Published by The Freeman Center The Maccabean Online Political
Analysis and Commentary The EU's 'East Jerusalem' Christmas Gift
Wednesday, December 23 2009 Christmas came early for Israel's
enemies this holiday season. On December 1 a draft statement
from the European Union calling for the immediate restart of
negotiations leading to a "viable state of Palestine ... with
East Jerusalem as its capital" made worldwide news. This is very
curious because, after all, "East Jerusalem" does not actually
exist. At least not yet. Let's remember that East Jerusalem is
what the Bible means when it refers to Jerusalem itself. Words
and names have meaning. Especially in the Middle East. The
European Union obviously chose to use the words of Israel's
enemies deliberately. So just what is "East Jerusalem" and why
is adding the word "East" to describe part of Judaism's holiest
city and Israel's capital of any serious magnitude? East and
West in Israel are not the simple geographic terms they are in
the U.S. Northeast Philade