— Mayor Teddy Kollek of Jerusalem declared here that recent threats by Arab leaders to “liberate” Jerusalem do not disturb him. “It’s not the first time,” he said. “But Arabs in Jerusalem are the most civilized, best educated of any in the world, and they don’t want to see their city divided any more than the Jews.”
Kollek’s remarks were made to the 23 North American members of the Jerusalem Committee who held a two-day meeting at the University of Notre Dame where they endorsed Israel’s administration of Jerusalem. The meeting was the first held by the committee outside Jerusalem and the first where North American members met separately.
The participants expressed the hope that similar regional meetings will be held in other areas of the world and recommended the full 130-member committee meet in Jerusalem this year.
SUCCESS IN UNITING THE CITY
The Jerusalem mayor emphasized the success he has had in uniting the city’s religious entities during the Jordanian occupation 13 years ago. “There is more tolerance in Jerusalem now than there has ever been,” he said. “Under the 19 years of Jordanian rule Christians and Jews weren’t allowed to visit their holy places; there was no free Christian education; 58 synagogues were destroyed.
“Now the holy places are meticulously taken care of; Arabs are allowed the citizenship they desire and the education system they want. Each religion administers its own holy places; there is free access to the Arab countries, and everyone can participate in the local democratic elections.”
The committee’s report endorsed Kollek’s efforts toward unity and universal access to the city, as well as his plans for autonomous governing units within the multitude of cultural and religious communities. Coming in the wake of criticism of last summer’s Knesset reaffirmation of a united Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, the resolutions stressed the need for harmonious relations and unity within the city.
TRANQUILITY OF JERUSALEM CITED
Father Theodore Hesburgh, president of Notre Dame and a member of the Jerusalem committee, who hosted the event, contrasted the tranquility of Jerusalem with the tension and armed conflicts elsewhere in the Middle East. Stating the consensus of the committee, he declared.
“I believe that any person of good-will fully acquainted with the facts of the situation and with the ways in which Jerusalem now lives, thrives, and is administered, will join me in recognizing that the progress made by Mayor Teddy Kollek and his administration holds the promise of enabling Jerusalem to fulfill its historic role as the ‘City of Peace.'”
The special advisor to the mayor, Zvi Brosh, stated, “There is an almost total consensus among Israelis on the state of Jerusalem: that it must remain a unified city and that it retain its status as the capital of the State of Israel.”
Specking to various proposals for the future of Jerusalem, including partition, internationalization and sovereignty by one nation, J. Kenneth Blackwell, former mayor of Cincinnati and a committee member, noted “Access to Jerusalem may belong to the world, but the care of Jerusalem belongs to Israel.”
Brosh stressed not only unity, but autonomy as well: “We see that Jerusalem is a pattern that proves that coexistence between Arabs and Jews can work; the city can remain united, simultaneously giving the Arabs every possible advantage of freedom and control over their own lives.” Kollek also emphasized that “We’re not looking for a melting pot.”
RECOMMENDATIONS BY THE COMMITTEE
The committee resolution supported these views, recommending that the local religious communities within the city be given extended responsibilities of self-government and that this should be legalized. Kollek has pressed for the status of boroughs on the model of London’s self-governing cities, as a means of offering each distinct section as much autonomy as possible, thereby preserving the unique nature of the diverse cultures and traditions that have existed in the city for centuries.
Kollek also wants to create areas where the homogeneous entities can meet, and he is trying to bridge the physical divisions architecturally, through city planning strategies. The committee, which includes such renowned architects as Buckminster Fuller, Harry Mayerovitch, Samuel Mozes and Moshe Safdie, recommended that such interaction be encouraged whenever possible in the commercial, business and recreation centers of the city.
The group also recommended the continued independence of the holy places, the vesting of administrative authority over them in the religious bodies responsible for them, and enhanced universal access for all faiths. The committee indicated its satisfaction with these measures instituted by Kollek, With over a million Christian, Jewish, and Moslem pilgrims each year to the 4,000-year-old city, with more than 150,000 Arabs from countries not recognizing Israel, this is undoubtedly a key concern.
Charles Haar of Harvard Law School recommended that a through documentation of the degree of autonomy be made within each living area, and this should then be confirmed by law, “so that there is no feeling that it could be suddenly swept away.”
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
