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Following
the visit of US President George W. Bush to the region, the Israeli Government
and Palestinian Authority have begun negotiations over the core questions of
the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
A central
point of contention in these negotiations will be over the future of East
Jerusalem, on the basis of the framework for the division of the city designed
by former US
President Bill Clinton in 2000.
According
to the Clinton proposal, all neighborhoods
populated by Palestinians in the greater Jerusalem
region are to be incorporated by the Palestinian state and all Israeli
settlements, both inside and outside the municipal borders of Jerusalem
are to be annexed to Israel.
In
practical terms, this framework creates isolated enclaves of Palestinian
populations surrounded by the wall. As illogical as it might sound, some of
those enclaves, such as Sheik Saed, are in the midst of Arab population, dividing
Palestinian population from Palestinian population.
Abdel Karim Illfi of the Palestinian Parent’s Committees in Jerusalem:
“Sheik Saed is located in East Jerusalem and is considered
part of the village
of Jabl Mukaber. The
people of Sheik Saed have struggled against the building of the wall and petitioned
the Israeli courts. The Supreme Court determined that the path of the wall
should be changed and not isolate Sheik Saed. Immediately following the
decision of the Supreme Court, however, the Israeli security forces began to
build a barbed wire fence. This was their way of respecting the Supreme Court
decision.”
If Clinton’s proposals for dividing Jerusalem
are implemented, many other Arab neighborhoods in East Jerusalem
which have already become isolated by the wall, will share a similar fate,
becoming secluded island enclaves under titular Palestinian sovereignty.
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