May 3, 2010- Proximity Talks To Begin, Tel Aviv Mayor Speaks Out Against Funding Charedi Education

Today is Yom Yerushalayim (Jerusalem Day). This is a day that, a generation ago, was widely celebrated in the years that immediately followed the Six Day War. Today those celebrations are muted. The Prime Minister gave a speech about the indivisibility of Jeruasalem, while the President's Conference runs full page advertisements, quoting a speech given by the former Primer Minister, the late Yitzhak Rabin, z"l. But these speeches ring hollow. The ads seem misplaced. The battle for Jerusalem seems lost. Zionists are now practically a small minority in the city of Zion. The majority of resident in the holy city today are either Arab or Haredi. Efforts to keep young people in Jerusalem have largely failed. Other than those who choose to attend Hebrew University, no non-religious Israelis would consider moving to the nation's capital. The few areas that are not populated by either Arab or Haredi have become extremely expensive, in part due to American, British and French Jews who have bought second homes in these areas. On top of the demographic realities, it is clear to all that if there is any chance for peace, there will be no choice but to redivide Jerusalem (roughly speaking, the areas that are currently populated by Arabs will be Arab and the newer Jewish neighborhoods in East Jerusalem will remain part of Israel. Hopefully, Jerusalem will never return to the city I remember when I was young; a city of barbed wire in the back of the King David Hotel and Jordanian machine gun emplacement overlooking Mamilla. However, unfortunately, it is unlikely to remain the undivided Jewish Capital of the State of Israel, a center of new and old that many of us dreamed of in the years following the Six Day War.

Yesterday, the Kuwaitis announced the arrest of a group of Shiites charged with spying for Iran. These arrests were the lead story in the newspapers throughtout the Gulf and in Egypt. The arrests and their coverage served as a reminder of the depth of the hatred that seems to exist between Iran and the Gulf States and between some Shia and Sunnis. There is a real concern in the Gulf that if Iran had only one nuke, they would not try to send it towards Israel, but toward the Sunni Saudi Arabia or Kuwait. This should not make it easier for the average Israeli to sleep at night, but it does underscore the degree of complication of these state of affairs.