More Tension, Talk of Dividing Jerusalem
By John Waage
CBN News Senior Editor
March 24, 2008
CBNNews.com - While some parts of Israel are under the constant threat of attack, Jerusalem has enjoyed relative quiet in recent years. But that may be changing, as residents try to deal with renewed violence and talk of re-dividing the city.
Many are still reeling from the recent murder of eight students in a Jerusalem seminary. The killer, an Arab resident of east Jerusalem, has become an honored martyr in the Muslim world.
Watch Pat Robertson and Amnon Shor, the leader of the Jerusalem Coalition, discuss secret negotiations to divide Jerusalem despite public pronouncement to the contrary, following this report.
A poll taken last week shows 84 percent of Palestinians support the killings.
Days before that incident, two city inspectors -- both Jewish -- barely escaped an east Jerusalem lynch mob that pelted their car with stones.
And last week, a rabbi was stabbed outside another Jewish school in the Old City.
In the midst of this growing violence, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert still hopes to reach a peace agreement with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. Olmert's opponents claim he's been holding secret talks to divide Jerusalem with the Palestinians.
The prime minister knows the issue could cause his government to fall.
So against U.S. wishes, he has allowed construction in some Jewish parts of east Jerusalem to delay the uproar over dividing the city.
No matter what events shape the next few months, Jerusalem is likely to be the most contentious issue on anyone's Middle East road map.
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