So Liberal and Humanist Those Lefties

Last Yom Yerushalayim, my wife and I visited Bet HaChoshen on the way back from the Moskowitz Prize Ceremony. The ride we hitched was with Haggai and Debbie Segel and their son and family live in the building. Her post.

Here's a story on the house:

There, high above the mostly Arab neighbourhood, flies one of the largest Israeli flags you'll ever see. Its metal flagpole is anchored in a pair of four-storey homes, joined together by brick passageways.

The tandem of houses, now known as Beit Hoshen, once housed to two large Arab families who reportedly sold them to a man from a nearby community. He, in turn, sold them to a Jewish organization called Elad. Seven religious Israeli families now live in the building, much to the consternation of their Arab neighbours.

The hoshen was the breastplate worn by the High Priest in the days of the Jewish Temple. It's an appropriate name, since the magnificent view from the top floors of the house is of the Temple Mount - and Dome of the Rock - where the Temple is believed to have stood.

Beit Hoshen stands amidst a cluster of Arab homes, just above the Garden of Gethsemane where Jesus is said to have spent his last night before being tried and crucified.

The Elad house is more concerned with the perils of these times: Its windows are covered with heavy metal screening, every centimetre of its perimeter is viewed from one of several video cameras, and two well-armed security guards have little patience with a snooping journalist.

"They want our home, now," said a Palestinian neighbour, fearful of giving his name. "We refuse."

Other properties in the Arab area, however, are now Jewish-owned. The Seven Arches Hotel, a popular spot where tourists pose on camels with the golden Dome of the Rock in the background, changed hands in the past few weeks and permits were issued last month for the construction of 24 homes adjacent to a nearby Jewish yeshiva.

But pay attention to this candor about Sheikh Jarrah:

In the central Arab neighbourhood of Sheikh Jarrah, several Palestinian families were removed from homes they had lived in for 50 years when another Jewish organization produced documents that showed Jewish title to the homes prior to 1948.

"No one disputes the fact that they have a legal right to the homes," said Ms. Noy of Ir Amim.

"But it's a political mistake to do this."

"At a certain point," she said, "they [all the takeovers] will make negotiation impossible."

Ms. Noy says her organization tries to be realistic. "There are almost 200,000 Jews living in east Jerusalem," she said, "and there's no way all of them are ever going to leave."

She notes that while the international community considers all the areas to be occupied territory, Ir Amim distinguishes between the bigger, more established neighbourhoods - such as Pisgat Zeev and French Hill - and the newer settlements.

"We accept the older ones," she said. "They'll have to stay as part of Israel. But the new right-wing settlements are driving a stake through the heart of the Arab communities."

"They have to be stopped."

So liberal and humanist.