The Muddle Worsens

26000 American Dr.
Southfield, MI 48034
248-357-1100

Open Secret

"Non-negotiable" Jerusalem is
"now being negotiated."

Its easy to take care of

out-of-town friends and

family when they stay

with us. Each guest will

enjoy a spacious,

wonderfully-renovated

guest room with coffee

maker and free HBO?

freshly-baked cookies in

our lobby at night, and use

of our heated indoor pool,

sauna, and whirlpool. Our

banquet space is ideal for

rehearsal dinners and

receptions for up to 120

guests. Ask about our

special group rates.

Book ten or more rooms

per night and get one

FREE.* For reservations,

call the Hilton Inn Southfield

at 248-357-1100.

Based on availability; advance reservations required. Other restrictions may apply. *One complimentary room per wed-
ding party. ©2000 Hilton Hospitality, Inc.

TATE FLOWERS

(248) 559-5424

GIFTS OF NATURE

WEDDING & PARTY SPECIALISTS
FLOWERS FOR ALL OCCASIONS

29I I5 GREENFIELD
SOUTHFIELD, MI 48076

V

6/9
2000

26

DAVID LANDAU
Jewish Telegraphic Agency

Jerusalem

C

ommemorations

on June 2
marking Jerusalem Day
went off as they usually do
each year. Israeli politicians
made their solemn declarations that
the city will remain forever united
under Israeli rule; young Jews, most of
them Zionist-Orthodox, marched
through the city; Israeli police broke
up altercations with Palestinian resi-
dents of the city, who felt no less than
the marchers that the city belongs to
them. .
But while all seemed the same, a
great deal was different from
Jerusalem Day 1999.
This year, for the first time since
the eastern portion of the city was lib-
erated in 1967 by the Israeli army, the
city's future is on the negotiating table.
By all accounts, the negotiators —
Israeli Public Security Minister
Shlomo Ben-Ami and Ahmed Karia,
the speaker of the Palestinian legisla-
tive council — have made little
progress on the issue of Jerusalem.
On Monday, in fact, Karia cited
Jerusalem as one of the areas on
which the parties are still far apart.
But the fact that they are publicly
acknowledging that negotiations are
under way — on one of the issues
they have previously characterized as
non-negotiable — is itself a major
development.

Flexible Absolutes

Ordinary people are now confronting
tangible evidence that the rhetoric of
politicians on both sides — who use
words like "eternal," "exclusive" and
"capital" — can harbor several levels
of meaning.
On the Israeli side, people marking
Jerusalem Day did so hearing media
reports that proposals are on the table
calling for a Palestinian flag to fly over
the Al-Aksa Mosque on Jerusalem's -
Temple Mount, and for the
Palestinians to have municipal self-
rule in portions of the city.
Israelis may not agree with such
proposals. But they can no longer
delude themselves that the rhetoric of

their political leaders truly reflects the
diplomatic reality.
Similarly on the Palestinian side,
people protesting on Jerusalem Day
under banners calling for all of pre-
1967 eastern Jerusalem to be the capi-
tal of a Palestinian state can hardly
ignore the reports that Palestinian
negotiators do in fact distinguish -
between Jewish settlements in the
West Bank and the vast Jewish sub-
urbs that have been built around
Jerusalem since 1967.

Proposals are on
the table calling
for a Palestinian
flag to fly over the
Al-Aksa Mosque.

Realistically, those suburbs are not
part of the negotiations; they are to
remain Israeli. Regarding the West
Bank settlements, on the other hand,
the government of Prime Minister
Ehud Barak is clearly prepared to
relinquish dozens of them in the con-
text of a final peace accord.
Granted, there is no certainty that
Israel and the Palestinians are on the
verge of concluding such an agree-
ment.
Some Israeli policy-makers predict
that the issues of Jerusalem and
Palestinian refugees will prove too
intractable and that they will be sus-
pended for several years to come —
_while all other matters, including bor-
ders, settlements and Palestinian sov-
ereignty, are settled in the present
talks.
Whatever the outcome of U.S.
Secretary of State Madeleine
Albright's visit to the region this week
— or of the three-way summit that
President Clinton hopes to hold by
month's end — Jerusalem is firmly on
the table. ❑

