Is Kollek getting senile or what.
OTOT, what do you know about this Israeli citizen, Golan Cipel, who is making headlines in New Jersey newspapers.
nj.com
Ex-Jerusalem Mayor Wants City Split
By LAURIE COPANS
Associated Press Writer
AP/Greg Marinovich [18K]
JERUSALEM (AP) — The longtime mayor of Jerusalem, Teddy Kollek, said Thursday that the Palestinians should be given control over some parts of the city, including disputed holy sites in the Old City.
Kollek spoke a day after Israeli security announced that it had arrested four Arabs from east Jerusalem for allegedly committing attacks against Israelis that killed 35 people, including five Americans.
The news of the arrests came as a surprise to many Israelis since east Jerusalem Arabs — who are Palestinians, but have Israeli residency rights — have been relatively inactive in the past two years of Israeli-Palestinian fighting.
In reaction to the discovery of the militant cell, Kollek said Israel's control over east Jerusalem was slipping. Israel captured the section of the city in the 1967 Mideast war and later annexed it to its capital.
``I think there needs to be an arrangement and we need to give something to them (the Arab residents of Jerusalem) and have part for ourselves,'' the Hungarian-born Kollek, 91, told Israel Army Radio. ``It will never be easy.''
Kollek said the 200,000 Arabs living in east Jerusalem should not be under Israel's jurisdiction. The former mayor said that he agreed with a proposal by former President Clinton in 2000 peace talks that Israel relinquish sovereignty over a disputed holy site in east Jerusalem's Old City, known as the Temple Mount to Jews and the Noble Sanctuary, or Haram as-Sharif, to Muslims.
``Listen, they (the Palestinians) have been sitting there for so many years and feel that it is theirs,'' said Kollek, who served as mayor from 1965-1993. ``You can't achieve calm if you don't give them part of what they want and can control. There's no solution without this.''
Israel currently controls the compound, which includes the last remaining structure of the Second Jewish Temple, the Western Wall. The Al Aqsa and Dome of the Rock mosques sit on the raised platform, the third holiest site of Islam.
As mayor, Kollek worked for reconciliation between the Jews and Arabs in Jerusalem. However, in his tenure, Israel also built sprawling Jewish neighborhoods in the eastern sector. In his last two years in power, Kollek refused to sign demolition orders for homes built by Arab residents without permits, saying the illegal construction was a result of Israeli policies seeking to limit Arab population growth in the city. |
