I Am in the Baltimore Sun

In an article entitled:-

A city still divided after 40 years

The city's polarization would appear to make the city ripe for a formal division as was proposed during the failed Camp David peace talks in 2000, when Prime Minister Ehud Barak offered Palestinians concessions on East Jerusalem and authority over the Temple Mount, or what Muslims call Haram al-Sharif.

But there is a deep-seated feeling among many Israelis, especially among the conservative and religious, that their government should not surrender any part of their holy city.

"If the international community cares about keeping Jerusalem as an open city for all faiths, only a free and democratic Israel can protect Jerusalem for all religions," says Dore Gold, former Israeli ambassador to the United Nations and author of The Fight for Jerusalem.

Yisrael Medad, who lives in Jerusalem, recalls how as a college student in 1966, he would he walk to the top of the building outside the Old City just to get a glimpse of a corner of the Western Wall, which the Jordanians forbade Jews from visiting.

Medad, now director of [Information Resources at] the Menachem Begin Heritage Center, says he is not willing to trust anyone except Israel with guarding his right to worship.

"I believe the city has no other comparable legal status ... except as a capital to the Jewish people," he says.

The strength of that belief among many Israelis could be witnessed last month during the annual Jerusalem Day parade. Thousands of Israelis poured into the streets dancing, singing and waving Israeli flags on their way to the Western Wall.