Our Jerusalem 
By Limor Livnat
Jerusalem Post

(September 24) - First Burger King said it is closing its 
branch in the Jerusalem suburb of Ma'aleh Adumim. Next, 
Sprint recalled its discount calling card to Israel which 
"mistakenly" showed the Old City walls of Jerusalem. And
now it appears that the Walt Disney Corporation has at 
least partially caved in to pressure to prevent the depiction 
of Jerusalem as Israel's capital at the Israeli booth at 
Disney's new Millennium Village.

These developments are not insignificant meanderings of the 
fast-food, telephone fiber-optics, and cartoon industries. 
They have one direction - the continued delegitimization of 
Israel and our right to Jerusalem as our eternal and undivided 
capital. The efforts spent to accomplish the above by the Arab
American Anti-Discrimination Committee is proof positive of that.

The tone, though,was set by our own prime minister, when he 
told a visiting delegation of American lawmakers this summer 
that  they should not press forward with moving the US Embassy 
to Jerusalem too quickly. The trickle-down message to the 
public is, that while we may claim Jerusalem is ours, we will 
certainly not allow it to get in the way of the "peace process."

It comes as little surprise then that in reaction to this 
latest affront to the sovereign State of Israel, a Foreign 
Ministry spokesman stated that: "[T]he display in the Israeli 
pavilion is not of a political nature. It does not focus on 
Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, just on Jerusalem as an 
ancient city."

I do not know what is worse about this official response, 
its pathetic sheepishness or its sheer stupidity.

The only significance of Jerusalem for the Jewish people is 
its "political nature." There are plenty of ancient cities 
in Israel, rich in moral history and steeped in national 
Jewish culture, all worthy of study and reverence (so worthy, 
I would add, that they should not be turned over to any 
other political entity).

But there is only one Jerusalem. Only Jerusalem was our 
capital and the epicenter of our national life. 
Only Jerusalem was - and is - the fulcrum of our religious 
observance and creativity, and the nexus of time linking 
the past and future. Only Jerusalem was and is the earthly 
sanctum of the spiritual promise of redemption, of the 
Jewish people and of humankind.

Historically, for Israel's enemies the destruction of 
Jerusalem was symbolically synonymous with the exiling of 
and intended obliteration of the Jewish people.

One of the fathers of the Church, Hieronymus, 
succinctly said, "Like pottery which, once broken, cannot 
revert to its initial form, so the Jewish nation and 
Jerusalem - destroyed - will not revert to their ancient station."

Religiously, for the Jewish people the promise of a rebuilt 
Jerusalem under Jewish sovereignty was the nation's survival 
pack through 1,900 years of exile.

No power succeeded in forcing the Jewish people to surrender 
its claim to the city. From cradle to grave, the city was 
hallowed in the nation's consciousness, in prayers thrice daily, 
in the Grace after Meals, under the wedding canopy and at times 
of mourning.

That is why political Zionism succeeded in "reverting the 
pottery to its initial form," in bringing the bimillennial hopes, 
prayers and dreams of the Jewish nation to at least the first 
stages of fruition. And that is why the Knesset decision 
reclaiming a united Jerusalem in 1967 was legitimate.

That is also why those who wish to discredit the Jewish claim 
to Jerusalem rewrite history, negating the historic right of 
the Jews to try and validate a claim with no historic or 
religious foundation.

The PLO Charter was adopted in 1964, three years before 
Israel united Jerusalem in a defensive war, yet there is 
no mention of Jerusalem in the charter, no claim that peace 
cannot be consummated unless Jerusalem become the capital of
Palestine. Jerusalem was not even mentioned when the charter 
was revised in 1968, following the Knesset decision to legally 
formalize Israeli sovereignty over all of Jerusalem.

As with everything about Palestinian nationalism, Jerusalem 
became an implacable Palestinian Arab demand in direct relation 
to the level of importance placed on it by Israel. 
Palestinian Arab nationalism originated as a response to Zionism,
and other than in regard to spreading wanton error and destruction, 
copied Zionism's political organizations. Their oft-touted 
"right of return" is an imitation of our Law of Return.

So, too, Jerusalem, the symbol of restored Jewish sovereignty 
in the land of Israel, has now been copied as well and is being 
treated as the indispensable linchpin of emerging Palestinian 
sovereignty. They unabashedly make this claim as they stand in 
Jerusalem and face Mecca, while the Jews continue to stand
anywhere and face Jerusalem.

Just as Jerusalem was our only capital ever, so too it was never 
anyone else's. That is an ancient truth and an existential 
political reality that the Arab American Anti-Discrimination 
Committee (another highly original Arab agency) or even an 
Israeli spokesman sounding a bit like Goofy cannot change.

(The writer is a Likud MK.)