The angle in all of the articles about Israel making peace with the Palestinians is that settlements are obstructing the peace process. The AP has an entire brand-new profile on “Arab East Jerusalem,” almost completely ignoring the fact that the Jewish Quarter of the Old City and the sites of the two Temples are in “Arab East Jerusalem.” It’s sheer anti-Israel propaganda that minimizes Jewish ties to the city and makes it seem like Jerusalem was built by and for Palestinians.
Adler is one of 2,000 Jews who reside in predominantly Arab neighborhoods in the heart of east Jerusalem, part of a movement that aims to ensure Israel’s hold on the sector, which Palestinians seek as the capital of a future state.
Revved up by the Obama administration’s latest attempts to limit Jewish encroachment in disputed areas of the holy city, they are working furiously to cement and expand their presence.
Adler believes her neighborhood, which Palestinians call Silwan and Jews call the City of David, was where the biblical King David once walked and is the heart of Israel’s historic capital. She is willing to brave the occasional rock-throwing and rioting that erupt in the sector – sometimes sparked by Jewish expansion moves – to remain in the place she believes is so tied to Jewish history.
Note the dismissal of the proven Jewish historical ties to Jerusalem, not to mention the archeological proof that keeps being dug up by Israeli (and non-Israeli) archeologists. Jews “call” the neighborhood the City of David? Um. It was.
The AP passes along uncritically the Palestinian claim to the eastern half of the city, ignoring the fact that Jerusalem was divided in the first place because the Arabs were attacking Jews who lived in both sections of the city until 1948.
Palestinian residents are bitter because they say they feel they are being pushed off their land.
“It’s not enough that they have west Jerusalem, they need the whole city,” said Musa Alawi, an Arab resident of east Jerusalem who owns a falafel shop across the street from the Jewish housing in Ras al-Amud.
And yet, there are many, many Palestinians in west Jerusalem, but the reverse doesn’t seem to hold that they should leave “Jewish west Jerusalem.”
Here is the only hint in the article of the Jewish historical ties to Jerusalem, and it comes near the very end:
In another neighborhood, Sheikh Jarrah, Israeli police acting on a court order evicted Palestinian families and allowed Jewish settlers to move into their homes, which had been owned by Jews before Israel’s independence in 1948. Palestinians cannot similarly reclaim lost property in the city’s western sector.
A piece of Palestinian propaganda, brought to you by the AP. And you know what’s the worst thing about the article? It was written by a Jew.