Here’s a news item that readers outside Israel are not likely to have heard about, given the anti-Israel climate in and out of the media: Last week an ambulance from Rambam Hospital in Haifa set out in the middle of the night carrying a team of surgeons and medical technicians to operate on an Arab youth from Hebron hospitalized in eastern Jerusalem.
The boy had been celebrating, with his friends, the end of his high school exams. He was sitting in the window of a car driven by a friend when the car turned quickly, and he smashed into the wall of a building. He was hospitalized and operated on in the Arab-run Augusta Victoria Hospital in eastern Jerusalem, but his condition deteriorated and he was in mortal danger.
Dr. Abdel Rauf Bayh, head of the emergency ward in Augusta Victoria, then remembered his colleague in Rambam, heart specialist Dr. Tzvi Adler. Bayh thought that Rambam’s special ECMO heart-lung machine – of which there are only a few in Israel – could help out in this case. He contacted Dr. Adler, who immediately agreed to try, and the five-man ECMO team was soon on its speedy way to Jerusalem.
The youth is now out of danger and is expected to fully recover – thanks to the ECMO machine that took over the difficult functions of breathing and allowed the body to recover, and thanks to the dedication of the Rambam medical staff.
On the other hand, here’s another news item of a very different type that many readers abroad also are not likely to hear very often: Six young Arabs, including three aged 16 and17 and three aged 18-22, were arrested for attacking Jews on the Haas Promenade in Jerusalem. The alleged offenses took place on several different occasions.
Perhaps it’s just as well that visitors to Jerusalem don’t know how often Arabs actually attack Jews in the capital. But now that the ring of violent perpetrators has been arrested, it is important for people to be reminded that one alleged murderous arson attack by a Jew against an Arab family does not override the frequent attempted murders by Arabs in Jerusalem. Sometimes on a daily basis, Arabs throw rocks at, stab, run down, or otherwise attack Jews in the Jewish capital. Deterrence against Arab terrorism in the capital must be restored.
The arrests of the six violent Arab repeat offenders must stand as a reminder that it is the Jewish population in the Holy Land that faces daily threats to its existence, on both a personal and national scale – and that the Arab population cheers and gives honor to those who attempt to actualize these threats. On the other hand, the rare Jewish attacks against Arabs enjoy no support among the Jewish population, whose leaders go out of their way to condemn them at every forum.
These stories tell us that dividing Jerusalem – an idea that, unfortunately, refuses to be buried once and for all – can only be harmful for both the Jewish and Arab populations. The first results of any such partition would be more violence directed against Jews and less Arab access to Israeli medical and other services – to the obvious detriment of all.
Here’s yet another Jerusalem-related item that did not get the attention it deserved: When the Supreme Court of Israel stubbornly ruled that the two Dreinoff buildings in Beit El must be razed despite the fact that their paperwork was finally put in order, Prime Minister Netanyahu came out with a dramatic statement: “Not only will the 300 long-delayed apartments I promised three years ago be built in Beit El, but another 500 more will be built and sold in eastern Jerusalem – in parts of the city that were liberated in 1967.”
Specifically, Netanyahu’s new plan is this: some 19 apartments will be marketed in Pisgat Ze’ev and another 24 will be planned there. In addition, plans for another 300 apartments in Ramot will be advanced, along with 70 in Gilo and 19 in Har Homa.
While Netanyahu has not kept many of his promises, specifically those relating to construction in Judea, Samaria, and eastern Jerusalem, some settlement leaders – not all – feel this time there is room for optimism, given the public nature of the promises and the fact that Netanyahu came under fire for not fulfilling them in the past. Beit El’s mayor, Shai Alon, has said that Netanyahu actually has no further role to play in the 300 units slated for Beit El, as his signature last week got the ball rolling in the various planning committees and offices outside his purview.
We must keep in mind that the intention to build in Jerusalem is particularly significant. This is because much of the abundant construction in the capital in recent years has been specifically in the pre-’67 neighborhoods. Building anywhere in Yerushalayim is of course a welcome development – but what is truly needed for the sake of the continued unity of the Jewish people’s eternal capital under Israeli sovereignty is one thing: more Jews in those neighborhoods our enemies wish to take from us.
Make no mistake: Our numbers there are impressive. Close to 230,000 Jews live in the areas of Jerusalem that were under illegal and unrecognized Jordanian control between 1948 and 1967. These include some 150,000 in the ring neighborhoods of Pisgat Ze’ev, N’vei Yaakov, Gilo, Ramot, and East Talpiyot; close to 25,000 in the “connecting” neighborhoods of Ramat Eshkol, French Hill, Maalot Dafna, and Givat HaMivtar; 5,500 in the Old City; and 45,000 in Ramat Shlomo, Har Homa, Givat Masuah, and Tzameret HaBirah.
To round out the picture, Jews also live in Sanhedria Murhevet, Givat Hananya, Shimon HaTzaddik, Ir David, Maalot David, Maaleh Zeitim, Nachalat Shimon, Kidmat Tzion, Beit Orot, Nof Tzion, Beit Tsafafa, Beit Hanina, and Mt. Scopus.
But as in any dynamic organism, there must be continued growth or else decay sets in. We congratulate Prime Minister Netanyahu for his decision to build in some of the above neighborhoods, and expect that this will be just the beginning of sustained growth in our holy, historic capital city.
To take part in bus tours of in-the-news parts of Jerusalem, or to receive updates on the battle to keep Yerushalayim, send an e-mail to [email protected] or visit Keep Jerusalem-Im Eshkachech at www.keepjerusalem.org.