MAJORITY OF KNESSET MEMBERS OPPOSE DIVIDING JERUSALEM

Here's a positive development that knocks down Ehud Olmert's attempts to divide the city he once mayored:

A majority of Knesset members signed a petition this week calling for Jerusalem to remain undivided in a move that could tie the hands of Prime Minister Ehud Olmert in his negotiations with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas ahead of the Annapolis summit.

The petition drive, initiated by Likud MK Yisrael Katz, attracted support from some 30 coalition MKs, including ministers Ya'acov Edri and Ze'ev Boim of Kadima and the two Pensioners Party ministers.

Transportation Minister Shaul Mofaz said he would sign soon. Thirteen Kadima MKs signed, including Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee chairman Tzahi Hanegbi. Every Pensioners MK signed.

The only Israel Beiteinu MKs who signed were David Rotem and Estherina Tartman and the only Labor MK who signed was MK Yoram Marciano.

Katz said the petition drive was intended to send a message to Olmert that he has no mandate to negotiate Jerusalem's future. In a further push to keep the future of Jerusalem on the agenda, the Likud faction will tour the walls of the Old City Tuesday and opposition leader Binyamin Netanyahu will brief the foreign press at a strategic site overlooking the city.

"Unfortunately the man who was mayor of Jerusalem is talking about dividing the city in order to take the public's attention away from the problems he is facing, like the Winograd Committee," Likud MK Reuven Rivlin said. "It is possible that Olmert could divide Jerusalem and we would have to face that reality, but it's illegitimate, especially because he's putting Jerusalem on the agenda to distract from his other problems."

And I hope he continues to have those problems long after he's out of office. Sooner or later, that's going to happen, and I hope he faces lawsuits to boot!

Update: here's an article from the Globe and Mail that, while it's got some predictable PC-biases included, it does tell that Arabs here do not want to live under Fatah/Hamas rule.