Jerusalem was and is and will always be the home and the residence and the shelter for the three divine religions: Judaism, Christianity and Islam. Politically, Jerusalem now is part of the State of Israel and is the capital of the State of Israel; in the future and forever Jerusalem will be the capital of the State of Israel and the capital of the State of Palestine in Gaza and the West Bank- open city that symbolizes the historic peace that should take place between the Israelis and the Palestinians; there is no other choice.
Pease will never be achieved except through when the Palestinians have their state in Gaza and the West Bank next and side by side of the State of Israel. Jerusalem the holy beautiful city revered by billions cannot afford to be a battlefield throughout its history; why would it be; live and let live is best for all.
Since the Jordanian and Arab defeat in the 1967 war, Jordan maintained management over the Islamic holy sites in Jerusalem with full approval and coordination with Israel; the Jordanian championed the secret channels of communications with Israel all along and they the Jordanians could not publicly declare communications with the Israelis until the PLO and Israel signed a peace agreement in 1993 that leveled and prepared the field for the establishment of the Palestinian state in Gaza and the West Bank with an understanding that has not been declared that Jerusalem will be shared, the Palestinian refugees that left in 1948 and 1967 and in between cannot return for all the practical reasons in the world except if they choose to return to Gaza and the West Bank, the home of the future Palestinian state. Jordan as well signed in 1994 a peace agreement with Israel.
The Islamic holy sites in Jerusalem with or without Israel and Jordan knowledge have been a home for Palestinian individuals who have been on occasions attacking people going to pray, Muslims and foreign dignitaries which cannot be but an organized effort to send political messages; political message that harm the quality and the sacred of the place.
But Israel is responsible to provide full protection for all holy sites in Jerusalem until the Palestinians take control of the Palestinian parts in Jerusalem as will be agreed upon.
The Palestinian Authority as the only internationally, including American and Israeli and Arab countries, recognized as the legitimate representative of the Palestinian people in Gaza and the West Bank and in Palestinian sections of Jerusalem, should start negotiating with Israel to manage the Islamic religious sites in Jerusalem.
The negotiations should be on two, side by side, parallel tracks between the Israelis and the Palestinians: the Palestinian state in Gaza and the West Bank track and the Jerusalem track.
There is one problem: the Palestinian people have no credible leaders that can make the case and show popular momentum to move the negotiations with the State of Israel forward. The Palestinian Authority is not in itself independent so how it can ask for a Palestinian independence in Gaza and the West Bank and how it can be trusted to maintain peace at the Islamic holy sites in Jerusalem.
Ideally, and the way it should be is for Jewish Muslims and Christians and whoever else wants to pray in Jerusalem to be without any restrictions from anybody allowed to pray and have access to all holy places. But realities on the ground defy and contradict for now such goal. However,once an agreement is finalized on a Palestinian state in Gaza and the West Bank next to the State of Israel, then the issue of access to Muslims or Jewish to either sites will be irrelevant and will not be an issue, because both Israelis and Palestinians will share Jerusalem as an open city and capital for both states.
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