A solution to Jerusalem could be a “special regime” that administers the Old City without dividing it, leaving the thorny issue of sovereignty for a future date, two former diplomats wrote.
In the March/April issue of Foreign Affairs, professors Michael Bell of Canada and Daniel Kurtzer of the US propose a way to deal with Jerusalem in Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations.
They suggest creating an impartial, Old City Special Regime (OCSR) chosen by the Israelis and Palestinians together, that would appoint a chief administrator.
“The most promising alternative to a street-by-street, site-by-site division of the Old City is to construct a special regime that defers the issue of sovereignty and instead focuses on how to administer and manage the Old City with strong third-party participation,” the two experts write in the magazine.
Israel annexed east Jerusalem — which includes the Old City and its numerous holy sites — after the 1967 Arab-Israeli war. The Palestinians want Jerusalem to become the capital of their future state.
Outgoing Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said on Saturday that “there will never be peace” in the Middle East unless Israel and the Palestinians share Jerusalem.”
Bell — Canada’s former ambassador to Egypt, Israel and Jordan — and Kurtzer — a former US ambassador to Egypt and Israel — said that “quite simply, the Old City cannot be divided between the Israelis and the Palestinians.”
“It is too small, too densely populated, too architecturally linked, and the Israelis and the Palestinians are too riven by systemic distrust for them to govern the Old City on their own,” Bell and Kurtzer write.
They also said too much focus has been placed on the issue of sovereignty, and that because the claims are “based on such diametrically opposed historical narratives, the standard compromise solution — shared governance — simply will not work.”
They urge an OCSR comprised of senior Israelis and Palestinians “and a limited number of international participants selected by both sides.”
The board would appoint a chief administrator for a fixed, renewable term, with independent authority to implement the OCSR’s mandate and who would “establish and oversee an internationally staffed police force.”
The regime, the two professors said, would not constitute “internationalization” of Jerusalem — an idea both sides oppose — but “would operate with the framework of a two-state solution and allow both states to claim Jerusalem as their capital.”
Yemen’s separatist leader has vowed to keep working for an independent state in the country’s south, in his first social media post since he disappeared earlier this month after his group briefly seized swathes of territory. Aidarous al-Zubaidi’s United Arab Emirates (UAE)-backed Southern Transitional Council (STC) forces last month captured two Yemeni provinces in an offensive that was rolled back by Saudi strikes and Riyadh’s allied forces on the ground. Al-Zubaidi then disappeared after he failed to board a flight to Riyadh for talks earlier this month, with Saudi Arabia accusing him of fleeing to Abu Dhabi, while supporters insisted he was
The Chinese Embassy in Manila yesterday said it has filed a diplomatic protest against a Philippine Coast Guard spokesman over a social media post that included cartoonish images of Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平). Philippine Coast Guard spokesman Jay Tarriela and an embassy official had been trading barbs since last week over issues concerning the disputed South China Sea. The crucial waterway, which Beijing claims historic rights to despite an international ruling that its assertion has no legal basis, has been the site of repeated clashes between Chinese and Philippine vessels. Tarriela’s Facebook post on Wednesday included a photo of him giving a
‘MOBILIZED’: While protesters countered ICE agents, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz activated the state’s National Guard to ‘support the rights of Minnesotans’ to assemble Hundreds of counterprotesters drowned out a far-right activist’s attempt to hold a small rally in support of US President Donald Trump’s latest immigration crackdown in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on Saturday, as the governor’s office announced that National Guard troops were mobilized and ready to assist law enforcement, although not yet deployed to city streets. There have been protests every day since the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) ramped up immigration enforcement in the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and Saint Paul by bringing in more than 2,000 federal officers. Conservative influencer Jake Lang organized an anti-Islam, anti-Somali and pro-US Immigration and Customs Enforcement
NASA on Saturday rolled out its towering Space Launch System (SLS) rocket and Orion spacecraft as it began preparations for its first crewed mission to the Moon in more than 50 years. The maneuver, which takes up to 12 hours, would allow the US space agency to begin a string of tests for the Artemis 2 mission, which could blast off as early as Feb. 6. The immense orange and white SLS rocket, and the Orion vessel were slowly wheeled out of the Vehicle Assembly Building at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, and painstakingly moved 6.5km to Launch Pad 39B. If the
RSS