Yossi Alpher, coeditor, bitterlemons family of internet publications, former director, Jaffee Center for Strategic Studies, Tel Aviv University, "Hard Questions, Tough Answers," Americans for Peace Now, July 28, 2008:
“At the time the Jerusalem security barrier was built, many Israeli security experts … pointed out that the wall was attaching 230,000 Palestinians to Israel and detaching them from the West Bank in a way that was sure to spell trouble. Only in Jerusalem has the barrier attached to a Jewish city large numbers of Palestinians; everywhere else it is designed to separate Jews and Arabs. It’s not too late to move the wall in Jerusalem. Such an act could dovetail perfectly with a government of Israel decision to recognize Arab East Jerusalem as the capital city of a Palestinian state. Only in Greater Jerusalem does the barrier … follow not security and demographic logic but rather ideology—the claim of ‘united Jerusalem, eternal capital of Israel.’ But Jerusalem is not united and never has been. Um Tuba has absolutely nothing to do with the capital of Israel. How many more desperate acts of senseless terror will be required for Israelis and their leaders to tune into this reality?”
