While the Palestinian people chose democracy, as [Mahmoud] Abbas, whose presidency has now become certain puts it, Israel also accepted that the Palestinian Autonomous Administration has authority over the inhabitants of East Jerusalem.
However, Palestinians living in East Jerusalem, who voted in the Palestinian Autonomous Administration elections in 1995, had in a way turned Shimon Peres, who gave permission for the elections to be held, into traitor. Benjamin Nethanyahu won the elections the following year with slogan, "Peres will split Jerusalem." One of the figures who objected to the participation of East Jerusalem Arabs in the elections, that was held in Palestine and in Israel that day, is current Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon. Apparently, the issue was [the late President Yasser] Arafat.
Finding a formula that would not change the current status of East Jerusalem was not easy in the elections held on Sunday. Any attitude that would have implied the Palestinians being the "geographic authority" in Jerusalem, which is full of the symbols of both parties in the conflict, was diligently avoided. Israel demanded that East Jerusalem Arabs participate in the elections with the status of "Palestinians living abroad." Hence, the ballot boxes in East Jerusalem were used as mail boxes. In order to symbolize that meaning, the ballot boxes did not have holes at the top, but at the side, just like mail boxes. Israel also did not allow the ballot boxes to be opened within the borders of Jerusalem. It demanded that the ballot boxes, which that were being transported by vehicles belonging to the Israeli Postal Authority and private firms, be taken outside the city and be opened and counted in territories under the control of the Palestinian Autonomous Administration. The truth of the matter is that the Palestinian administration had no opportunity to resist that "interim formula." A better formula could not be formulated even during the periods when the administration was more powerful and East Jerusalem Arabs had powerful representatives like Faisal Husseini. Israel had rejected the counting of Arabs living in East Jerusalem during the recent population census and the Palestinian administration could not insist on other alternatives like "census via post or telephone.".
The only authority Israel acknowledges that the Palestian administration has over the inhabitants of East Jerusalem, is the acceptance of the Arabs "as dual citizens living in Israel," and this became evident during the polls. Prolonging that might be good or bad, depending on how relations unfold. If Israel pushes East Jerusalem Arabs into the status of "people originally citizens of another country living in a foreign land," and the Palestinian administration accepts this, it would mean that Palestinian aspirations over East Jerusalem should be forgotten immediately. But, if Israel accepts the aspirations of the Palestinian administration over its citizens living in East Jerusalem and acknowledges the administration's authority over their religious, social and political needs and their claim to public buildings, and institutionalizes them, which already have been prolonged enough, this would be a good thing, even though it would not mean geographic sovereignty. Then, this would mean that the parties have reached the point at which Ehud Barak and Arafat abandoned the table during the Taba negotiations. Whether or not the Abbas administration will embark upon a struggle against organizations such as Hamas, Islamic Jihad and Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, immediately after the elections, will determine the course of action Israel will follow. This will also be another proof as to whether or not there is a return of Israeli-Palestinian relations to the era following the signing of the Oslo Accords.
Whatever the Abbas administration does, Israel has shown from these elections that Jerusalem will play a determining and central role in future relations. The Turkish Foreign Ministry that will be launching a Mideast diplomatic initiative should see this reality and crown the above-mentioned initiative by seeking a solution for the future of Jerusalem.
January 10, 2005
LONDON
