Vice Premier: Parts of East Jerusalem should be severed from capital
3 Jul 2008
Vice Premier Haim Ramon (Kadima) told Army Radio on Thursday morning that Israel should treat the East Jerusalem neighborhoods of Jabel Mukaber and Zur Baher as Palestinian villages, and revoke the permanent residency status of their residents.
Ramon spoke the day after a resident of Zur Baher took a bulldozer on a rampage in downtown Jerusalem, ramming into a bus, cars and pedestrians, killing three and wounding dozens.
In March, a resident of Jabel Mukaber gunned down eight people at the Mercaz Harav yeshiva in Jerusalem. In the aftermath of both attacks, Ramon called for the two neighborhoods to be entirely cut off from Jerusalem.
"One of the main reasons that the attack was carried out yesterday with such ease was because there are Palestinian villages that for some reason are called Jerusalem - Jabel Mukaber and Zur Baher. They need to be treated as we treat Ramallah, Bethlehem, Jenin and Nablus," Ramon told Army Radio.
"These are Palestinian villages that were never part of Jerusalem, they were annexed to the city in 1967. No Israeli has ever been there, and doesn't go near there," Ramon added, continuing, "If the separation fence was west of the two villages, which we all call Jerusalem, it would have been a lot harder to carry out these kinds of attacks. It's forbidden for [residents of the neighborhoods] to have Israeli identification cards. How many more Israelis will have to pay with their lives until this is carried out?"
Ramon also told Army Radio that he felt, as opposed to the prime minister and his fellow ministers, that demolishing the home of the terrorist's family would not prevent the next terror attack. However, he said that the house should be demolished anyway, if the law allows it.
"I doubt that demolishing the house will achieve what it aims to achieve, though if possible, the house must be razed. The laws must be made to fit the policy and we mustn't give up," Ramon said. "What we are allowed to do, we must do as soon as possible."
The attorney general was set to meet with representatives of the defense establishment on Thursday to discuss the legality of demolishing the home of the perpetrator of Wednesday's killing spree. On Wednesday, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert called for the home to be razed, and Defense Minister Ehud Barak echoed this sentiment. Jerusalem Mayor Uri Lupolianski also voiced support for the move.