To Jews, All of Jerusalem Is Home

The Clinton Administration has criticized plans for a housing development on property that I own in Jerusalem, saying it will somehow hinder or hurt the Israeli-Palestinian peace process. This is disappointing.

I am certain that President Clinton would respect my right, as an American Jew, to live anywhere I choose in the United States. If neighbors threatened riots to keep me out, surely the White House would support criminal prosecution of those neighbors to the full extent of the law, and even call out the National Guard if necessary, just as the National Guard was used to protect the first African American children to attend previously segregated schools in the South during the 1950s. I cannot believe President Clinton would sanction racism and apartheid and expect Jews to forego their rights to live where they want in the democratic country of Israel.

The parcel of land in question is on Har Hazeitim, the Hebrew name for the Mount of Olives, Judaism’s second holiest site after the Temple Mount. The Arabs refer to this site as Ras al Amud.

Am I afraid that this housing development may renew violence in Jerusalem? It depends on the Arab leaders, especially Yasser Arafat. When the Jerusalem City Council decided to approve the project, Arafat and the PLO launched a campaign of threats and intimidation. Just this past week, members of a PLO faction carried out a drive-by shooting in which an Israeli woman and her 12-year-old son were murdered.

Like terrorists and blackmailers the world over, Arab terrorists always intensify their attacks as a tactic to pressure Israel to surrender to their demands. But no country could survive for very long if it gave in to the dictates of fanatics and killers; that would lead to anarchy.

When I purchased the plot of land on the Mount of Olives section of Jerusalem, it was completely vacant except for two squatters living there in illegally built dwellings. I purchased the property from Jewish owners in the hopes of breaking down the barrier of racial segregation that Arabs had erected in that neighborhood. The land in question has a long and rich Jewish history; it was originally purchased by Jews back in the late 1800s.

When the Jordanians occupied this area of Jerusalem from 1948 to 1967, they prevented Jews from living there or even visiting. Under Jordanian control the Arabs destroyed 58 synagogues in the city. On the Mount of Olives they tore out tombstones from the Jewish cemetery that adjoins my property (including the tombstone of Henrietta Szold, founder of the American women’s Zionist group, Hadassah) and used them to build latrines for the Jordanian army. Until today, the Arabs have succeeded in preventing Jews from moving onto this property.

Now that the land has been approved for development by the City Council and the other relevant legal authorities, it will be used to benefit both Arabs and Jews. Part of the land will be used for Jewish housing. Part of it will be the site of a new state-of-the-art Arab maternity and well-baby center, where Arab mothers will be able to learn modern techniques of infant care. What could better symbolize mankind’s hopes for a better tomorrow?