Ask The Readers: Gilo Houses

by Eric on November 18, 2009

Today Barack Obama told the world that he is unhappy about 900 new homes being built in the Gilo neighborhood of Jerusalem.  The Palestinians claim this as “East Jerusalem,” though that city has never been recognized on any good map I have ever seen.  I think the Israelis have a right to build homes in their capital city.

What do you think?  Should Israel cancel construction of the homes, or should they keep going as planned?

About the author

Eric Eric is the founder and editor of IsraelSituation.com. He has been to Israel many times including a semester at Hebrew University of Jerusalem. He is the former president of the Israel advocacy group at the University of Colorado and teaches about Israel and the Media at a local religious school.

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  • Joel

    Jerusalem is an impossible question. The UN never meant to give it entirely to Israel, but the idea that it can be an ‘international city’ is obviously ridiculous.

    Honestly, I agree with T. Friedman’s recent NYT editorial about US-Israel relations, which said basically that neither the Israelis nor their neighbors want our help. It’s time for us to go home and wait until we’re needed; it’s not like there aren’t a million other diplomatic efforts that are actually worth our time.

    Does anyone think that Barack Obama is going to magically be able to get Bibi to stop building in Jerusalem? Even if you agree with this position, is it realistic? My gut says no.

  • http://www.israelsituation.com Eric

    Good comment Joel. I don’t think Obama has any magic power over Jerusalem, but I do think that the US has a major impact in US policy. I am a bigger fan of the status quo answer, Obama should watch silently from the sidelines and see what develops. Only when he can make a sound positive contribution should he step in.

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