Published: 3 June 2017
Last updated: 4 March 2024
All that changed when the Jordanians launched a surprise offensive in the early hours of 5 June. Israel reacted swiftly. Political and military chiefs diverted forces to Jerusalem, conquering the eastern part of the city with lightning speed, within a remarkably short time. On Wednesday 7 June Israeli radio announced that the battle in Jerusalem was over and residents were allowed to leave their bomb shelters. In just 48 hours history was made.
For the first time in modern history, the whole of Jerusalem was under Israel's control. There was now an opportunity for the Israeli leadership to unify the city. The prevailing view was that this window of opportunity was narrow; leaders assumed international pressure would force Israel out of the newly conquered territories. During those 48 hours, the Israeli leadership went through a radical political and psychological transformation. On 7 June, Moshe Dayan, Israel's Minister of Defence, issued a statement that had been authorised by Prime Minister Levi Eshkol:
“This morning, the Israel Defence Forces liberated Jerusalem. We have united Jerusalem, the divided capital of Israel. We have returned to the holiest of our holy places, never to part from it again.”
All historians agree that such a statement did not exist in the notebook of any Israeli leader. Indeed, some leaders were concerned the military gains in Jerusalem imposed a responsibility on the State of Israel that would prove overbearing.
But the fate of Jerusalem, the nation and even the region, was sealed in a spur-of-the-moment decision.
The Israelis were not ambivalent about Jerusalem from that point on. As soon as the war was over, the government made unification of Jerusalem a top priority and began to apply this decision on the ground.
Within a few weeks, the parameters were set: first, Israel defined new boundaries to the city that went beyond joining Jordanian East Jerusalem to Israeli West Jerusalem. The new municipal boundaries swallowed portions of the West Bank and thus Jerusalem became 127 square kilometres large, the size of Paris; secondly, Israel announced that all parts of these territories were now under Israeli sovereignty with Israeli laws applying to both the territory and to the residents; and finally, Israel absorbed 70,000 Jordanian Palestinians, who were now residents of the newly defined Jerusalem.
The Palestinians joined the 200,000 Jews who resided in West Jerusalem. These two populations from two hostile countries now shared a new urban space. By the end of June 1967 the stage was set and Jerusalem embarked on a new project: a unified city under Israeli control.
[caption id="attachment_11097" align="aligncenter" width="702"]
Demolition of the Mughrabi Quarter in front of the Western Wall, 1967 (cr: Dan Hadani)[/caption]The parameters set by Israel in June 1967 formed the basis for all future policies on Jerusalem. In the first 20 years, the Israeli governments, national and local, robustly changed the city. They created a large plaza at the Western Wall; restored the Jewish Quarter of the Old City; resumed activity on Mt. Scopus; and, perhaps most significant, constructed a series of large neighbourhoods in East Jerusalem for Jewish residents, a clear measure for maintaining the demographic edge over the Jerusalem Palestinians.
All these steps were embraced by the vast majority of the Israeli public as well as by most of world Jewry. The international community, particularly the United States, rejected Israel's steps but, in practice, allowed the Israelis to work freely to achieve their goals.
In many ways, the Israeli "Unification Project" succeeded. Jerusalem changed immensely. It grew, developed economically and most of all became a seamless metropolis. But success exacted a heavy toll.
[caption id="attachment_11095" align="aligncenter" width="702"]
Family visit at the Western Wall (Yad Ben Zvi archive)[/caption]Israel embarked on this project with a post-67 war euphoria, asserting its dominance in all aspects of the city. The Palestinians, who did not receive Israeli citizenship, developed a narrative of being under occupation and suffered systemic discrimination by the Israeli authorities. Jerusalem became a stratified city: Israeli Jews enjoy all the benefits and services of full citizenship, while the Palestinians constitute an underclass, suffering from constant neglect and violations of human rights. Add to that the Haredi population’s exponential growth and increased political power. Today’s Jerusalem is poorer, more religious, more right-wing and at times, violent.
During the Oslo negotiations ideas for dividing Jerusalem were brought to the table, but the collapse of the peace process left Jerusalem without a clear political horizon. Fifty years after the war that changed the face of the region, Jerusalem has become both the cause and the victim of urban disarray and political conflict, with no end in sight. Jerusalem's residents find themselves hostage to a geopolitical game that breeds a sense of insecurity, estrangement and alienation within their own city. Even if suggestions of mass migration out of the city are exaggerated, Jerusalem has become a place that many Israelis believe is undesirable for people seeking to live in a secure environment with a good quality of life.
As Jerusalem enters the 51st year since its unification, it’s clear the city's main source of vitality and creativity is its people. Jerusalem's residents have not given up. Despite all the hardship, Jerusalem’s civil society is alive and active, its vast contrasts a source of creativity and innovation. After decades of policy failure, Jerusalem's residents are taking the lead, formulating new ideas and showing great love for their city. Perhaps this is the greatest gift for 50 years of unification.
This The Jewish Independent article may be republished with this acknowledgement: ‘Reprinted with permission from www.thejewishindependent.com.au’
Related: Jerusalem Day 2017
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