Global News Post: Jerusalem

Senior UN official criticizes Israel’s plan for new housing in East Jerusalem

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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgz9CEQnxeMk92IW6q6zAAsQXSQOXJgBokgje7IaMeUWhCG_TbomwJTsIWXt7xSMblEdPjbUqDIGuWb2ItnorSuuB_bZFxFff4oBkqZv3oOHBWZO_g9oc3mtXnw9aLeVp6YmhWV7EA61w8/s1600/robertserryun.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgz9CEQnxeMk92IW6q6zAAsQXSQOXJgBokgje7IaMeUWhCG_TbomwJTsIWXt7xSMblEdPjbUqDIGuWb2ItnorSuuB_bZFxFff4oBkqZv3oOHBWZO_g9oc3mtXnw9aLeVp6YmhWV7EA61w8/s1600/robertserryun.jpg" /></a></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #999999; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;"><i><b>Robert Serry, Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process</b></i></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><i><br />
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</i></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><i>A senior United Nations envoy today called Israel’s announced plan to develop new housing units in East Jerusalem, if confirmed, a “provocative action” that undermines international efforts to foster peace talks between it and the Palestinians.</i></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><i><br />
</i></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Back-Channel-Negotiation-Syracuse-Resolution/dp/0815632754?ie=UTF8&tag=glob036-20&link_code=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img alt="Back Channel Negotiation: Secrecy in the Middle East Peace Process (Syracuse Studies on Peace and Conflict Resolution)" src="http://ws.amazon.com/widgets/q?MarketPlace=US&ServiceVersion=20070822&ID=AsinImage&WS=1&Format=_SL160_&ASIN=0815632754&tag=glob036-20" /></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><i><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=glob036-20&l=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=0815632754" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important; padding: 0px !important;" width="1" />Voicing alarm, UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process Robert Serry noted that the Quartet, the diplomatic group comprising the UN, the European Union, Russia and the United States that seeks a peace based on two states, Israel and Palestine, living side by side, already condemned the plan when its initial planning stage was announced last year.</i></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><i><br />
</i></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><i>“If confirmed, this provocative action undermines ongoing efforts by the international community to bring the parties back to negotiations,” he said in a statement after Israel today announced the plans to develop new units in East Jerusalem, which the Palestinians want as capital of their future State, including 1,600 units in Ramat Shlomo.</i></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><i><br />
</i></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><i>Israel's refusal last September to extend a 10-month freeze on settlement activity in the occupied Palestinian territory prompted the Palestinians to withdraw from direct talks with the Israelis. Despite repeated calls by the international community to resume negotiations, the peace process has been in a deadlock since then.</i></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><i><br />
</i></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Peace-Its-Discontents-Palestine-Process/dp/0679767258?ie=UTF8&tag=glob036-20&link_code=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;" target="_blank"><img alt="Peace And Its Discontents: Essays on Palestine in the Middle East Peace Process" src="http://ws.amazon.com/widgets/q?MarketPlace=US&ServiceVersion=20070822&ID=AsinImage&WS=1&Format=_SL160_&ASIN=0679767258&tag=glob036-20" /></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><i>East Jerusalem was captured by Israel during the Six-Day War in 1967, when it also occupied the West<img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=glob036-20&l=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=0679767258" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important; padding: 0px !important;" width="1" /> Bank and Gaza, which the Palestinians seek as constituent parts of their State.</i></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><i><br />
</i></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Jordanians-Palestinians-Hashemite-Kingdom-Process/dp/1878379887?ie=UTF8&tag=glob036-20&link_code=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img alt="Jordanians, Palestinians, and the Hashemite Kingdom in the Middle East Peace Process" src="http://ws.amazon.com/widgets/q?MarketPlace=US&ServiceVersion=20070822&ID=AsinImage&WS=1&Format=_SL160_&ASIN=1878379887&tag=glob036-20" /></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><i><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=glob036-20&l=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=1878379887" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important; padding: 0px !important;" width="1" />Mr. Serry noted that the announcement comes only one week after a separate Israeli decision to build 900 additional housing units in another settlement in East Jerusalem, which Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, voicing concern at “provocative actions on the ground,” has already called contrary to international law.</i></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><i><br />
</i></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><i>Mr. Serry said he would take up the latest issue with the Quartet.(UN News)</i></span></div></div>

Senior UN official criticizes Israel’s plan for new housing in East Jerusalem

Robert Serry, Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process A senior United Nations envoy today called Israel’s announced plan t...

Israel Approves Plans for 1,600 New Homes in East Jerusalem

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Jerusalem-Larry-Collins/dp/0671662414?ie=UTF8&tag=glob036-20&link_code=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img alt="O Jerusalem" height="320" src="http://ws.amazon.com/widgets/q?MarketPlace=US&ServiceVersion=20070822&ID=AsinImage&WS=1&Format=_SL160_&ASIN=0671662414&tag=glob036-20" width="208" /></a><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=glob036-20&l=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=0671662414" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important; padding: 0px !important;" width="1" />Israel's Interior Ministry has given final approval for the construction of 1,600 new homes in East Jerusalem, days after the United States said it was "deeply concerned" about Israel continuing to build in the city.</span></i><br />
<div style="text-align: justify;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></i></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">A spokesman said Thursday the ministry also expects to soon approve the construction of another 2,700 houses in East Jerusalem.</span></i></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></i></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Palestinians want East Jerusalem as the capital of a future state.  They have opposed any Israeli construction and refused to resume peace talks unless Israel stops building in the city and in the West Bank.</span></i></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></i></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The Interior Ministry spokesman said the housing plans are not politically based, but rather a reaction to recent protests about the high cost of living and calls for more affordable housing in Israel.</span></i></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
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<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Jerusalem-Jez-Butterworth/dp/1559364084?ie=UTF8&tag=glob036-20&link_code=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;" target="_blank"><img alt="Jerusalem" src="http://ws.amazon.com/widgets/q?MarketPlace=US&ServiceVersion=20070822&ID=AsinImage&WS=1&Format=_SL160_&ASIN=1559364084&tag=glob036-20" /></a><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">After Israel announced a separate plan last week to build 900 homes in East Jerusalem, the U.S. State<img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=glob036-20&l=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=1559364084" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important; padding: 0px !important;" width="1" /> Department said Tuesday the construction works against efforts to restart negotiations.</span></i></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></i></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Israel and the United States say the talks are the only way to resolve borders and other core issues of the conflict.  They oppose a Palestinian bid to gain U.N. membership for an independent Palestine.</span></i></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
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<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Forgotten-Palestinians-History-Israel-ebook/dp/B00574LV0W?ie=UTF8&tag=glob036-20&link_code=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img alt="The Forgotten Palestinians: A History of the Palestinians in Israel" src="http://ws.amazon.com/widgets/q?MarketPlace=US&ServiceVersion=20070822&ID=AsinImage&WS=1&Format=_SL160_&ASIN=B00574LV0W&tag=glob036-20" /></a><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Palestinian<img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=glob036-20&l=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=B00574LV0W" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important; padding: 0px !important;" width="1" /> President Mahmoud Abbas is lobbying U.N. members to grand statehood based on the entire West Bank, the Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem, areas that Israel captured in the 1967 Mideast war.  Israel withdrew from Gaza in 2005. (VOA News)</span></i></div></div>

Israel Approves Plans for 1,600 New Homes in East Jerusalem

Israel's Interior Ministry has given final approval for the construction of 1,600 new homes in East Jerusalem, days after the United Sta...

Jerusalem- Why It Matters to Christians

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12pt;">By Luis Ramirez from Jerusalem<o:p></o:p></span></b><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBnXFs-MHETHeWGJdnYJtcTunyPrWROSnX6BYtCAG7dJXczEnIQ698xu5DXw8dO9aGa8fU9rm0BuW5_aTYJPWnQIfc2so_WgQfX1b-5xB1NJmuvrM9XGiZZ2iQ2OaSmzLfOrmvQM5dvag/s1600/voa_ramirez_jerusalem_christians_300_eng_19jul11.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBnXFs-MHETHeWGJdnYJtcTunyPrWROSnX6BYtCAG7dJXczEnIQ698xu5DXw8dO9aGa8fU9rm0BuW5_aTYJPWnQIfc2so_WgQfX1b-5xB1NJmuvrM9XGiZZ2iQ2OaSmzLfOrmvQM5dvag/s1600/voa_ramirez_jerusalem_christians_300_eng_19jul11.jpg" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><strong><span style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">  <span>Photo: VOA - L. Ramirez For many Christians, like these clergy members, Jerusalem is a religious destination.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></strong></div><div style="text-align: center;"></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;"><br />
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<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12pt;">Jerusalem’s new light rail system runs entirely outside of the old city, bypassing the holy sites. More than a million Christian pilgrims visit the Holy Land each year. As with the new transit line, much of what they view, including the ongoing Israeli-Palestinian conflict, they see as outsiders, but not without detachment. <o:p></o:p></span></b></div><br />
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<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12pt;">Thousands come to these narrow alleys as they have for centuries. Many of them will likely never ride on the city's budding state-of-the art transit system or hear it passing outside the old city gates. For them, ancient Jerusalem is a religious destination.<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><br />
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<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12pt;">The pilgrims come to see the sites of biblical history, and to remember the event that is the cornerstone belief of the world's more than two billion Christians:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>For them, this is the place where Jesus suffered, was crucified, and rose from the dead.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span><o:p></o:p></span></b></div><br />
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<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12pt;">Every Friday, pilgrims follow the Way of the Cross in the old city's Via Dolorosa, marking Christ's steps to His crucifixion. <o:p></o:p></span></b></div><br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12pt;">The procession ends at the Church of the Holy Sepulcher.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span><o:p></o:p></span></b></div><br />
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<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12pt;">Along the way, Jewish homes in the Muslim quarter are reminders that this is a flashpoint in the conflict pitting Israelis against Palestinians. <o:p></o:p></span></b></div><br />
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<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12pt;">Sister Belen, a nun from Spain, sees the seemingly never-ending struggle for Jerusalem as a testament to the city's importance. "This has been a very conflicted place, and I believe it is due to the mystery of God's presence in this city.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>None other has been destroyed and rebuilt so many times. The whole world makes a pilgrimage here.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>You have all three monotheistic religions.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>It is an important place in the world and it hides within it a mystery that cannot be deciphered, but one that moves us to come here," she said.<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><br />
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<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12pt;">The number of pilgrims coming has been rising in the last few years. <o:p></o:p></span></b></div><br />
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<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12pt;">At the same time, the population of native Palestinian Christians living here is dwindling, as many flee the pressures of the conflict. <o:p></o:p></span></b></div><br />
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<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12pt;">The last time Christians fought a religious war for control of the city was during the Crusades, starting nine centuries ago, when they captured the Holy Land from its Muslim rulers in order to regain safe passage for pilgrims to Christian holy sites. <o:p></o:p></span></b></div><br />
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<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12pt;">Today, of the three groups present in Jerusalem, the Christians are the only ones without a political stake in the city.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>Their interest is in having access to the holy sites. <o:p></o:p></span></b></div><br />
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<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12pt;">Father Frederic Mans is scholar at the Studium Biblicum Franciscanum, a biblical school in Jerusalem's old city.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>"Christianity was born in Jerusalem. For the Christians it is very important because Jesus died in this city.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>Those are our only pretensions, only to pray in this holy city," he said.<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><br />
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<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12pt;">Sister Belen has made the pilgrimage several times. She says she will come back if she can. "It is because, the way I see it, God has left His handprint here and since we as humans cannot aspire to more, we come looking for that mystery of God. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We come looking for the face and handprint of God, walking in our pilgrimage to the Jerusalem in heaven, which is waiting for us," she said.</span></b></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;"><br />
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<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12pt;">In this city, she is a visitor, just passing through. She prays that Jerusalem lives up to its name as the city of peace.(VOA News)<o:p></o:p></span></b></div></div>

Jerusalem- Why It Matters to Christians

By Luis Ramirez from Jerusalem Photo: VOA - L. Ramirez For many Christians, like these clergy members, Jerusalem is a religious destinati...

Jerusalem: Why It Matters to Jews

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">By <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Luis Ramirez from Jerusalem<o:p></o:p></span></b>  <br />
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</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt; text-align: justify;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Photo: VOA - L. Ramirez</span> <o:p></o:p></span></b></div><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 7pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Jerusalem is testing a light rail system extending from the Western part of the city into the Eastern parts.<o:p></o:p></span></i></b><br />
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</div><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">State-of-the-art trains crisscross the ancient landscape, their sound and their presence serving as reminders of why Israelis and Palestinians struggle for control of Jerusalem. For Israelis, the train is a step toward realizing their vision of uniting the once-divided city.<o:p></o:p></span></b><br />
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</div><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">It is Friday morning and Anat Hoffman, a controversial former Jerusalem councilwoman, is preparing the Sabbath meal. <o:p></o:p></span></b><br />
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</div><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">She was born and reared in Jerusalem.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>And to her, the most meaningful spot in the city is - the Jerusalem zoo. <o:p></o:p></span></b><br />
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</div><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">"There are men and women, ultra-Orthodox and Arab, sitting here on this grass, being together without attacking each other.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>Somehow, in the presence of the wild animals, we become human beings, and the zoo has become an island of sanity in this town. It's the only place where you see Arab feet and Jewish feet in the same puddle of water, enjoying the place," she said.<o:p></o:p></span></b><br />
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</div><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">For three millennia, this has been Judaism's holiest spot - the site of the ancient Hebrew temple in what is now Jerusalem's old city,<o:p></o:p></span></b><br />
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</div><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Israeli troops captured it from Jordan, along with the rest of the old city, in 1967. <o:p></o:p></span></b><br />
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</div><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Since then, Jews have come to pray around the clock at one of the walls of the temple compound that the Romans destroyed in the first century.<o:p></o:p></span></b><br />
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</div><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Yona Metzger, the chief Ashkenazi Rabbi of Israel, explains why these stones matter.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>"We fulfilled a dream.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>Israel belongs to the sons of Israel and this is the heart of Israel.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>All the holiness of the Holy Land comes from Jerusalem.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>The influence from the holiness comes from Jerusalem, and for Jews the heart of Jerusalem is the Holy Temple," she said.<o:p></o:p></span></b><br />
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</div><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Those who pray here believe Jerusalem is holy because God made it holy, and some believe prayers reach God more directly when made from here.<o:p></o:p></span></b><br />
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</div><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">"It's holy to other religions, I know, but the first time it was made holy was when God gave it to the Jewish people. It started in the days of Abraham, even when Adam was created.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>It was the place where the temple was built, the first temple, and God willing, the third temple will be built here also.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>We will always pray here," said one woman. <o:p></o:p></span></b><br />
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</div><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">But the way Anat Hoffman sees it; much remains to be done before this sacred spot can be, in her view, considered truly holy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span><o:p></o:p></span></b><br />
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</div><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">She recalls how Israel demolished Palestinian homes after the 1967 war to make way for this plaza.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span><o:p></o:p></span></b><br />
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</div><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">She has also led a fight to remove the partition that segregates men and women in this outdoor synagogue. "I would start with paying back and compensating every person who lived here at the Mughrabi neighborhood for this plaza.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>Only then, I think, we'll be able to tread this wall and feel holiness.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>Then I'll blow the partition to all hell," she said.<o:p></o:p></span></b><br />
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</div><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Hoffman also opposes the light rail project.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>For her, it does little to bridge the gaps that remain.</span> (</b><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">VOA News)<o:p></o:p></span></b><br />
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Jerusalem: Why It Matters to Jews

By Luis Ramirez from Jerusalem Photo: VOA - L. Ramirez Jerusalem is testing a light rail system extending from the Western par...