Initiative to divide Jerusalem faces own internal split
Former security establishment officials who supported the plan of former Minister Haim Ramon to divide Jerusalem now claim that he uses racist means to gain political popularity.
Former Minister Haim Ramon, the former chairman of the National Labor Union and a senior member of the Labor Party, was the sponsor and founder of the movement Save Jewish Jerusalem. In recent months, he spun ties with left and centrist activists, convincing them to join his initiative to prevent an Arab majority within the boundaries of Jerusalem by breaking away from the Palestinians neighborhoods of East Jerusalem.
It remains unclear whether Ramon’s initiative aims at paving his way back into politics, although some of the movement’s members allege that in recent months that has been the only thing on his mind. Al-Monitor discovered that this situation — together with a hatred-inciting video clip that was published on the movement's behalf — generated a wave of senior movement members quitting the initiative only six months after it was established.
The movement’s key argument has been that unless Israel acts swiftly, its capital city will soon have a majority of Arab voters, mostly from East Jerusalem, who will be able to alter the city’s political balance. As Israeli residents, East Jerusalem Arabs can vote in the municipal elections; if they all come together, an Arab mayor could very well be elected.
In the recent 2013 municipal elections, only 0.7% of Jerusalem’s Arab residents took part in the elections. This small figure has not stopped the members of Save Jewish Jerusalem from contending that the Arab residents might use this democratic tool — to wit, the elections — to take over the city politically.
