ISRAEL: Unifying a Divided City

• Share

(2 of 2)

The East Jerusalem Arabs resent the reconstruction of the Old City's Jewish Quarter, which they see as the first step toward reducing the Arab population even further. Somewhat grudgingly, they tolerate other Israeli efforts to tidy up the Old City, like installing a cable network to get rid of unsightly (and somewhat incongruous) TV antennas. Says Mahmud Abu Zalef, editor of the Arab daily Al Quds: "Any improvement in the physical sense that will make Jerusalem more beautiful is okay with me. I don't care who does it. But it should not be done by throwing people out of their homes and replacing them with new Jewish immigrants."

The Arabs also have a grudging respect for the man who has planned or supervised most of the improvements in the Old City for the past eleven years: Vienna-born Mayor Teddy Kollek, 67. A pudgy, sometimes abrasive human dynamo, Kollek has a profound sense of the city's history; after the 1967 occupation of East Jerusalem, he was instrumental in preventing the Israeli government from tearing down the walls of the Old City. Since then, Kollek has built many parks, play grounds, community centers, libraries and clinics in East Jerusalem, thereby risking the charge by nationalist Israelis that he is "soft" on the Arabs. Kollek, in fact, believes firmly in a Jewish presence in East Jerusalem, but he has tried to persuade the city's Arabs to participate more in the administration of their day-to-day affairs. So far he has had little success, since Arabs who too obviously cooperate with Israeli authorities are branded as collaborators and targeted for assassination by Palestinian terrorists. Still, there have been some breaks in the political impasse. Last week an estimated 8,500 East Jerusalem Arabs risked reprisals to vote in municipal elections. Their unexpectedly large participation (only about 3,500 went to the polls in 1973) helped sweep Kollek back into office for a fourth term as mayor by a smashing 5-to-1 margin over his principal opponent.