dear Mr. Bauer,

I noticed in your reply to Mr. Wright in the NY times that you make two false pieces of information. For the record I wish to set the record straight.

1. You state in reference to Ramat Shlomo that ” Palestinians have never had any intention of taking control of until the Obama administration raised it as an issue.” This is totally false and totally untrue. Ever since 1967 Palestinians have and continue to insist on having control of East Jerusalem which obviously includes the controversial settlement of Ramat Shlomo. Obama has had nothing to do with the consistent Palestinian demand.

2. You say that Arabs can live anywhere in Israel. Again this is totally untrue. Palestinians who are living in the West Bank roughly 80% of the population are not even allowed to reach East Jerusalem or the internationally recognized borders of the state of Israel. Even Palestinians in Jerusalem are not allowed to live anywhere in Israel. The Israeli supreme court held up an Israeli decision to deny a Palestinian Mohammad Burkan from purchasing a house on the edge of the Jewish quarter. The Israeli court justified that decision by stating that on June 4th 1978 that a Palestinian Jerusalemite had no right to live in the Jewish quarter because non Jews had no right to live in the Jewish quarter and because of Israel’s policy of “segregated pluralism.”

I received the following reply from Mr. Bauer

Yes, the truth is important and you are completely wrong about one point. “East Jerusalem” is a general term with no defined boundaries. In past negotiations the two sides have argued about specific communities and what side of the law they would be on. Ramat Shlomo has never been claimed by the Palestinians for the simple reason that it has been in habited by Israeli Jews for decades. One your second point I spoke to broadly and will be more nuanced in the future. By the way since you are a believing Christian could you share with me what you have done to fight against the Palestinian policy to prosecute or worse those Palestinians who sell their property to Jews.

Gary

Following is my rebutal

dear Gary,

Yes, the truth is important and you are completely wrong about one point. “East Jerusalem” is a general term with no defined boundaries.

I was born and grew up in Jerusalem so I hope you bear with me if I am passionate about my birthplace.

Israeli media, international media, international organisations all agree with what Wikipedia that East Jerusalem refers to areas of Jerusalem occupied in 1967. That definition has not been challenged. So I am not sure why you say that i am completely wrong.
You are right about the boundaries not being defined because Israel unilaterally expanded the boundaries of the city but then when the wall came up they left some of the areas that Israel officials considers part of Jerusalem outside the wall.

In past negotiations the two sides have argued about specific communities and what side of the law they would be on.Ramat Shlomo has never been claimed by the Palestinians for the simple reason that it has been in habited by Israeli Jews for decades.

Negotiations on Jerusalem. i am not aware that we have had negotiations on Jerusalem. I thought Israel refuses to negotiate about Jerusalem. What you may be referring to is what is called the Clinton parameters in which Clinton has suggested that Arab neighborhood become part of Palestine and Jewish ones become part of Israel. If this is what you refer to then it is even more important that people stay within their neighborhood and not expand them. Ramat Shlomo is built on the lands of the Palestinian neighborhood of Shufat, where I lived for some time. While Israel has not given Palestinian populations any opportunity to build and has been destroying homes built without license, the expansion of these areas that are built in violation of international law is problematic to say the least.

As to your last comment, in our business we call your “what about” question a diversionary tactic. Nevertheless I will gladly respond. First I have fought against Palestinian policy on many issues and that landed me in jail in 1997 for broadcasting a session on a local TV about corruption in the Palestinian authority.

The conflict is all about land and the Israeli and their friends have used all kinds of tactics, including many illegal and immoral tactics to control land. My brother is a lawyer and I regularly see examples of attempts to forge or use many illegal ways to wrestle land from Palestinians.

I don’t know if you are aware that almost all private land in historic Palestine is now in the hands of the Jewish National Authority whose bylaws state that it is entrusted to own land for the Jewish people. Even Jews can’t buy land, they can only lease land.

So I am not sure what you want me to fight against. Ever since the state of israel was established Palestinian lands have been regularly usurped, those, like my father and uncle who escaped the war (my father later became an evangelical pastor) have not been able to return to their own homes or lands in Jerusalem quarters of Musrara and Katamon. See this piece about my father and uncle that appeared in the Washington post http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/11/AR2008051101783.html

If you are genuinely interested in knowing more, I would happily engage with you. Also feel free to visit my home page www.daoudkuttab.com

Daoud

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