Daniel Seidemann is a left-wing expert on Jerusalem who heads Terrestrial Jerusalem, an NGO that (in partnership with Peace Now) documents everything that happens in the holy city that could, in its view, jeopardize the peace process.
Seidemann was upset at Bibi Netanyahu saying that Jerusalem will remain under Jewish control.
Netanyahu yesterday: I support 2 state solution. Netanyahu today:: Jerusalem is ours and will be ours. Translation: I oppose 2 states. QED.— Daniel Seidemann (@DanielSeidemann) June 2, 2016
QED is the abbreviation for quod erat demonstrandum, a Latin phrase that he slightly misuses as it is meant to say that the initial proposition has been proven by the (usually mathematical) proof that follows, ending in a restatement of the original statement. In this case, Seidemann claims that Bibi's saying that Jerusalem will remain under Israeli sovereignty is proof that he isn't interested in a two-state solution.
I responded with a simple question:
.@DanielSeidemann Why, exactly, is Jerusalem a prerequisite for a Pal state, outside of "they insist on it"?— ElderOfZiyon (@elderofziyon) June 2, 2016
Even though this question was tweeted to him a dozen times, he refused to answer.
Because there is no answer. The reason that Jerusalem is considered an integral part of any Palestinian state is only because the Arabs insist on it, not because the state could not exist without Jerusalem as its capital.
Somehow, 190 other nations manage to exist without Jerusalem as their capitals.
In reality, there is no relationship between two states and Israel having control of Jerusalem. The link between "Palestine" and Jerusalem is artificial and was created after 1967. No one demanded a Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital before Israel redeemed the city in 1967.
In the West, people say that a Palestinian state is necessary to end the demographic threat to Israel, to allow Palestinians to no longer be stateless, to end the conflict permanently, and a host of other reasons. But what is the real reason why Palestinians insist that Jerusalem must be part of their state? After all, all of the other issues would be solved at least as well, and in fact much easier, if that demand is not met. The more one cares about a two-state solution, the more one should want to pressure Palestinians to drop their demand for Jerusalem.
In fact, there is another demand that Palestinians insist on just as adamantly as a precondition for statehood, the so-called "right of return." The West pooh-poohs that demand but in Arabic it is considered as critical as land and Jerusalem and the other conditions Abbas places on any negotiations.
If Palestinians are so desperate for a state, then how come they are in a position to demand things like Jerusalem and "return" that have nothing to do with statehood?
Moreover, why is the Arab demand for the holy sites in Jerusalem considered sacrosanct and the Jewish demand to keep those sites - which by any measure is much stronger, historically and religiously as well as practically - considered a blow to peace?
The Arabs want Jerusalem not because of their historic ties to the city (which they largely ignored when Muslims controlled it) but because they know that Israel without Jerusalem is just another secular state, and they want to sever Israel's ties to its Jewish history. Jerusalem (and to a lesser extent Hebron and Bethlehem and Bet El and other towns) is what proves Jews have historic, religious and cultural ties to the region and have had those ties for thousands of years. Arabs want those ties to be cut.
That is why they demand Jerusalem as a prerequisite to "peace" - it is really a prerequisite to the next stage of the destruction of the Jewish state.
That is why there is nothing inconsistent between everything Abbas is doing and Yasir Arafat's "phased" plan to destroy Israel in stages. This is why Mahmoud Abbas publishes on his website, today, his book that says
Zionism began as an alien thing and it will end as an alien thing. It seemed to us (i.e. Palestinians) as a predestined matter, and its end has become a predestined matter. Both the Jews and us are its victims. We and the Jews will guarantee its destruction, so we will live after it as we have lived before it in a wide homeland full of resources which are enough for everyone and grants everyone wellness, love and equality.Arabs aren't afraid of Jews like Seidemann who say they want to give up Jerusalem for peace. They are afraid of Jews - even secular Jews like Netanyahu - who would rather die than lose the Old City.
Beggars can't be choosers, yet Palestinians who are supposedly living in stateless misery are making preconditions for a state that have nothing to do with statehood.
Because their goal isn't the creation of a state but the destruction of one.
And the proof is because they insist, without a shred of proof, that there can be no Palestinian state without Jerusalem.
QED.
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