Claude Garrod has made a strong point illustrating the Israeli
government's undemocratic treatment of its non-Jewish citizens. What
he did not mention, and what many people may not know, is that East
Jerusalem is not part of Israel.
When the United Nations partitioned the land in 1948, East Jerusalem
was designated as the capital of the territory to be retained as
Palestine. It was occupied by Israel in the 1967 war. In November
1967, the United Nations Security Council Resolution 242 was passed,
calling for Israel to withdraw 'from territories occupied in the
recent conflict.'
In 1980, the Israeli Knesset passed the Jerusalem Law, which
declared, 'Jerusalem, complete and united, is the capital of
Israel.' This declaration was subsequently termed 'null and void' by
the United Nations Security Council.
The plan to build 1,600 new housing units in East Jerusalem, which
President Barack Obama timidly declared 'not helpful to the peace
process,' demonstrates the state of Israel's intention to grab as
much territory as it can from the Palestinian people while squeezing
them into smaller and smaller tracts of land separated from each
other.
End
