Free Republic

A “quiet intifada” has been taking place in Jerusalem for a few months now. It’s “quiet” because the media isn’t telling you about it.Gaza, ISIS, and the Golan Heights are definitely important, but meanwhile, hush-hush, without anyone saying anything, Jerusalem is becoming divided. There have been thousands of incidents of attacks on Jews, with rocks thrown, fireworks shot as weapons (the newest thing), and Molotov cocktails hurled at Jews where the east and west of the city meet, as well as dozens of cases of frustrated Jews attacking Arabs. Not to mention isolated cases of shootings spattered throughout the city,...

According to new reports, the American administration has promised the new Fatah-Hamas unity government, which was sworn in this Monday, that it will convince Israel to allow that new government’s elections to be held in the eastern part of Jerusalem. “A source that knows things,” apparently from within the Palestinian Authority (PA) or Hamas, was quoted in the Jordanian paper Al-Arab Al-Youm, reporting the American promise to work for parliamentary and presidential elections for the new unity government to be held in the Israeli capital. […] Despite the American claims of non-affiliation with Hamas, three of the ministers in the...

In an unexpected turn of events just hours before the massive haredi demonstration to protest the “draft bill”, a peace deal with the Palestinians was reached when Israeli negotiators offered the neighborhoods of Mea Shearim, Sanhedria and Geula as the future Palestinian capital. In a formal statement from the American State Department, Secretary John Kerry said, “Everyone said a deal couldn’t be reached but I knew they were wrong. In fact, the Israelis couldn’t make this concession quickly enough. It was almost as if they were asking the other side to take the land.” …

Four East Jerusalemites aged 19 to 21 were indicted with planning to carry out a shooting attack in a functions hall in the Jewish neighborhood of Bayit VeGan in Jerusalem. […] Two of the defendants planned to enter the hall through the main entrance dressed as haredim, along with the other guests. …

Jerusalem will seal the fate of the current peace negotiations. Jews and Arabs must square the circle and recognize the legitimate demands of each side in order to clinch a genuine peace agreement. Is doing so a geometrical impossibility or can Jerusalem transcend the limits of political geometry? […] The Gordian knot negotiators need to tackle is reconciling Arab sovereignty aspirations with Jewish security rights. This political aporia can only be solved by looking beyond the bounds of European political convention. Although there are good reasons to oppose a Palestinian militarization of east Jerusalem, there is no reason Arabs in...

European taxpayers are supporting a massive fraud. The European Union (EU) has become embroiled in a financial scandal of massive proportions in relation to the financial assistance given by it to the Palestinian Authority (PA) since 1994. This appears very clear from the comprehensive European Court of Auditors Report dated 22 October 2013 which was only made public this week. The Report reveals the following: .....

Jerusalem Deputy Mayor David Hadari submitted a “routine” proposal last week regarding details of a plan to market of 900 new housing units in the Har Homa neighborhood of Jerusalem—and immediately made headlines over “building a settlement in East Jerusalem.” Hadari joked about the situation in a post to Facebook on Sunday. “I forgot one thing… that American Secretary of State John Kerry is visiting,” he wrote. …

A video posted to the internet provides further proof that IDF deterrence is at a dangerous low vis-à-vis the violent parts of the Muslim Arab population in Israel. Video ....... Videos

The real reasoning behind plans to demolish Israeli homes in Beit El is a plan to topple Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, MK Yaakov “Ketzaleh” Katz (Ichud Leumi) said Sunday. “There are two people who have a bad influence on the Prime Minister and want him to fail,” Ketzaleh said. “The first is state secretary Tzvika Hauser, who has crossed all the red lines and sides with Peace Now and Yesh Din who want to demolish 9,000 homes in Judea and Samaria.” The second is Defense Minister Ehud Barak, he said. “Barak knows that his time in office is over, and...

“The Temple Mount is in our Hands” – Yom Yerushalayim Day, the 45th Commemoration of the Reunification of Jerusalem This evening in Israel begins the commemoration of Yom Yerushalayim, Jerusalem Day, the 28th of Iyar in the Hebrew Calendar. The occasion marks the 45th anniversary of the reunification of the ancient and eternal capital of the Jewish State of Israel. Nineteen years after Jordanian Legionnaires routed valiant defending forces, destroyed Jewish landmarks and expelled Jewish residents of the Old City; IDF forces retook the eastern half of Israel’s capitol on June 7th, 1967, after fierce fighting. Simon Sebag Montefiore’s book,...

The Knesset on Tuesday will hold a special session on illegal construction - and the abject failure of authorities to ensure order - in eastern Jerusalem. The hearing comes due to recent admissions by government officials that code and law enforcement in Jerusalem's eastern neighborhoods is virtually non-existent because the authorities, including police, are afraid of entering the area and applying Israeli sovereignty there. Lawyer Amir Fischer told Arutz Sheva he filed a petition demanding a government response due to the grim state of affairs in eastern Jerusalem, saying,"For fifteen years they have not enforced the law." Fischer added that...

According to face-to-face surveys conducted according to the highest international standards, more Palestinians in east Jerusalem would prefer to become citizens of Israel rather than citizens of a new Palestinian state. In addition, 40 percent said they would probably or definitely move in order to live under Israeli rather than Palestinian rule. 44 percent of the Palestinians in Jerusalem say they are very, or at least somewhat, satisfied with their standard of living. This is a very high percentage compared to other populations in the Arab world. Only about 30 percent sympathize with either Fatah or Hamas or with the...

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says his government will make no concessions about construction in East Jerusalem. Mr. Netanyahu made the comment to his Cabinet Sunday as the U.S. envoy on Middle East peace arrived in Israel to try to start indirect talks between Israel and the Palestinians. The Palestinians are demanding Israel stop settlement construction in East Jerusalem, on land captured during the 1967 Arab-Israeli war. The issue has disrupted the peace process and turned into a public dispute between Israeli and U.S. officials. Mitchell is to meet with Mr. Netanyahu Sunday before the Israeli prime minister leaves for...

JERUSALEM — Israeli officials said Monday that the U.S. is pressing Israel to scrap a contentious east Jerusalem building project whose approval has touched off the most serious diplomatic feud with Washington in years. Competing Israeli and Palestinian claims to east Jerusalem were feeding tensions in the holy city, where Arabs and Jews maintain an uneasy coexistence and sometimes clash. Police were out in large numbers in the volatile Old City in expectation of renewed clashes. Top U.S. officials have lined up in recent days to condemn the Israeli plan to build 1,600 apartments in east Jerusalem, the sector of...

WASHINGTON — In a tense, 43-minute phone call on Friday morning, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton told Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that Israel’s plan for new housing units for Jews in East Jerusalem sent a “deeply negative signal” about Israeli-American relations, and not just because it spoiled a visit by Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. Mr. Biden, in Israel this week to declare American support for its security, had already condemned the move as undermining the peace process. But Mrs. Clinton went a good deal further in her conversation with Mr. Netanyahu, saying it had harmed “the bilateral...

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas will not enter indirect peace talks with Israel as planned, Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa said overnight Wednesday, due to the approval of plans to build 1,600 housing units in Ramat Shlomo in east Jerusalem. “The Palestinian president has decided that he does not intend to enter negotiations at this stage,” Moussa said at a press conference in Cairo. A senior PA official in Ramallah had said Wednesday that the PA would resume talks with Israel in the coming days, despite the threats and strong condemnations coming from Ramallah. The official’s comments came after visiting...