BICOM

Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat spoke with rabbis from the national-religious community this week in an effort to gather support for a land swap that would relinquish parts of the city beyond the security barrier. Last week, in a speech at a National Defense College event, Barkat suggested that small parts of municipal Jerusalem that lie on the Palestinian Authority side of the security barrier should be under the Palestinian Authority’s jurisdiction rather than that of the municipality, which has trouble providing basic public services and policing in those areas. According to the proposal, other areas on the Jerusalem side of the fence that belong to the PA, which are nearly equal in area, would be annexed in the land swap.

Approximately 60,000 Jerusalem residents live on the PA side of the barrier in municipal Jerusalem, in five major neighbourhoods of Kafr Akab, the Shuafat refugee camp, Semiramis, Zughayer and Atarot. Additionally, around 20,000 Palestinians live in small pockets of land on the Israeli side of the barrier, in “Area B,” which is under Israeli security but PA civilian control.

Any changes to the borders of Jerusalem are likely to raise objections from many quarters. Jerusalem Arabs on the outside of the barrier would likely want to stay part of Jerusalem. The Palestinian Authority and the international community would also likely object to any attempt to unilaterally change the status of any part of the city.

There would also be many objections within Israel, which would prevent the proposal getting the two-thirds majority support it would need to pass through the Knesset. Opponents on the left are likely to object to the redesign of the borders outside of a comprehensive peace agreement, while those of the right would object to giving up any part of Jerusalem’s existing boundaries to Palestinian control.