1 min read
ByAnonymous, Anonymous
Israel's ambassador to the UK, Ron Pros-Or, has written a piece for the
Daily Telegraph, explaining his country's decision to build in the occupied part of Jerusalem.
Here's where a bit of disingenuity crops up:
Let's get the facts straight. Ramat Shlomo is not in "east" Jerusalem as often reported, but in the north of Jerusalem. It is not a new settlement, but an existing, established neighbourhood. The planning application has already taken years and will take at least another three for the first brick to be laid.
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Yes, it's in "north" Jerusalem, but it is on occupied territory, across the Green Line.
And the area it is in, Shu'afat, was never part of Jerusalem. It was a village outslde of the city's municipla boundary in 1967. Israel has expanded Jerusalem greatly since then. It'sm a shame it has not done so westwards, tho, on areas that have always been Israel. But lets leave that provocation for now.
Here's another bit of spin:
Throughout the generations, Jews have been the largest community in Jerusalem. This was confirmed in 1845 when the Prussian consul conducted the first census in the city. By 1905, out of a population of less than 60,000, at least 40,000 were Jewish.
Errr... Not quite. With all due respect to him, a 19th-century Prussian consul's methodolgy is hardly likely to be equal to the standards of today. Therefore, the calculation is highly suspect. It's a bit like taken as read that the Jewish population of the UK was 450,000 in 1950. It wasn't. The methodology of calculation was wrong.
One last point. Mr Pros-Or notes that
As the media spotlight last week glared on Jerusalem, Fatah officials renamed the main square in Ramallah after Dalal Mughrabi, the leader of a PLO terror attack in 1978 which killed 38 Israeli civilians, including 13 children.
Naming places after terrorists is indeed terrible. So when are they going to change the name of Ramat Raziel, a moshav near Jerusalem named for David Raziel, a pre-state commander of the terrorist Irgun?