"Jerusalem is above politics"

Elie Weisel, author, Nobel recipient and Holocaust survivor, took out full page ads in major US newspapers, expressing concerns over this city.

For me, the Jew...Jerusalem is above politics. It is mentioned more than 600 times in Scripture and not a single time in the Koran...There is no more moving prayer ...than the one expressing our yearning to return to Jerusalem...It is what binds one Jew to another in a way that remains hard to explain. When a Jew visits Jerusalem for the first time, it is not the first time; it is a homecoming...The anguish over Jerusalem is not about real estate but about memory...Jerusalem is the heart of our heart, the soul of our soul.

("...Jerusalem is Above Politics," Arutz 7, 18 Apr. 2010)

Weisel wrote the above because Jerusalem has become the epicenter of a major diplomatic storm precipitating a crisis with Israel's most important ally [America].

Under the Bush and Clinton administrations, the US essentially ignored building in large, established, national-consensus Jewish neighborhoods of east Jerusalem where about 200,000 Jews live. The Obama administration changed tack..., insisting Israel stop all building in those areas.

The Palestinian Authority [PA] took advantage of this new US policy to increase pressure on Israel. At an Arab League meeting in March, PA President Abbas said, Jerusalem and its environs are a trust of Allah... Saving it from the settlement monster and the danger of Judaization is a personal commandment incumbent on all of us. ("Clarity on Jerusalem Day," JP Editorial, 11 May 2010)

Israeli Prime Minister [PM] Bibi Netanyahu, at a Jerusalem Day rally, quoted Isaiah 62:1, For Zion's sake will I not hold my peace, for Jerusalem's sake I will not rest... Then he said,

The battle for Jerusalem is a battle for truth... There can be no justice without truth and if there is a perversion of justice [as to] our city and nation, it means truth has been perverted, because the truth is Jerusalem is our city... We will continue to build Jerusalem...

("Netanyahu at...Jerusalem Day Celebration," Arutz 7, 12 May 2010)

Senior PA negotiator Saeb Erekat did not like Bibi's use of the Bible to link Israel's ties with Jerusalem. He accused him of using religion to incite hatred and fear. ("PA Finds Bibi's Biblical Reference 'Distasteful'," Arutz 7, 14 May 2010)

Jeremiah's lament over this city is still true today. ...all her friends have dealt treacherously with her, they are become her enemies. (Lam. 1:2)