October 15, 2008

Thank you very much. I’d like to thank Walter for that very kind introduction. I also really want to pay tribute to Jim Jones and the hard work that he has done as Special Envoy for Middle East Peace and Security. In fact, Jim has been tireless in working to help the two of the legs come together in a more integrated way. It is absolutely true that security is clearly very important for the Palestinian people, for the neighborhood that both Israelis and Palestinians can feel secure. But that is not going to happen also without a sense of economic development and the work that Jim has done with the Palestinian businesses, the work that he has done with the city government, and most importantly, the work that he’s done with our great partner, Prime Minister Salam Fayyad, is really very much to be – very much appreciated. So thank you, Jim, for the hard work you’ve done. (Applause.) And I would be remiss without thanking the Chamber for allowing Jim to do that work, because he is, after all, here at the Chamber, but the Chamber has been very generous in allowing Jim to take on this work.

I want to thank also Steve Bederman and Jean Case and Ziad Asali and the U.S.-Palestinian Partnership for all of the hard work in organizing this event and the hard work that the Partnership has been doing. When I asked Walter to come in, and I said I thought that we needed to step it up, the work that the entrepreneurial class, the business class in the United States could do with the entrepreneurial and business classes in the Palestinian territories, Walter was right there. And he has put together, in this Partnership and through the work of the co-chairs, a really fine effort. And so thank you very much to all the members and especially the steering co-chairs of the Partnership.

I’m, of course, especially pleased to share the stage with my friend and colleague, Prime Minister Salam Fayyad, as well as leading representatives of the Palestinian and U.S. businesses. I can’t tell you how much difference – what a difference Salam Fayyad has made to his people, to his region, to the world. Prime Minister Fayyad has instituted reforms that I think people had clamored for for years, but really never thought possible. He is making a difference in the lives, first and foremost, of the Palestinian people. His leadership is truly extraordinary.

I’ve heard him say many, many times, and I think it is absolutely true, that the occupation must end. But Palestinians can do a lot to build the foundation for their state in the meantime. And he is building the foundation for that state. And because he is building the foundation for that state, people can see, on the horizon, a day when indeed Palestinians will govern themselves, and not just govern themselves, but govern themselves wise and wisely. And Prime Minister Fayyad, you are to be congratulated for that. (Applause).

As I had mentioned, we have with us today many Palestinian entrepreneurs and representatives of the Palestinian American Chamber of Commerce in Ramallah. As representatives of the Palestinian private sector, you are the real catalysts for Palestinian economic growth. The employment and economic opportunities that you offer will make a tangible difference in the lives of Palestinians and in their ongoing battle to end extremism among them. Your presence here today speaks to your faith in the future of peace between Israel and Palestinians and the willingness to invest in it. We promise to match your faith in that future and to do what we can to support your efforts to turn the wish and the hope into reality.

To the members of the U.S. business community who are participating today, I have no illusions about the challenges of doing business in the West Bank. But the Palestinian businessmen among you are your best resources to face and overcome those challenges as well as to share insight on future opportunities that exist. Both today’s forum and the Palestinian Investment Conference held last May in Bethlehem demonstrate that there is a commitment to private sector development.

I want to tell you a story about that conference in Bethlehem because, of course, as Walter said, it was thought to be about 500 people; it ended up being three times that much. It shows something to the organizational skill of Prime Minister Fayyad’s government that he was able to pull it off anyway with a thousand sudden guests, and to pull it off in a way that gave new hope to this very special city of Bethlehem.

I had visited Bethlehem not too long before that and I had seen the difficulties of the hotel that was empty, of really not very much economic life. But of course, even before that, there had been another Bethlehem. The Bethlehem just a few years ago, in which tanks had been in the streets and in which literally, a hole had been blown in the Church of the Nativity by mortar fire – now, to see, as I was told, a thousand people in Nativity Square in the open air having dinner just several years after that terrible scene of a hole in the Church of the Nativity speaks to what is possible when people give voice and give reality to hope. And that is what we are engaged in: giving voice and giving reality to hope.

Prime Minister Fayyad has worked hard to create an environment in which the private sector can be an engine for economic growth. He has erased millions in private debt and public salary arrears. He has instituted reform measures to improve the efficiency of government. And he continues to work to improve the business climate in the West Bank. As a result of those efforts, the Palestinian Authority is positioned to shift its resources to invest in the infrastructure necessary to support the continued expansion of the private sector and to grow the Palestinian economy of the future.

And it is more than that, ladies and gentlemen. I can tell you that when I go to international conferences now, the question on everyone’s lips is how can we help the Palestinian Authority to do what it is going to do. No one questions anymore its will, its honesty, and its capability to do so. That too is a major change from just a few years ago. In recognition of that, the United States has been committed to supporting the Palestinian Authority and to ensure that these reforms can continue. The United States has provided almost $600 million in total assistance to the Palestinians during 2008, surpassing our pledge at the 2007 Paris donors conference.

As a sign of this ongoing commitment, I announced at last month’s ad hoc liaison committee in New York that the United States has appropriated $150 million in budget support for the Palestinian Authority in fiscal year 2009. I have urged other members of the international community, particularly those in the region, to be as generous as the American people are being in supporting the Palestinians.

It is a sign, of course, of the support, but also the confidence that the United States Government has in the Palestinian people and in their government that much of that money has been in direct budget support, a new threshold for the United States. And I want to thank not just the members – not just the Administration for that and the support that I have gotten from my colleagues, but most especially from President Bush in doing so. But I want to thank the bipartisan consensus in Congress that has made this possible.

As we look to the future, it is important to recognize that this steady on-the-ground progress that is being made by Palestinians is only going to ultimately succeed if we can also create an economically viable Palestinian society, but eventually a Palestinian state. Since the Annapolis Conference in November 2007, the Israelis and the Palestinians have engaged in sustained, substantive negotiations to resolve the permanent status issues and implement a two state solution.

A year ago, this was not the case. And now there is a robust Palestinian-Israeli negotiating track that I am certain will give birth to the Palestinian state. The Israeli-Palestinian conflict would not have endured for 60 years if the obstacles to peace were not difficult ones. The solutions are, of course, not easy. But the framework for negotiating a final resolution of the conflict is before us: Determined, professional negotiations between the parties supported by consistent and constructive international engagement is taking place. And the United States is committed to supporting the Annapolis process and leading the international community’s efforts to create the environment for sustained success. The parties also need to redouble their efforts.

The Palestinian Authority has to continue to dismantle the infrastructure of terrorism and to promote an atmosphere of tolerance. Again, I have heard Salam Fayyad say that the first infrastructure of terrorism that must be dismantled is in the people’s minds, that the people must be willing to say that terrorism and extremism are simply not and will not be the future of the Palestinian people. And Prime Minster, you are a long way toward doing that.

Israel must also halt settlement activity, which can be seen as prejudging the outcome of negotiations and undermining its negotiating partner. And while there have been some lowered restrictions to access and movement, more progress needs to be made in order for Palestinian business people and workers to be able to conduct business in an environment in which they can thrive.

We are far done from our quest for peace and economic security in the West Bank and in Gaza. As you know, there are many challenges, yet it is evident by this great turnout that the private sector has a vital role in overcoming these challenges. Through investments in the Palestinian people, you are going to make sure that they see tangible improvements in their daily lives, and begin to really believe that there is a path to peace.

I want you to know that as the time draws nigh for the end of the year and, shortly after that – as a matter of fact, on January 20th at 12:01 – (laughter) -- the of this Administration, I still believe that we must make every effort in the time that we have to lay this foundation for peace. And that still means that we must do everything that we can with the negotiating partners to get to the Annapolis solution. And that would be to find an agreement between these parties by the end of the year. It is very difficult. There is a hard road ahead. But if we do not try, we most certainly will not succeed.

And so I want to assure you, in closing, of one thing: As you think about your investment, as you think about the risk that you will take in an undoubtedly difficult situation to give the Palestinian people a chance of hope. Know, too, that until that moment when I leave office, I will leave no stone unturned to see if we can finally resolve this conflict between peoples. It will mean more than the two-state solution which, frankly, sounds a bit antiseptic. It will mean that Palestinians can finally live in dignity in their own state. It will mean that Israelis can finally live in security with a partner that is democratic and that accepts Israel as a neighbor and as a partner. It will mean that the region can finally overcome the many, many differences and the many, many conflicts that it has, to live as a region that should be building on the potential of its people, not going down to their worst fears. And it will mean that the international community could finally put behind it this seminal conflict and turn to a world that is certainly more hopeful, more peaceful, more democratic, and more secure. Thank you very much.

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said yesterday that she would leave "no stone unturned" in order to reach an Israeli-Palestinian peace deal before leaving office, but conceded that time is running out.

Speaking to a U.S. conference on Palestinian business and investment, Rice said she still hoped to reach the Bush administration's goal of a peace deal by the end of 2008, which was set at the Annapolis summit nearly a year ago.

"It is very difficult, there is a hard road ahead, but if we do not try, we certainly will not succeed," she said, adding she was sure negotiations would ultimately lead to a Palestinian state.

Rice has made multiple trips to the Middle East to broker a peace agreement. Nevertheless, U.S.-sponsored negotiations have made little progress, and Israeli and Palestinian officials have expressed doubt as to whether the year-end target is realistic.

An additional problem is the political upheaval in Israel. New Kadima leader Tzipi Livni is trying to form a new government, after Prime Minister Ehud Olmert resigned over a series of corruption scandals.

The gathering of U.S. business leaders at the Chamber of Commerce headquarters was a follow-up to a Bethlehem conference in May, where private investors pledged to pump $1.4 billion into Palestinian businesses to bolster the economy.

Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad said most investment had gone into the West Bank, "but we look forward to the day when we will be able to do this in Gaza, for Gaza is, and will always be,

Avi Ben Yakov is a soft-spoken Jewish settler who loves playing with his young children in their red-roofed home in the hills above Nablus, deep inside the West Bank. But when it comes to his Palestinian neighbors, his tone hardens.

"They will not be my neighbors if I do what I have to do, which is take them back to their lands," he said. "We don't want them here. Expelling them is the solution."

Ben Yakov would not say if he had been personally involved in a series of recent attacks on the nearby Palestinian village of Asira Al-Qibiliyya. But he said the violence was justified by the Israeli army's failure to protect the lives and property of West Bank settlers.

Such frustration has been growing in recent months, and the result has been a pronounced rise in settler attacks on Palestinians, according to military officials, human rights groups and settler organizations. While only a small proportion of settlers are involved, the attacks reflect a deep-felt anxiety that Israel may be nearing a decision to abandon some of its West Bank settlements, much in the same way it withdrew from its Gaza Strip settlements three years ago. Settlers unwilling to leave their homes say they are ready to fight for them, even if that means battling their erstwhile ally, the Israeli army.

"In the past, only a few dozen individuals were implicated in this. Today, we're talking about several hundred people -- a very significant change," Maj. Gen. Gadi Shamni, the Israeli officer responsible for security in the West Bank, recently told the Haaretz newspaper. "An extreme incident could happen at any time. These people are conspiring against the Palestinians and against the security forces."

The human rights group B'Tselem lists 429 reported settler attacks on Palestinians this year -- an increase of 75 percent over last year. In Asira al-Qibiliyya, the Palestinian village near Yitzhar, Nahla Mahmoud said settlers enter almost every week. Her home is the closest to the settlement and has been repeatedly attacked by settlers.

The worst incident was last month after a 16-year-old Palestinian from the village entered Yitzhar and burned a house there. According to the Israeli army and the settlers, he then stabbed a 9-year-old boy several times, slightly wounding him, and fled back to the village. He was killed the following week by Israeli troops when he tried to approach the village again.

Just hours after the stabbing attack in Yitzhar, a group of settlers attacked Mahmoud's home, cutting the water pipes, smashing the solar panels, uprooting trees and painting black Jewish stars on the side of her house, she said. She caught it all on videotape, with a camera supplied by B'Tselem.

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert harshly criticized the attack on the Palestinian village, calling it a "pogrom."

Mahmoud said the settlers are trying to make her life intolerable and force her to leave her home.

"They want this land to become part of the settlement," she said. "They don't believe this is our land and our homes. We have this land registered with the government from the time of our grandfathers. I have no intention of leaving because I have nowhere else to go."

The clashes between settlers and Palestinians have spilled over into tensions between settlers and the army.

Shamni said that in the past few weeks, settlers set a dog on an Israeli reserve commander and broke the arm of a deputy battalion commander. The tires of cars belonging to reserve soldiers were slashed. And in the southern town of Hebron, settlers attacked an officer for trying to arrest Jewish children who had thrown stones at Palestinians.

Yitzhar, home to 160 families and isolated on a hilltop, has long been known as a bastion of radicalism. Residents say it is their presence that prevents an Israeli withdrawal from the area.

Ben Yakov, 31, said he has refused to do mandatory reserve duty for the past three years, since Israel's 2005 withdrawal from Gaza. During the pullback, Israel dismantled 21 settlements in Gaza and soldiers forcibly removed many of the settlers from their homes. The Gaza pullback had an especially profound effect on young settlers, who had grown up with a belief that the Israeli army was fulfilling a holy mission of defending Jews who wanted to settle in all parts of the land of Israel.

Ben Yakov's sister-in-law, Tzippi Feld, said the Gaza withdrawal shook her faith in the army. Feld spent months demonstrating against the planned pullback and served a month in jail for trying to block traffic at the entrance to Jerusalem.

"We used to be so Zionist and so proud of our state and our army," the 26-year-old dance teacher said. "But after the pullback from Gaza, it all collapsed. I'm so upset with the government. I feel like they're abandoning so many of us."

Compounding settlers' frustration over the Gaza pullback is alarm over recent statements by Olmert in which he suggested that Israel needs to withdraw from nearly all the West Bank in order to make peace with the Palestinians. Settlements like Yitzhar, which are east of the barrier Israel is building in and around the West Bank, would be the first to be left behind.

The growing extremism among settlers gained prominence last month after an attack on Zeev Sternhell, a professor and prominent critic of the settlement movement. Sternhell was slightly wounded when a pipe bomb went off as he opened the door to his apartment at 1 a.m. Fliers were found nearby offering a large reward to anyone who kills members of Peace Now, a dovish group.

Olmert, who resigned the prime ministership last month but remains head of a caretaker government, harshly condemned that attack.

"An evil wind of malice, of hatred, of extremism, of lawlessness is blowing through certain sectors of the Israeli public and threatens Israeli democracy," he told his cabinet.

The bombing raised fears of growing divisions within Israeli society, and brought back memories of the 1995 assassination of Yitzhak Rabin by an extremist Jew, Yigal Amir, who wanted to stop the peace process with the Palestinians.

"The sense that it is getting out of hand was stronger after the attack on Sternhell," said Gershom Goremberg, author of "The Accidental Empire," a history of the settlement movement. "Internal fratricide is much more frightening than violence which takes place across the line of national conflict. I think it's a mistake if you let a culture of vigilantism flourish against the Palestinians. It's only a matter of time until it affects Jews as well."

Even some veteran settler leaders are concerned about increasing radicalism. Yisrael Medad, a settler spokesman, said young settlers are angry with settlement leaders for not doing enough to stop the Gaza withdrawal. Many settlers, he said, are suspicious that the government is planning a much larger withdrawal from the West Bank, and they are determined to prevent that.

"There are radical elements who are reacting less responsibly than we would like to see them do," he said. "There are a few hotheads running off and doing things of a criminal and violent nature, and we are trying to deal with it educationally."

The Palestinian militant group that assassinated Israeli Cabinet minister Rehavam Zeevi in 2001 said Tuesday it has another politician in its sights.

A spokesman for the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine made the threat against Israeli lawmaker Avigdor Lieberman. The spokesman identified himself as Abu Jamal and spoke on the group's radio station.

Lieberman wants to transfer Israeli Arab towns to Palestinian jurisdiction and annex large Jewish settlements in the West Bank to Israel.

Abu Jamal spoke in response to Arab-Jewish clashes in a mixed Israeli town and said the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine would defend Israeli Arabs.

He said: "Our fingers are on the triggers of our weapons and we know where to direct our fire ... The fate of the Zionist Lieberman will be similar to Zeevi's."

Some of history's most memorable personalities often are un-flamboyant, low-key people who find themselves thrust into the limelight due to the circumstances of their time and place. Such people sometimes rise to the challenge thrust upon them, and achieve noteworthy deeds. They usually do so by summoning powers of persistence and clarity of focus, while always articulating a sense of what is right for their wider society.

I believe that one such person is Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad, who is doing some remarkable things despite having one of the most difficult jobs in the world. He was appointed in difficult and contentious circumstances in July last year after the Palestinian government split into two parts in Gaza and the West Bank, controlled by Hamas and Fateh, respectively. He presides over a contested government that has control only over part of its territory (the West Bank), and must endure the constant threats and pressures of both direct and indirect Israeli occupation and control of all of the areas that comprise the Palestinian Authority (PA).

Fayyad has been able largely to shield himself from the ugly split and often violent confrontations that define Palestinian national politics today, and instead focus on trying to make everyday life for ordinary Palestinians a little more bearable.

He made his mark when he was finance minister after 2002, and quickly restructured the entire public finances sector. Not only did he vastly reduce the corruption and waste that had marred the Palestinian governance system since the PA was established after the Oslo Accords in 1993. He also established a transparent public finance system that remains a leader in the entire Arab world, with real-time budget positions posted on a website every month.

Yet the most remarkable thing about Fayyad, I sense, is not his achievements in financial sector reform, but rather his spirit of optimism and certitude in the face of so much stress and gloom in Palestinian society. He spoke last weekend in the United States about how Palestinians understandably have experienced erosion in self-esteem and self-assuredness, prompted by decades of Israeli occupation and oppression. This has often led to reactions of defeatism and belligerence among the public, he said, which offer only dead ends.

The way to overcome the obstacles to achieving Palestinian national goals, in his view, was "to rid ourselves of what four decades of Israeli occupation have precipitated by way of fear, skepticism, cynicism, self-doubt, and loss of self-esteem."

When I met him for a chat earlier this week, he spoke again of these same themes that he raised in his public talk. He noted that Palestinians seek a full and warm peace with Israel, but will not accept a peace at any price. People will subject any agreement negotiated with Israel to a test of its inherent fairness, he said.

He also made a call to the international community to go beyond only supporting the Palestinians financially, and to hold Israel to its word when it says it wants to establish an independent, viable Palestinian state. The world mostly wags its finger at Israel when more Jewish settlements are built in occupied Palestinian land, and this clearly is not enough.

Instead, Fayyad noted, it is high time to redress the balance between, on the one hand, what international law and justice prescribe, and, on the other, what is achievable in practical terms on the basis of the relative strengths of the parties. The imbalance in power and control has meant that Palestinians have seen their position erode with every round of diplomacy that did not achieve an agreement.

Fayyad is a practical man, an economist by training, and a technocrat by mentality. He speaks of his job as assisting his people "to live just a little bit better than the day before, and to stay on their land for another day ... and another," adding that this will be achieved through constructive, non-violent means that honor the noble Palestinian cause.

In many ways, Salam Fayyad represents a new style of Palestinian leader who shuns the flamboyance of nationalistic political rhetoric for the practicalities of the citizen's need to achieve several crucial goals: to survive another day under occupation and often under siege by Israel, to remain on the land, to look forward to better days ahead, to resist and fight non-violently so that the Palestinian national struggle retains its integrity, and, most of all, to remain proud.

"Price, dignity, self-respect, and resilience" are words that he uses frequently these days in describing the key attributes of Palestinian daily life and the goals of his government. His successes in the field of financial sector reform seem to have sparked in this quiet, humble man a new sense of leadership anchored in realism across a wider spectrum of sectors, conditions and challenges.

Beginning by appointing an Arab as deputy mayor, to opening the way for Muslims and Arabs to invest in the city of Jerusalem, to building an international airport in the city for Muslim pilgrims, Russian-Israeli billionaire Arcadi Gaydamak is promising Jerusalem Arabs paradise if they help elect him mayor of Jerusalem.

A weekly news bulletin called “Al-Amal” (hope) appeared for the first time in the streets of Jerusalem a couple of weeks ago with a long interview with Gaydamak clarifying his positions regarding the city of Jerusalem, and making a wide range of promises.

Arabs in Jerusalem, many of whom refer to themselves as Palestinians, told The Media Line (TML) that Gaydamak initiated a series of meetings with prominent Arabs in the city to try to convince them to participate in the municipal elections that are scheduled to take place on November 11.

Gaydamak met with the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem and the Palestinian territories, Sheikh Muhammad Hussein, and Greek Orthodox Patriarch Theofilos III, as well as with Palestinian business people.

Though the Grand Mufti denies publicly meeting with Gaydamak, he admits off the record that he met with him without knowing who he was.

Gaydamak said: “I met the Grand Mufti, the honorable Sheikh Muhammad Hussein at his home and he gave me the “Honored Guest” certificate, the first to be given to an Israeli personality. I think the best thing I presented to the Arabs of Jerusalem was buying Bikur Holim hospital, which serves thousands of Arab citizens and provides work for dozens of Arab doctors and nurses.”

High-ranking Palestinian officials told TML that so far they hadn’t adopted an official position regarding the municipal elections, though they said that there was no change in the official policy adopted in the past.

Since 1967 the PLO has asked the Palestinians to boycott this election for political reasons.

This position was echoed by Grand Mufti Hussein, who said, “Our position regarding the municipality is clear: all that is been done in Jerusalem is occupation and this occupation should end; every military and governmental authority in Jerusalem is occupation or exists by force, and we as Palestinians refuse this occupation.”

But the Grand Mufti did not clearly call for boycotting the elections.

More that 200,000 Palestinians in Jerusalem are eligible to participate in the city elections as residents but not in the Knesset elections because they are not citizens.

An increasing number of Palestinians in the city are becoming convinced that they should be represented at city hall in order to defend the rights of the Palestinians in the municipality that they say is working hard to force them out of the city.

Indeed, Palestinians and international and Israeli human rights organizations are saying that the municipality is neglecting the eastern part of the city and adopting a hard line policy against Palestinians, a claim the municipality denies.

The B’Tselem human rights organization says, “East Jerusalem residents are required to pay taxes like all city residents. However, they do not receive the same services. The Jerusalem Municipality has continuously failed to invest significantly in infrastructure and services (such as roads, sidewalks, and water and sewage systems) in Jerusalem's Palestinian neighborhoods. Since the annexation of Jerusalem, the municipality has built almost no new schools, public buildings or medical clinics for Palestinians. The lion's share of investment has been dedicated to the city's Jewish areas.

“Less than 10 percent of the municipality's development budget for 1999 was allocated for Palestinian neighborhoods, although the population there represents a third of the city's residents. The lack of investment has left infrastructure in East Jerusalem in a deteriorated state,” B’Tselem added.

“We do pay city taxes and go to the municipality to get licenses to build, so what is the point of not being represented at city hall,” a Palestinian businessman, who asked not to be named, said in a private meeting.

“We should be represented at city hall and defend our rights from inside,” he added.

When Palestinian journalist Hanna Siniora called for Palestinians to be represented in the municipality in the 80s, his car was burned and since then no one has dared to repeat what he demanded.

But Zuhair Hamdan, the mukhtar of the village of Sur Baher in the city, declared recently that he had registered as a candidate for mayor, the first Arab running for this post. But Hamdan is not a known political figure in Jerusalem.

Jerusalem is considered the most difficult of the core issues in the final status negotiations and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert had asked to postpone negotiations over the city’s fate.

Palestinians, who call for east Jerusalem to be the capital of the Palestinian state, refused this suggestion and insisted that all the core issues should be resolved at the same time.

This is exactly why Palestinians have long called for a boycott of the municipal elections as they consider participation as recognition of the Israeli position that considers east and west Jerusalem as the united capital of Israel.

But Gaydamak is calling for Palestinians to put these beliefs behind them, at least for the time being.

“In principle I’m with any agreement both sides will reach, but I also believe that daily life issues for more than 200,000 Palestinians in Jerusalem should not be neglected; they deserve to get their municipal rights in full just like others,” he said.

“I believe that Arabs and Jews can coexist in peace. As for the problems that exist today among the residents, especially in the Arab neighborhoods, it is complicated but its solution is not. I believe it would be very easy to solve if real goodwill existed,” he added.

According to B’Tselem there are many signs of neglect on the eastern side of Jerusalem, such as:

* Entire Palestinian neighborhoods are not connected to a sewage system and do not have paved roads or sidewalks;
* Almost 90 percent of the sewage pipes, roads and sidewalks are to be found in West Jerusalem;
* West Jerusalem has 1,000 public parks, east Jerusalem has 45;
* West Jerusalem has 34 swimming pools, east Jerusalem has three;
* West Jerusalem has 26 libraries, east Jerusalem has two;
* West Jerusalem has 531 sports facilities, east Jerusalem has 33.

Palestinians have waited long to hear these facts stated by a Jewish candidate.

Gaydamak has promised to change these inequities.

“It is clear that the level of life of the Jews is much higher and completely different from that which exists among the Arabs, therefore I will achieve real equality between Arabs and Jews and bridge the gap between the two sides,” he said.

“I know that there is a big difference in services provided for the Arab population and those provided for the Jews, and I am aware that this injustice is the result of mistaken policy pursued by the municipality of Jerusalem towards the Arabs over the past decades and, therefore, addressing these issues are not that easy but it is also not impossible,” he said.

“I will work to apply the law strictly to all the inhabitants of Jerusalem without exception and without discrimination, including everything to do with building permits and the demolition of unlicensed houses,” he added.

Furthermore, Gaydamak said, “In principle I support Jerusalem to be an open city for all and I also call to open it to millions of Muslim pilgrims from around the world because it is a holy city to three religions, and in order to turn words into tangible reality I support that there be an international airport in Jerusalem to facilitate access for pilgrims and visitors.”

“Of course, one cannot talk about the development of east Jerusalem in the absence of real Arab and Muslim investors, so I also welcome and encourage Islamic capital investments in vital projects in east Jerusalem,” he added.

Gaydamak voiced opposition to demolishing the homes of Palestinians from east Jerusalem who have killed Israelis.

“Demolishing the houses of attackers will not solve the problem. I believe the solution is through tackling the roots of this problem and that is by preventing those youths from committing other attacks because terrorism doesn’t differentiate between Arabs and Jews – it is against all humanity,” he said.

Gaydamak said he would be the first to appoint an Arab as a deputy mayor if elected.

“We are working on choosing the right person for this job because I consider appointing an Arab as deputy mayor is very important for me as well for the Arab residents of the city because this person will tackle the problems of the Arabs in the city,” he said.

For their part, Palestinians who heard Gaydamak’s positions said they preferred to wait and see what he would tell the city’s Jews before judging him.

"For five years, I was a wanted man, but we had enough," says Sufian Qandil of the Tigers, an organization associated with Fatah's Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades. It's noon, and Qandil woke up only a few minutes ago in the prison cell where according to an agreement with Israel he must now spend his nights. "We keep our agreements, even those signed with the Jews," he says, placing his hand on his pillow with a Mickey Mouse pillowcase.

The Al-Aqsa brigades were dissolved. Some members joined the security forces of the Palestinian Authority after receiving amnesty from Israel, while others are being held in PA prisons. A rare look inside Junaid Prison reveals a new era in relations between Israel and Fatah activists. They were involved in dozens of terror attacks, but now they say the era of war is over. They want normal lives. There is another expression of the winds of change blowing through Israel-PA relations: The PA arrests men wanted by Israel on request.

Take Mahdi Abu Ghazale, 35, once considered the commander of the Night Riders, a rival to the Tigers. Like Qandil, Abu Ghazale received partial amnesty from Israel, with the same conditions. About a year ago, he met with a group from Haaretz in a safe house in the casbah of Nablus. He described his daily routine, and mentioned that he was still single. A few days ago he became engaged to a local woman. His fiancee's family made full amnesty from Israel a precondition for the marriage. Abu Ghazale, who fought against Israel for years, now finds himself having to prove his renunciation of terror in order to get married. "I'm being tested not only vis-a-vis Israel but also vis-a-vis my future wife," he explains.

The guard at the gate is unaccustomed to visitors to the prison, especially Israeli ones, and lets us in only after consulting with a superior. The prison was once used by Israeli security forces, and Ghassan, our escort, recalls being detained here by the Shin Bet security service. In addition to the Fatah detainees, divided into full-time wards and those who return to sleep here each night, are 54 Hamas members awaiting trial. The conditions they are held in are much worse. Abu Nidal, a PA military intelligence official who is in charge of the cellblocks, says that just a few days ago the partial-amnesty recipients signed their agreement with Israel renouncing arms and all anti-Israel activities. For three months they will be prohibited from leaving Nablus and from contact with other wanted men. "Their current status is 'not on the wanted list,'" Abu Nidal says.

The partially amnestied spend their nights mainly watching television. Abu Ghazale says they've already handed in their weapons and are no longer involved in terrorism. "There are no games, the situation has changed. We're no longer waiting only for amnesty, but rather for a comprehensive Israeli withdrawal. This group has met all the conditions placed on it. At night [we] are in prison and during the day all we do is see our families."

Night rider Omar Aqub has one leg in a cast, due to a motorcycle accident and not from his days of fighting the Israel Defense Forces. "The military activities are over, enough of that. We want a normal life, not trouble," Aqub says. He also expresses a desire to join one of the PA's security forces. "Either that or I'll go back to being an automotive mechanic," he says.

Qandil, the ex-Tiger, was nearly killed by the IDF last year. On October 10, 2007 an IDF force operating in the Nablus casbah fired at him and fellow Tiger Omar al-Inbusi. Inbusi was killed, Qandil was badly wounded in the leg and abdomen but nevertheless managed to escape. He has been incarcerated at Junaid for nearly 10 months, as a result of Israeli pressure on the PA. He escaped twice, but returned of his own free will.

The great escape

One of the escapes was in January, and it lasted a few hours. "I said I was going to the canteen and simply kept walking," Qandil says. "About three hours later I returned because the Israelis started operating in the city and I was afraid they'd hurt me."

Three months later, the whole group escaped, after a tussle with the guards. "We broke the exit door, which wasn't particularly reinforced," Abu Ghazale related. "You have to understand, our conditions were very tough then. We couldn't leave our cells even to go into the corridor and there was no progress in our talks with Israel regarding our situation. So we took advantage of the fact that the guards were putting down another confrontation in the next wing and approached the gate. Punches were thrown, the guards there fired into the air. We returned after receiving assurances that our conditions would be improved," Abu Ghazale said.

The Tigers and Night Riders sit in a cell and smile as they reminisce about the joint escape. In the past the two groups fought for control of the casbah, but now they're all good friends. "Once there were battles between our groups," Qandil recalls. During the first intifada, if the member of one group entered the other group's territory, even by mistake, his fate would be like that of an IDF soldier.

Abu Nidal says that various measures have since been taken to prevent future escapes. The door the prisoners broke is now bricked in, an additional fence was installed and the number of perimeter patrols has been doubled.

In Cellblock Four, the last of the Al-Aqsa brigades' men wanted by Israel, 13 in all, are being held in full-time detention. Ghanan Subuh, who has been imprisoned since April, says he received amnesty from Israel in November 2007 but four months later IDF soldiers went to his house to arrest him. He found refuge at Junaid. "During the day we can go into the prison yard, but at 8 P.M. the wing is locked up for the night. Family visits are permitted once a week," Subuh explains.

Mohammed Mansour, Mohammed Milhim and Saeb Mahmoud, all in their early twenties, have been cellmates for nine months. "It's a prison for all intents and purposes," one says. "Relations with the guards are good but at the end of the day it's still prison. There's television, bathrooms, even two cell phones in every cellblock." Qa'id al-Misri, 15, the youngest of the 13, makes coffee. He was also arrested on Israel's request. He has been here for 40 days, apparently on suspicion of aiding wanted activists.

Most of the men say Palestinian prison is preferable to Israeli prison. "Maybe the conditions in Israeli prisons are better, but here I'm with people from my own city," Subuh says. "The relations with the guards and the wardens is better." The 13 wanted men expect to receive partial, if not full, amnesty from Israel.

Abulafia ambitions

A few isolated members of the Al-Aqsa brigades continue their anti-Israel activities. Qandil, whose name was once known to every Shin Bet coordinator and every officer in the IDF special forces, says he is already dreaming of the moment he'll receive amnesty from the Shin Bet. "As soon as I can, I want to travel to Israel. I'll visit Jaffa. I have a lot of cousins on my mother's side who live there. They live really close to the Abulafia Bakery," Qandil says, referring to the legendary Arab bakery on Yefet Street that every Israeli from the center of the country, and most from beyond, knows for its fresh specialty pitas.

The Movement for the Establishment of the Temple has called on its members not to back Jerusalem mayoral candidate Meir Porush, citing a recent interview in which the Knesset member (United Torah Judaism) said he was in favor of upholding Arab authority over the Temple Mount.

In a message sent to thousands of its supporters via email, the movement quoted Porush as telling Israel Radio that Israel must uphold a decision reached following the Six Day War according to which "the Arabs are the owners of the Temple Mount, the Jews pray at the Western Wall and both sides respect each other's authority."

During the interview Porush mentioned the Halachic decree issued by Israel's chief rabbis in 1967, which prohibited Jews from entering the Temple Mount area.

The Movement for the Establishment of the Temple has claimed that the Arab control over the Temple Mount has resulted in the systematic and illegal destruction of the Second Temple's remnants and cruel treatment of Jewish worshippers.

"Can we support a mayoral candidate who is at peace with Arab sovereignty over the Temple Mount?" the movement said in its magazine, which is distributed to thousands of its supporters. "Can we put our trust in a man who will rule according to rabbinical decrees and will ignore the rights of a large Jewish public that sacrifices itself in order to build the Land of Israel and the Temple?"