Skip to main content

Will terror attacks revive issue of splitting Jerusalem?

The Israeli right has long accused the left of intending to divide Jerusalem in a future agreement with the Palestinians, but with continuing unrest in the city the ruling right wing must also face the possibility of a separation.
An Israeli border policeman takes position during clashes with Palestinian protesters following an anti-Israel demonstration in solidarity with al-Aqsa mosque, at Qalandia checkpoint near the West Bank city of Ramallah November 21, 2014. REUTERS/Ammar Awad (WEST BANK - Tags: POLITICS CIVIL UNREST CRIME LAW) - RTR4F1NY
Read in 

On March 6, 2008, Ala Hussein Abu Dheim, a resident of the village of Jabel Mukaber murdered eight students at Merkaz HaRav rabbinical college in Jerusalem. Abu Dheim was 26 at the time, and two years prior to the murder he started getting closer to Islam. As a resident of the eastern part of Jerusalem, he carried a blue identification card (an ID card reserved for Israeli citizens and permanent residents) and was even employed for a while as a passenger driver in Jerusalem. Four months later, in July 2008, East Jerusalem Palestinians carried out two vehicular terror attacks in the city center on Jaffa and King David streets.

The government of Ehud Olmert and his Kadima party was on its way out. Olmert, who was trying with all his might not to get bogged down by the various criminal cases in which he was embroiled, invested much effort at the time in achieving a diplomatic breakthrough with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. As expected, the terror attacks generated political unrest and Israel reacted with arrests and the demolition of the terrorists’ homes. The issue of disengagement from the city's border neighborhoods (of which Jabel Mukaber was one) emerged then for the first time on the political agenda, with a clear and decisive call for it by a senior cabinet member.

Access the Middle East news and analysis you can trust

Join our community of Middle East readers to experience all of Al-Monitor, including 24/7 news, analyses, memos, reports and newsletters.

Subscribe

Only $100 per year.