Tuesday, April 3, 2012

The Capital of Israel is Jerusalem

Nadene Goldfoot
The United States has not been perceiving Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, though Israel says it is.  Since May 15, 1948, the USA has not recognized passports with Jerusalem being part of Israel. The population of Jerusalem was then 84,000.   Congress doesn't go along with this policy.  It's the Executive Branch's State Dept. that has been the holdout.

The fact that Jerusalem is the capital of Israel has been in Israel's Basic Law since July 30, 1980.  In that it is written that Jerusalem is the seat of the President, the Knesset, the Government and the Supreme Court.  I say that other countries in the world  not accepting this fact is their problem, not Israel's.  Jerusalem has been the capital of the Jewish state since King David 1000 BCE to 960 BCE.  It has been known as the "City of David." It remained the Jewish capital until 70CE when Rome attacked.  135CE was the last attempt to hold onto it with Bar Kokhba leading to assault on the Romans.  For 1,000 years it was the Jewish capital.   This means that the world has known of Jerusalem being the capital of the Jews for the past 3,000 years.  It's the city Jews have  prayed to  every day since 70 CE to return to "next year." 

On June 29, 1967, Israel formally united the two sections of the city and the barriers that divided them were removed. 

The population of the Eastern portion of Jerusalem including 139,600 Moslems and Christians are now a part of the total population of 493,500 as of 1990.  On December 2011 the population rose to 933,113.  It is expected to reach 1 million by the end of 2012.  Right now Jeruslaem has 3/4 of a million population with 2/3 being Jewish and 1/3 Arabs.  The total population of Israel today is 7,836,000 with 28% under the age of 14.

Today the USA Supreme Court allows judicial review of this contention in an 8 to 1 decision.  Chief Justice Roberts wrote for the majority and rejected the Obama Administrations assertion that the Executive Branch has exclusive power to make all foreign policy decisions. This came about due to  many complaints, but there is a case of a young man born to American parents in Jerusalem that has a passport issued in Jerusalem and the USA won't include the word Israel as to the country following the name, "Jerusalem."  For 63 years the USA has been a holdout to accepting that Jerusalem is the capital of Israel.  To me, if they voted to create Israel, surely they would expect Jerusalem to be the automatic capital. 

May 15, 1948 was the birth of Israel which included all of Jerusalem except East Jerusalem, which was still filled with Jordanians shooting at the rest of the Jerusalemite population.  In 1967 Israel liberated East Jerusalem when they won the 6 day attack from all the surrounding Muslim nations.  They then united all of Jerusalem and it has been under one mayor. 

1840 listed Jews as the largest single religious group in Jerusalem.  Again in 1880 it was listed as the majority religion.  That included all of Jerusalem.  In 1937 during the British Mandate  the first Jewish mayor was chosen.

Teddy Kollek served from 1965 to 1967 and then on till 1993.   Ehud Olmert followed him serving from  1993 to 2003.  Nir Barkat has served from 2008 to the present.  He is a 53 year old secular politician who has attended schools in Pasadena, California and Ithica, New York.  Nir has the responsibility of approving construction permits in all of Jerusalem.  He feels that Jews ought to be able to build in all parts of the city.  This former Major who was in the paratroopers, and son of a physicist is very zionistic, having family that died in the Holocaust who knows the importance of Jerusalem and what it stands for.   He has done a tremendous job as probably the most challenging  mayor position in the world. 

Resource: http://www.onejerusalem.org/2012/03/supreme-court-sets-back-obama.php
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_mayors_of_Jerusalem
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nir_Barkat
http://www.thedailybeast.com/newsweek/2009/09/18/batman-in-jerusalem.html
http://www.knesset.gov.il/laws/special/eng/basic10_eng.htm
http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Society_&_Culture/newpop.html
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/Flash.aspx/233448

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