Members from the Sovereignty Movement participated in a tour this week where the practical meaning of the lack of Israeli sovereignty in eastern Jerusalem was exposed, but they also heard about the plan that will provide the appropriate Zionist and nationalist response – Greater Jerusalem.
The Sovereignty Movement continues with its series of field tours for activists and supporters who want to learn about the complex reality resulting from the lack of sovereignty and governance in Israel. Dozens participated in the tour held by the movement in Jerusalem in its various neighborhoods, led by Middle East expert Baruch Yedid, who exposed to them the painful and little-known reality of the loss of control and sovereignty in the neighborhoods of northern and eastern Jerusalem and the involvement of foreign, hostile elements in Israel’s capital.
During the tour, the participants also met with the head of the Keep Jerusalem movement, Haim Silberstein at the Mount Scopus observation point, from where the entire capital is spread out below, but also looks out upon the immediate surroundings. Silberstein presented the Greater Jerusalem plan to the participants, which he has been promoting in recent years to political elements as well as to officials of the Jerusalem Municipality.
AS part of his remarks, he explained the importance of the step as an essential answer to the demographic crisis in which the capital finds itself. Expanding the municipal borders of Jerusalem on all sides, adding considerable territory to its borders will allow the establishment of many neighborhoods and employment opportunities in the city, thus allowing for the Jewish character of the city to be preserved.
Silberstein described the present demographic reality and that which is expected in the near future if Greater Jerusalem is not established. The conclusions arising from his remarks are extremely concerning. That control of the city in the Council and even perhaps the mayor’s office might be transferred to Arab hands, could become the reality in just a few years. Adding Gush Etzion, Ma’ale Adumim, Giv’at Ze’ev and Mevaserret Zion and the areas between them and Jerusalem, to Jerusalem itself, would add hundreds of thousands of more Jews and thus would change the face of reality.
Silberstein also noted the influence of Greater Jerusalem on the political status of Jerusalem as the metropolitan capital of Israel, with national and international power and significance, as is accepted in many capitals of the world.
Senior Middle East expert Baruch Yedid described for the participants of the tour what the eastern part of Jerusalem has been experiencing since the closing of Orient House, from where the PA functioned as a sort of independent government, more than twenty years ago. It was a step on the way to Israeli sovereignty in its capital, but many dozens and even hundreds of PA institutions have filled the vacuum created by the closing - foreign and hostile Arab organizations that work in many different areas, without Israeli approval and even against it.
Yedid described how the Palestinian Authority makes every effort to stake its hold in the eastern part of the city, using many institutions, but also by the residents of the eastern part of the city, who have blue identification cards. Among others, there is the “Palestinian governor” of Jerusalem, the PA minister of Jerusalem Affairs, the head of the Jerusalem Division in the “President’s” office, the General Secretary of Fatah and many more residents of the eastern part of the city, among them, senior officers of the PA.
He also said that along with the PA, Islamic associations and NGOs also operate in the eastern part of the city, some of which have Turkish patronage and others, which function intermittently, are affiliated with Hamas or with the Islamic Movement in Israel, and the Northern Branch, which is illegal. Yedid noted that a number of terror attacks were funded by, or affiliated with, these organizations or their activists.
Israeli negligence, says Yedid, caused a number of events that have captured the public’s attention, among them the crisis of the magnetometers, the opening of the Gate of Mercy internally and the events of Operation Guardian of the Walls. Yedid emphasizes that it is a religious struggle in every way, evidenced by the Muslim religious rulings issued by leading clerics on the struggle for holy land and holy places.
Yedid describes the difficult reality in which the European Union funds Palestinian plans to turn Jerusalem into a metropolitan Palestinian capital in preparation for the establishment of a Palestinian state, while the State of Israel and its authorities do not recognize the trends and the mood in eastern Jerusalem, which leads to Israel being surprised when there were thousands of Arab youths carrying Hamas flags on the steps of the al-Aqsa Mosque during Operation Guardian of the Walls.
According to him, “The State of Israel has demonstrated its enormous capabilities in facing the challenge of the hour, ever since its establishment, but the existing government plans are not an answer for the lack of Israeli sovereignty in eastern Jerusalem. The time has come to wake up and fight for sovereignty in the capital, while repairing its ‘many civil shortcomings’”.
The co-chairwomen of the Sovereignty Movement, Yehudit Katsover and Nadia Matar, sum up the tour, seeing its two parts as complementing each other. “The tour’s schedule combined the cure and the illness. Baruch Yedid revealed to us the severe phenomena arising from the lack of sovereignty in eastern Jerusalem, when foreign, hostile elements who incite terror against Israel fill the vacuum created by the lack of sovereignty. On the other hand, Haim Silberstein presented us with the answer. Turning Jerusalem into a key political and national metropolis, spreading over a wide area, adding a significant part to the Jewish demographic character of Jerusalem, along with deepening the consciousness of sovereignty and governance in Jerusalem, are all part of the essential answer to the harsh reality that Baruch Yedid showed us”.
The Sovereignty Movement views the series of tours for members and supporters as the completion and continuation of the series of tours that the movement has been holding for public opinion shapers and public figures, in which participants are exposed to the practical consequences of the lack of sovereignty and governance in large parts of the State of Israel.
The movement invites the public to participate in the tours that the movement will be holding in the coming weeks. The next tour is scheduled to be in Lod, as an example of how Jews are coping with the challenges in mixed cities, as well as strengthening the city’s residents.