Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat during an interview in his officeSetting out a resolutely uncompromising vision of continued Israeli sovereignty throughout Jerusalem, the capital’s Mayor Nir Barkat rejected any notion of Palestinian rule in any part of the city, and branded international pressure on Israel to freeze building over the pre-1967 lines in Jerusalem as “illegal.”
In arguably the most candid and forthright interview he has given since winning office in 2008, Barkat suggested that if the Palestinians wanted a capital in Jerusalem they could rename Ramallah “Jerusalem” or “northern Jerusalem.”
It was in Jerusalem’s DNA to be a united city, under sole Jewish rule, he said. “By definition, that DNA cannot be divided.” Palestinian demands for some degree of sovereignty in the city, largely endorsed by the international community as integral to an Israeli-Palestinian accommodation, were unacceptable and unworkable, he said. “That kind of thinking will get us nowhere.
It will get us to a dead end, to a bad deal… The answer is no separation of the city… If the world pushes us there, it’s just a matter of time before things will fall apart. It will not bring closer a resolution or a better relationship with our neighbors. There is no doubt in my mind. It will get much, much worse.”
As for a second prayer-related controversy, Barkat said it was “ridiculous” that Jews were not allowed to pray on the Temple Mount, and that he was not “comfortable” with the status quo on this issue, but he accepted it. Asked whether Jews should be free to pray there, he said, “Well, theoretically, yeah. Why not?
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Our Comment: We tell it much more strongly, sadly for the islamic arabs, Ramallah belongs to Judea, thus to Israel.
