O Jerusalem

Ten years ago American glass sculptor Dale Chihuly exhibited an unforgettable display of glass installations at the Jerusalem Citadel.

Chihuly was profoundly affected by the momentous occasion “As we stand on the threshold of the new millennium here at the ancient Tower of David, this is my own personal tribute — Chihuly in the Light of Jerusalem 2000.” The element of light in Jerusalem was pivotal to the display of his works, “The sun is much brighter than any artificial sources so the colours seem much different. Certain colours look fantastic in the bright sun.”

Today his hopes and aspirations seem naïve, at the best a little premature,

”This is a tribute to a unique site in a unique city in a unique country and at a unique time.”

The city’s special aura stemming mainly from its many religious sites has given rise to the strange “Jerusalem syndrome” described as a group of mental phenomena involving the presence of either religiously themed obsessive ideas, delusions or other psychosis-like experiences that are triggered by, or lead to a visit to the city of Jerusalem. It is not endemic to one single religion or denomination but has affected Jews, Christians and Muslims of many different backgrounds.

The same year Chihuly exhibited at the Citadel a group of Israeli psychiatrists

wrote in the British Journal of Psychiatry about the phenomenon. They claimed to have identified and described a specific syndrome which emerges in tourists with no previous psychiatric history. This was quickly countered by another group of psychiatrists who pointed out that nearly all of the syndrome sufferers were mentally ill prior to their arrival in Jerusalem.

Syndrome or no syndrome I confess I get excited every time I visit Jerusalem, not enough to be committed to an appropriate institution, but sufficient to mention the visit in my letters.

On closer inspection it’s easy to dampen some of this enthusiasm. The impressive wall around the old city is a relatively late addition built in the sixteenth century by Suleiman the Magnificent The citadel and the Tower of David may have a few stones from a time preceding the Second Temple but most of it was constructed much later.

Many of the pilgrims walking the route of the Via Dolorosa are unaware that the original road lies deep beneath the surface. Some people have questioned whether the Church of the Holy Sepulchre was erected in the right place.

After all, the Emperor Constantine’s mother Helena, the single authority instrumental in fixing the position of Christian holy sites, built her churches three hundred years after the Crucifixion.

The Western wall is only the retainer wall of Herod’s Temple, the expanded and reconstructed Second Temple. Herod himself detested by his Jewish subjects was severely afflicted by psychotic syndromes. In historical perspective his many maladies have provided case history studies for a number of contemporary psychiatrists.

Islam's ties to Jerusalem are tenuous to say the least. Its fervent affinity to the "Noble Sanctuary" is linked by a legend.

Nevertheless, there is no denying Jerusalem's unique attributes. The stone, light and aura of sanctity imbue this city with a quality unlike any other.

In 1980 thirteen years after the Six Day War the Knesset passed the Jerusalem Law declaring Jerusalem "complete and united,” reiterating its status as the capital of Israel. The new law left the boundaries of Jerusalem unspecified, requiring further definition. In response, the UN Security Council unanimously adopted Resolution 478 declaring the law to be "null and void" and a violation of international law. In 1988, Jordan, while rejecting Israeli sovereignty over east Jerusalem, withdrew all its claims to the West Bank (including east Jerusalem).

The Israeli-Palestinian Declaration of Principles, signed September 13, 1993, deferred the settlement of the permanent status of Jerusalem to the final stages of negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians. The Palestinian National Authority views the future permanent status of east Jerusalem as the capital of the Palestinian state. The possibility of a Palestinian capital in east Jerusalem was considered by Israel for the first time in the Taba Summit in 2001, though these negotiations ended without an agreement and this possibility has not been considered by Israel since.

In a 1991 United States Secretary of State James Baker stated that the United States is "opposed to the Israeli annexation of east Jerusalem and the extension of Israeli law on it and the extension of Jerusalem’s municipal boundaries." However, earlier in 1990 the U.S. Senate had adopted a resolution "acknowledging Jerusalem as Israel's capital" and stating that it "strongly believes that Jerusalem must remain an undivided city." Congress passed the Jerusalem Embassy Act on October 23, 1995, which declared that Jerusalem should remain undivided and that it should be recognised as Israel's capital.

Notwithstanding the Senate resolution and Congress’ Jerusalem Embassy Act the official US stand falls a lot short of accepting the united undivided Jerusalem caption we use. Convincing the world that Jerusalem in its entirety, east and west is undivided under Israeli sovereignty is a formidable, nay an impossible task.

Of course our territorial maximalists advocate building wherever possible no matter what the consequences will be.

At the special Knesset session dedicated to Jerusalem Day Knesset Speaker Reuven Rivlin said, "…regretfully, only the religious sector marks this occasion.

Jerusalem Day was created by law as a national holiday. And yet the nature of celebrations in Jerusalem and the identity of those dancing in the streets today teach us that the national holiday in its current form more resembles a sectorial holiday. To be honest, most of the main events in Jerusalem have long been held under the auspices of the religious public.”

Rivlin's sorry summary is borne out by figures published this week by the Central Bureau of Statistics:

Only 21% of Jerusalem's Jewish residents define themselves as "non-religious, seculars

According to the Bureau's records 19,800 residents left the capital in 2009 while only 12,800 moved there. However, despite this imbalance the city's population grew by 14,000. The growth is attributed to Jerusalem’s high birthrates.

At the present time, Jerusalem is Israel's most populous city, with a population of 774,000. Its population is comprised of 488,000 Jews (63%,) 261,000 Muslims (34%,) and about 15,000 Christians (roughly 2%.) Another 10,000 people are not classified under any religion in the Bureau's report.

According to the data published, 30% of Jerusalem's Jewish residents aged 20 and above define themselves as "Haredim."

Surprisingly, for the first time ever the figures indicate that Jewish and Arab birthrates in the capital are the same, standing at four children per woman. This is the first time since 1998 that Jewish birthrates in Jerusalem have risen while Arab birthrates have declined. Well that is surely reason to rejoice!

Just before we pop the champagne bottles let's consider a few remarks made recently by Sallai Meridor a scion of an illustrious Revisionist family. He has served as Israeli Ambassador to the United States, Chairman of the Jewish Agency for Israel and the World Zionist Organisation, Treasurer of the Jewish Agency and WZO and as the Head of the Settlement Division of the WZO.

Meridor was born in Jerusalem and lives just outside the city in the settlement of Kfar Adumim . He never tires of singing Jerusalem’s praises. Just the same he is a keen observer and well aware of the city's many ailments.

"Jerusalem is the poorest city in Israel. The percentage of participation in the workforce is lower that in other cities in Israel and certainly much lower than in the West." Particularly worrying is the fact that the sector of the population that doesn't contribute to the city's economic growth is the most prolific. He questions the relevance of Jerusalem to the Jewish people, the extent to which Jerusalem reflects the aspirations of the Jewish people in Israel and in the Diaspora. "Look at the number of schoolchildren in the city; out of 226,000 children attending educational institutions from kindergarten through to 12th grade, some 80,000 are Arabs, 86,000 are Haredim and that leaves 60,000 split roughly half and half between Zionist religious and secular. That makes for a very worrying demographic forecast. "

In another report published by the Jerusalem Institute for Israel Studies it was noted that about 60% of Jerusalem's population resides in areas annexed to the city after the Six-Day War in 1967; this figure includes 42% Jews and 58% Arabs.

“ Is this the Jerusalem to which Diaspora Jews dreamed of returning? The united Jerusalem that stretches from Shoafat to Beit Sahur? A city where on one side they build a monster like the Holyland apartment complex, and on the other there is no master plan, there are almost no building opportunities, and thousands of people live in fear that their homes, which were built without permits, will be demolished?” asks Daphna Golan who sometimes calls herself Daphna Golan-Agnon. She is co-founder of B'Tselem, researcher at the Minerva Centre for Human Rights of the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, consultant to pseudo-academic study organised by Dugard and Al Haq, claiming Israel is an “apartheid” state. Well that says it all. She’s a left-wing agitator and obviously biased. Maybe she is, but it’s difficult to refute some of her conclusions.

Of course I don’t subscribe to the labelling she and her Israel blasting NGOs engage in. However I am inclined to agree with some of the things she says.

“The victory parades on Jerusalem Day celebrate a unification that never took place in a city whose unity was invented. In 1967, Jerusalem tripled in size, swallowing up east Jerusalem as well as 28 Palestinian villages.”

Let’s consider somebody more mainstream, namely journalist Nahum Barnea who answered complaints about Jerusalem’s burgeoning Arab population as follows:

“The number is so high because on the eve of east Jerusalem’s annexation to Israel, two major-generals, Rehavam Ze’evi and Shlomo Lahat, drew up municipal borders that brought Arab neighborhoods and villages that were never part of Jerusalem into the city.” Particularly worrying is the Jewish encroachment in Arab suburbs “Two hundred and fifty settler families live in the heart of Muslim neighbourhoods in Jerusalem. The non-profit group supporting them, Ateret Cohanim, sets the policy, while prime ministers and mayors obey – some of them willingly, others involuntarily.“ Wrote Barnea in Yediot Ahronot. The there’s the case of Beit Yehonatan which Barnea describes as “a tall building illegally constructed in the Silwan neighborhood. The courts ordered the building be sealed. The organization went to court and proved that at least 250 Palestinian homes were built the same way. If Jewish homes are sealed, Arab home should be razed. The building was constructed in violation of any logic; an ugly structure in an ugly neighborhood where all construction laws were violated. “….” The residents can only leave the building accompanied by security guards. The guards are funded by the State. The security vehicle, an old van, travels on side roads, back and forth, from the building to the neighbourhood’s exit. Everything in the name of normalcy.” Viewing the patchwork of villages and neighbourhoods in east Jerusalem I fail to see any master plan, a blueprint based on a clear policy. It all appears to have been accomplished piecemeal without direction or purpose. Daphna Golan’s closing remarks aptly conclude Jerusalem Day. “The Jewish people's connection to Jerusalem has no need of parades with thousands of armed policemen and civilians. What Jerusalem needs is fresh thinking that learns from the past and offers hope to all the city's residents: Palestinians and Israelis, Muslims, Christians and Jews. Next year in a Jerusalem that is rebuilt with equality.” Have a good weekend Beni 13th of May, 2010.