Sharansky on 'One Jerusalem' and Annapolis
November 20, 2007
Nearly seven years ago, on January 8, 2001, the largest gathering in the history of Jerusalem took place.
More than 300,000 Israelis swarmed around the Old City's Jaffa Gate. They came to protest the proposed division of the city of Jerusalem by then U.S. President Bill Clinton and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak. I had moved to Israel just a few months prior and remember the rally vividly. An ocean of people seemed to cry out as one on behalf of the city not to be divided.
While the rally made a decidedly political statement, one Jewish friend told me at the time, he felt the gathering was more important in the eyes of God than any politician.
Ironically, one of the main speakers, then Jerusalem Mayor Ehud Olmert forcefully declared then that Jerusalem would never be divided. At the time, he joined forces with Natan Sharansky and a group called One Jerusalem to organize the rally.
Now, nearly seven years later, Olmert heads next week to Annapolis, Md., to discuss among other things the division of Jerusalem.
But today, Natan Sharansky and the "One Jerusalem" campaign resurrected their efforts to prevent the division of Jerusalem. We interviewed Natan Sharansky and asked him his views on the division of Jerusalem, Olmert's change of heart, and the upcoming Annapolis "meeting."
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