Jerusalem is a most striking example of the current deterioration in the relations between Israel, the Palestinians and the Arab/Islamic world. The recent escalation of Israeli activities aimed at converting Jerusalem into a totally Jewish city has had no precedent since the occupation of East Jerusalem began in 1967. These activities will not change the reality that Jerusalem, which the Jews claim only for themselves, is at the heart of the Christian and Muslim faiths.

Christians and Muslims will not give up their rights in the city, and these Israeli activities will only sow the seeds of the coming rounds of confrontations which may, and even almost surely, will be more extreme and violent than ever before.

Successive Israeli governments have tried since the occupation began in 1967 to create facts on the ground by building Jewish neighborhoods in the occupied East Jerusalem, across the armistice line known as the Green Line. The shift in Israeli politics and the ris
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