I Want My Vote Back, or, Why the Light Rail Will Keep Jerusalem United

I try not to get too political here - arguing one political side or another is the opposite of common sense and can often be pure verbal masturbation. But Obama has crossed the line. For someone who claims empathy to Jews, demanding only Jews stop building in Jerusalem is the epitome of Chutzpa. Thus far, Obama and his policy wonks have done nothing but set back negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians by choosing to focus entirely on Israel's actions even though we have sought peace incessantly for the last 16 years and counting, and building up Palestinian expectations to unrealistic levels so that Mahmoud Abbas now refuses to meet with Netanyahu despite numerous exhortations from Bibi. Furthermore, Obama has failed to draw distinctions between the West Bank and Jerusalem leading to the alienation of even most of the Israeli Left (not that there was much of one left after 16 years of Palestinian rejectionism in the face of countless peace offers).

We pray facing the Temple Mount, Muslims turn their backs to it and face Mecca. Jerusalem isn't even their 2nd holiest city and when they last had control of our holy sites, we were denied access to them and were forced to liberate them in a heavy price of blood in a war we preferred not to fight.

Re-dividing Jerusalem is the worst possible solution ot the current conflict. For someone who claims to be a unifier, Obama sure seems to want to put up a lot of walls and boundries between Israelis and Palestinians. The good news is we don't give a shit what he thinks anymore. So he can continue to verbally masturbate all he wants.

Driving on Bar-Lev Street, bringing my brother back to his dorm where he's taking Arabic at Hebrew U. this summer, driving on what was the old border until 1967, past the site of Old Mandelbaum Gate, passing Nablus Road, Salah Din Street, Damascus gate and the Old City walls and back to my neighborhood in East Talpiot south of the Old City, I get a veritable history lesson several times a week. With the Big O ordering us not to build in Jerusalem anymore until he says we can (unclear if he will ever give us that green light again), it dawned on me that the new light rail system which is slated to run down the very street that used to divide the two peoples that inhabit this great city has the purpose of uniting us for once and all. For no one in their right mind would build a train and spend 100s of millions of dollars on what will ultimately turn out to be a border street. The plan is simple: keep the city united, 'whole', continue bringing people together - Jews, Muslims and Christians - make the social fabric deeper, more intertwined. Build a state of the art transportation system on the street that used to divide us, for the use of all the city's inhabitants.

That's what Jerusalem ('Yeru-Shalem') means - 'city of peace' but more accurately also united city. If you think about, calling a city the 'united' (or 'whole', 'complete') city is an odd thing to do - but it isn't if you know the history. People have been trying to unite this city for 3,000 years, from the time the Jebusties lived here and King David tried to unite it up until today.

And now obama wants to put a wall up between people and keep them separated. How very liberal and enlightened of him - it worked really well in Berlin. If it's a lack of knowledge of the other that is primarily responsible for creating a level of fear and animosity between disparate peoples, how can we overcome that with a wall between us?

And this really is one unified city. I walk on the Tayelet near my house, overlooking the Dome of the Rock and Temple Mount, and the Arab ladies from the next neighborhood remark at how cute my son Erez is. It's a favorite picnic spot for both Jews and Arabs - should one of those people no longer be allowed to congregate there in the name of peace? I've experienced only pleasantness there - no violence or hatred. The guy who often fixes various problems in our apartment, Atlee, lives in East Jerusalem - maybe he shouldn't be allowed into this side of the city anymore to earn an honest day's wage. Instead he should only know Jews as people on the other side of a fence, and believe whatever lies he hears because he has no first hand knowledge of the other to combat them. And the same goes for any Arab-hating Jews out there who at least now have the benefit of seeing and interacting with the 'other' on a regular basis to combat their ignorant hatred.

When I studied in Ulpan (intensive Hebrew language seminar) after moving here, I befriended several Arab students in my class who were preparing to enter Israeli universities or technical schools. At the time I worked at the Jerusalem Report magazine and penned a piece asking the city not to cut funding to our Ulpan since it served as a bridge between Jerusalemite Jews and Arabs. The city ultimately decided the program was too valuable to cut. If Obama has his way, no Arab and Jewish members of Jerusalem will ever interact again. How very liberal and enlightened of the Great Unifier.