Israeli citizen-
ship from Palestinians
Is giving East
who
left the country for
city,
Jerusalem to the
seven
years or more.
u have an Arab
Palestinians an
"There
was once a policy,
a different
inevitable concession but it no longer exists,"
council, or a
to Mideast peace?
said David Roet, Israel's
borough system."
assistant deputy counsel in
Give
your
opinion
on
13asically, Jahshan
JN Online at
Chicago. "As of Oct. 18,
said, the ACJ seeks "a
www.detroit
1999, whoever is currently
ared city, where
jewishnews.com
considered
a resident of
erusalem can serve as
Jerusalem
will
continue to
the capital city both of
be
so."
the current state of Israel, within its
Roet said the policy change is
pre-'67 boundaries, and the emerg-
one
of the most recent results of the
ing Palestinian state."
peace
process.
()soma Siblani, publisher of the
Ahvval
said she is hopeful the
Dearborn-based Arab-American News,
best
of
human
nature will win out
said Jerusalem's importance to all
"After
all
these
years, people are
three monotheistic religions means it
still killing each other," she said.
should be "free and open to all reli-
"We cannot allow religion to justify
gious groups, not be under the super-
injustice. It's high time we moved
vision of any one particular religion."
away from that now." ❑
"As long as the Israelis believe in
JERUSALEM DILEMMA
ACROSS THE DIVIDE from page 11
6,000-7,000 such structures have been
put up over the past four years, most
of them without planning permission.
The Likud mayor, Ehud Olmert,
seems powerless to stop-them.
For all Barak's bluster-, Arafat is
hardly likely to leave it at that. One
third of Jerusalem's 600,000 citizens is
Arab. The Palestinian Authority is
entrenched in the city.
Papal Influence
The question is how John Paul II's
visit could alter the equation or intro-
duce new emphasis on the importance
of the Christian, sites that draw hun-
dreds of thousands of visitors a year.
At some level, the Western, pre-
dominantly Christian, world is inter-
ested in Mideast stability as much to
protect the sites of Jesus's birth, death
and resurrection as it is to protect a
Jewish homeland.
Israeli and Jewish leaders appear
hopeful that a sea-change has hap-
pened in the Vatican's commitment to
the Jewish claims.
They note, for example, that the
contrast with the last papal visit could
not be more marked. In 1964, Pope
Paul VI entered Israel near Megiddo,
northeast of Tel Aviv, from the West
Bank, which was then under
Jordanian rule. He came to conduct
mass in Nazareth, which happens to
be in Israel. Grudgingly, he addressed
Zalman Shazar as "Your Excellency,"
not "Mr. President."
He was careful never to mention
Israel by name. From Galilee, he
drove discreetly to the Jewish side of
Jerusalem, visited the room of the
Last Supper on Mount Zion, then
slipped out through the Mandelbaum
Gate crossing point. The whole trip
lasted 12 hours.
This time, John Paul, 79, has openly
embraced the Jewish state, with which
the Vatican established full diplomatic
relations in 1994. He is staying at the
Jerusalem residence of the Apostolic
Delegate, the Vatican's ambassador.
Unlike the United States and most
other countries, the Vatican never even
thought of establishing its "embassy"
anywhere else. Short of blessing the
/Beitar Jerusalem soccer team, the pope
could hardly have done more.
is pope," rejoiced Father
"Th
Michael McGarry, rector of the
Tantur Ecumenical Institute between
Jerusalem and Bethlehem, "has done
more for Catholic-Jewish relations in
30 years than the church had done in
the previous 2,000 years." ❑