-5 Days Since Friday – Is Gilo East Jerusalem?

By Sherwin Pomerantz

All of us living here in Israel are just a couple of hours away from the start of the Jewish New Year, 5772, which begins at sundown. As the country winds down, the stores close, the streets get quiet and 95% of the Jewish population here, secular and religious alike, gather for their holiday dinners, another bombshell has fallen from Egypt and our Palestinian neighbors.

Yesterday the Israeli Cabinet approved the construction of an additional 1,100 apartment units in Gilo, a southern suburb of Jerusalem but well within the city limits demarcated by us after the Six Day War in 1967. According to most demographers, there are 40,000 people living in Gilo today. Many of the readers of this blog may recall that during the second Palestinian Arab uprising a few years ago, Gilo was attacked daily by live fire from Bethlehem, just across the valley to the west. Gilo itself is close enough to where I live (roughly in the center of the city) that at night we could hear the shelling going on from our bedroom window. A little scary to be sure.

Gilo like its northern counterpart Ramot, does, indeed, lie over the green line, as it were, but both areas were part of the city annexed by Israel in 1967. Both communities have grown dramatically as the population of city has increased. It is also important to note that Gilo, contrary to what is appearing in the papers today, is not in East Jerusalem but is south of the city in an area that was virtually uninhabited 44 years ago.

So, imagine the surprise today when in headlines in the local papers we find that Egypt is protesting the new construction and its Foreign Minister calls it an act of “Israeli Defiance to the International Community.” Remember, this is not a settlement, but a large neighborhood in Jerusalem proper.

It was not a surprise that the Palestinian Arabs objected earlier in the week, as their leadership objects to every new unit built anywhere they deem inappropriate even though all of this construction is a boon to their population as it provides work for thousands of Palestinian construction workers. As a matter of fact an attempt two years ago by the Palestinian Arab leadership to make working on these projects a crime met with incredible local resistance. As they found out, no one likes to have their government stick its hands in people’s pockets uninvited.

What is even more appalling is the article about this in Ha’aretz today, see

http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/egypt-slams-israel-over-new-construction-in-east-jerusalem-1.387212

where Israeli columnists also call Gilo “East Jerusalem,” for which, as mentioned above, there is absolutely no basis in fact.

So, even though the events of last week at the UN are over, the battle that we face here daily is not at all over. Earlier in the week the US State Department also issued a criticism of this decision on our part, once again showing their lack of understanding of the basic geography here.

Our friends around the world need to raise their voices about this type of irresponsible political theatre so that the big lie does not continue unchallenged. Every time one of these lies is repeated it adds yet another nail in the coffin of the enterprise called Israel. Informed individuals need to object at every turn to this type of chicanery.

As we enter the new year, I extend my best wishes to my Jewish readers for a happy, healthy, prosperous and, dare I say as well, peaceful new year. Shana Tovah Umetukah! A Good and Sweet Year!