Jerusalem: Divided….Never, Shared…Forever, by Jamil Shawwa

In an expose last Sunday on the CBS 60 Minutes program, Leslie Stahl, one of the program anchors, went to Jerusalem and to Silwan, adjacent to the city, and interviewed people managing the City of David project, a tunnel that the owners of the project say that David, the divine prophet, had his city in while in Jerusalem or it is the old city of Jerusalem, the biblical one that David built and lived in. The project is sponsored and owned by “EL-AD” an investment group based in the State of Israel with global offices; very successful team. The expose was not about the tunnel or the benefits of this project to people and tourism and the enhancements that it could bring to the City of Jerusalem, although the Mayor of Jerusalem, correctly and cleverly so, have focused on the financial and tourism benefits of the project. The whole focus was on as Leslie Stahl put it, the division of the city and the rights of both people, the Palestinians and the Israelis to the historic city that is cherished by the followers of all three divine religions, Judaism, Christianity and Islam. The El-AD project manager focused on the religious dimensions to the tunnel and the Palestinian speaker, that 60 Minutes chose to represent the Palestinian side was a local resident of Silwan the city by the city with majority residents of Palestinians, chose to blast the project and act as victim rather than showing vision or practical solutions- I only saw anger on the Palestinian side, I did not see empowerment or solutions. The whole discussion was fruitless in my opinion, as I mentioned it focused on a moot issue that no one discusses anymore, which is the division of the city, the focus should have been though, in my opinion, about the future solution, the only solution for Jerusalem, which is the sharing of the city among it’s residents and the sharing of the city among the two states that will have Jerusalem as their capital; The State of Israel and the State of Palestine in the West Bank and Gaza. I personally do not mind the project, the City of David, and I looked at it from the point of view of Mayor Nir Barkat of Jerusalem, that it is good for tourism. Now, of course such projects usually involve the local residents, and need to have their opinions and their involvement- City Hall discussion. The City of David might end up after the final solution either shared by both the Israelis and the Palestinians exactly like the Eurotunnel between France and England or it could fall under one authority, either way, it should be preserved and in the process, preserve and maintain all the holly sites in Jerusalem, the Jerusalem of tomorrow.