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Message: <br /><br /> If you are having trouble reading this email, you may view this article online at: http://www.jweekly.com/13668/full/13668/jerusalem-s-fate-takes-center-stage-in-israeli-media/ <br /><br /> <b>Jerusalem’s fate takes center stage in Israeli media</b> <br /> Friday, July 21, 2000 | by <p>AVI MACHLIS </p> <br /><br /><p>JERUSALEM—While their prime minister was in Camp David, Israeli newspapers across the political spectrum, explored one issue more than any: the future of Jerusalem.<br /><br /> "Jerusalem is already divided, all that is left is the details," read a headline in Yediot Achronot, Israel's most popular daily.<br /><br /> The article, written by Roni Shaked, the newspaper's veteran West Bank correspondent, went on to explain how predominantly Jewish western Jerusalem and mostly Arab eastern Jerusalem already are completely different entities.<br /><br /> Since 1967, Israeli policy has held that Jerusalem will always be united under Israeli sovereignty, and there has been traditionally strong public opinion against any compromise in the city. However, some experts said there is a subtle shift taking place in the public debate.<br /><br /> Ma'ariv, known to be the more centrist of Israel's main daily newspapers, said in an editorial on Sunday that the Jerusalem issue should be left open under a final agreement. It pointed out—in terms rarely stated in the Israeli debate—that "Jerusalem is a national and religious symbol for the Palestinians too," yet stressed that the city also has an "overwhelming weight" as a "Jewish and Israeli religious and national symbol."<br /><br /> Even some newspapers in the fervently religious community, whose leaders tend to be more dovish than their voters, coldly dissected the options for Jerusalem.<br /><br /> Yom Hashishi, the haredi newspaper affiliated with the Shas Party, featured a full two-page spread discussing in detail all proposals on the table. In a sidebar, the newspaper gave its own unique spin on the dangers of proposals to annex Jewish settlements in return for Arab neighborhoods. The annexation plan, it warned, "may strengthen Jewish Jerusalem, but it would also reduce the proportion of the haredi community and its influence in the city."<br /><br /> Only in the overtly right-wing press of the national religious and settlers camp did the prospect of a compromise on Jerusalem appear to be raised with the same degree of emotional intensity it has always evoked.<br /><br /> Hatzofeh, the national religious newspaper, warned of the "dangers threatening the unity of Jerusalem" and lashed out at reports that Prime Minister Ehud Barak has put Jerusalem on the table.<br /><br /> "The only thing left is to make clear to the prime minister in an unequivocal way that he has no mandate to discuss the future of Jerusalem," said the newspaper. "This should be clarified to President Clinton as well."<br /><br /> Polls show that Israelis are divided down the middle on the peace issues, as is generally the case. Even though nobody knows exactly what a peace deal may look like, a Gallup poll in Ma'ariv showed that 45 percent said they will vote in favor of such a deal and 43 percent said they will vote against it.</p> <p> </p>

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