Olmert Get's An Antichrist Of An Idea: Let A World Council Decide The Fate Of Jerusalem, Temple Mount
Pastor Dale Morgan
Olmert Get's An Antichrist Of An Idea: Let A World Council Decide The
Fate Of Jerusalem, Temple Mount*
Olmert: Let International Community Help Change Status of Jerusalem
by Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu
(IsraelNN.com) Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has proposed to Palestinian
Authority (PA) Chairman Mahmoud Abbas that the international community
participate in helping to determine the status of Jerusalem. He will
meet with Abbas on Sunday, probably for the last time before Kadima
party members go to the polls in less than three weeks to elect his
replacement.
The international community's role would be that of advisors, but would
give it large media exposure in attempts to divide the city and make it
a shared capital of both Israel and a new Arab country. Leaders of the
European Union (EU) and other Western countries have suggested that Jews
not have exclusive sovereignty over its holy sites in the city.
Yasser Arafat, Abbas's predecessor, rejected a similar offer by
then-Prime Minister Ehud Barak in 2000. His rejection of the proposal
stemming from the Oslo Agreements helped spark the Oslo War, also
referred to as the "second intifiada," that unleashed suicide bombings,
machine-gun ambushes and rocket attacks that have killed more than 1,000
Israelis.
Prime Minister Olmert as recently as two years ago stated that Jerusalem
is Israel's "undivided and eternal" capital, and the Shas party has said
several times it will leave the coalition and topple the government if
the status of Jerusalem is negotiated.
Prime Minister Olmert as recently as two years ago stated that Jerusalem
is Israel's "undivided and eternal" capital.
However, the Prime Minister has successfully maneuvered negotiations
around this obstacle while the Knesset remains out of session, and the
media generally has avoided restraining him or questioning him or Shas
on its previous promises. Technically, the agreement could allow Shas to
claim that Prime Minister Olmert only is placing into effect a mechanism
to discuss the status of Jerusalem in the future and that dividing the
city is not being negotiated at the moment.
Possible international monitors under consideration are Jordan, the
Vatican, Egypt and the Quartet, which includes Russia, the United
Nations, the United States and the EU.
Prime Minister Olmert's proposal calls for a final status agreement to
be reached within five years. If Abbas agrees, the deal could
effectively bind the next government through international pressure.