Yael Paz-Melamed: Barkat will demolish, Lieberman will explain

One irritated mayor was left in the wake of Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's Mideast visit. After Clinton called Israeli plans to demolish Palestinian homes in East Jerusalem built without permits "unhelpful," Jerusalem new mayor, Nir Barkat, called Clinton misinformed.

It is an issue of permits. Palestinians says that the state does not give them permits to build needed homes, and Israeli officials say the homes are constructed illegally and must be removed.

Twenty-one prominent Israeli thinkers urge the state not to demolish Jerusalem homes.

In Ma'ariv today, Yael Paz-Melamed writes,

There are two urgent things that the new Jerusalem mayor has to do: renovate his office for at least NIS 800,000, and demolish houses in East Jerusalem, mainly in the Silwan neighborhood, on the grounds that they were built without permits as required by law, and therefore must be erased.

To his credit it should be said that he declared his intent to demolish houses of residents of East Jerusalem during his election campaign, and it can be assumed that this declaration was one of the reasons for his sweeping victory.

She continues:

There is no disputing that the houses earmarked for demolition were indeed built illegally, or expanded without permits in the framework of a master plan. But all this happened, and is still happening, because for years there has been no master plan for East Jerusalem, even though an ever-growing population of Palestinian lives there, and if they want to live somewhere, or renovate their house, their only chance to do so is to break the law and build without a permit.

Barkat says that he intends to solve this problematic situation. But before he does, he intends to demolish. After that they will have to solve problems that are a lot more complicated.

Security experts and experts on East Jerusalem warn that such an act could easily ignite the third Intifada, which would be much more violent than the two preceding ones.

Paz-Melamed goes on to ask how demolishing homes will be explained in the United States, especially if Israel's next Foreign Minister is Avigdor Lieberman, as is now predicted.

Paz Melamed:

Imagine to yourself how the enlightened world will relate to Israel if the houses are indeed demolished, and that the explanation for this, as well as for the diplomatic handling of the damage, is done by foreign minister Avigdor Lieberman.

Israel is dependent on the US and on the countries of Europe, first for its livelihood. In the enormous economic crisis in which we are deeply enmeshed, there is no possibility of giving up on important markets, or on American financial support. Israel can also not afford to take repeated condemnations from the UN and the UN Security Council for racist decisions. Even those who make light of the UN cannot ignore our possible isolation in the Western world, to which we want and must belong. And if a third Intifada does indeed break out because of the house demolitions in East Jerusalem, then the accusing finger should be pointed at Nir Barkat, who by then will most likely be sitting in his new and splendid office, who will shrug his shoulders and explain that he is only ensuring that the law is enforced to the letter.