Monday, May 14, 2018

New US Embassy

From MSN:
"United States Opens Its Israeli Embassy In Jerusalem"


The United States officially opened its embassy to Israel in Jerusalem on Monday, fulfilling a pledge by President Donald Trump who has recognized the holy city as the Israeli capital. "Today we open the United States embassy in Jerusalem, Israel," U.S. ambassador to Israel David Friedman said at the beginning of the inaugural ceremony, attended by a U.S. delegation from Washington and Israeli leaders. On the Gaza border, at least 38 Palestinians were killed by Israeli gunfire in the latest in a round of protests dubbed the "Great March of Return," health officials said.   Trump's recognition of contested Jerusalem as Israel's capital in December outraged Palestinians, who said the United States could no longer serve as an honest broker in any peace process with Israel. Palestinians seek East Jerusalem as the capital of a state they want to establish in the occupied West Bank and the Gaza Strip. Israel regards all of the city, including the eastern sector it captured in the 1967 Middle East war and annexed, as its "eternal and indivisible capital" in a move that has not won international recognition.

Not only does this finally follow the Jerusalem Embassy Act of 1995 (that was passed into law on November 8, 1995) which stated that the US Embassy would be moved from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem by May 31, 1999, but it also happens on the 51st Anniversary of the reunification of Jerusalem.  For any person who thinks this is a bad idea and that we need to return to the way things were in Jerusalem before the Israeli victory in the 1967 Six Day War they should know the history.

- From 634 to 1917: Israel was ruled by different Muslim groups. (From 1517–1917 Israel was part of the Ottoman Empire.) Muslims enjoyed full rights in Jerusalem as well as the rest of what would be Israel. Jews and Christians living there were subjects whose legal status including open discrimination and treatment depended on the different sultans. Christians and Jews did not officially own their religious sites in Jerusalem. In 1192 Sultan Saladin gave the keys to non-Muslim religious sites in Jerusalem to the Muslim family: Nusaybah. Even to this day a member from that family holds the keys and has to open the Jewish and Christian religious sites everyday. 

- From 1917-1920: the French and British occupied Jerusalem and modern-day Israel in an area that was called the Occupied Enemy Territory Administration.

- From 1920-1948: the British territory of Mandatory Palestine was created. The British tended to favor the Muslims in Jerusalem and the rest of what would be modern-day Israel (due to British Anti-Semitism as well as not wanting to upset the Muslims in other British colonies.) Despite a British Government promise in 1917 to create a Jewish State, the British in Mandatory Palestine restricted Jewish movement to the region. That helped lead to millions of Jews being trapped in Europe and later murdered by the Germans during the Holocaust in World War 2. After the War and the Holocaust the British continued their anti-Jewish discrimination. Holocaust survivors fleeing Europe with the hope of going to Palestine were stopped by the British and interned in camps in Cyprus. When the British were leaving Palestine in 1948 they allowed the Arabs/Muslims there to acquire their old weapons while the Jews were forbidden to hold any weapons.

- In 1948: the State of Israel was declared. After the Israeli War for Independence Jerusalem was divided in two. Israel-controlled West Jerusalem and the Jordanians/Muslims controlled East Jerusalem. 

- From 1948-1967: the Jordanians/Muslims controlled East Jerusalem and forbid any Jew from entering the Wailing Wall or any other Jewish site. In the Six Day War of 1967 Israel won control of East Jerusalem and reunited the city.

- From 1967-Present Day: Israel has control over all of Jerusalem. Muslims, Christians and Jews can go to any of their religious sites throughout the city. Israel has made agreements with both Muslims and Christians to allow them to dictate who can visit their religious sites (ie. the Muslims can say that only Muslims can go to a Muslim holy site in Jerusalem, etc.) No religious group is forbidden to visit their own religious site in Jerusalem though.

Knowing the history of Jerusalem, I do not understand the people and world governments that want to return to the way things were before the reunification of Jerusalem in 1967 (ie. where the Muslims controlled all access to Christian and Jewish holy sites and refused entry to all Jews and anyone else they wanted to) rather than the 51 years of all religions being able to visit their own religious sites throughout all of Jerusalem. Having the US Embassy in a reunited Jerusalem only helps to keep any official discrimination of any religious group from happening again. ^




No comments:

Post a Comment

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.