Western Wall Access
There are many objectionable aspects to the Geneva Agreement: the abandonment of large towns such as Ariel, Efrat and Beit El; the end of the Jewish presence in Hebron; the relinquishing of sovereignty over the Temple Mount; the division of Jerusalem; and that Palestinians do not give up what they call the "right of return," but instead Israel is given the "option" of deciding whether to allow Palestinian "refugees" to enter Israel.
However, the most outrageous aspect of the Geneva Agreement has hardly been mentioned: The fact that Jews would no longer be able to go to the Western Wall.
Now, wait a second, you might respond. Doesn't the accord give Israel sovereignty over the Western Wall?
Technically, the answer is yes, though the Palestinians have stated that only the Wall itself would be Israel's, not the Western Wall Plaza. But even if Israel had control of the Western Wall Plaza, Jews could no longer go there, because their access would be cut off.
Shockingly, the Geneva Agreement would transfer sovereignty of Jaffa Gate to Palestinians. If you drive or take a bus to the Wall, you enter through Jaffa Gate and go through the Old City via the Armenian Quarter and the Jewish Quarter. If you walk, you also enter Jaffa Gate and then walk through either the Arab shuk or the Armenian and Jewish Quarters. Regardless, to get to the Western Wall, it is necessary to go through Jaffa Gate. While in theory one of the other gates to the Old City could be entered, all of them are in hostile Arab neighborhoods in which very few Jews enter even today, and Yossi Beilin and Co. have also agreed to transfer those areas to Palestine.
Jaffa Gate is the only gate on the western side of the Old City, and thus is essentially the only one that people use to get to the Western Wall. When Jordan had control of the gate between 1948-1967, it simply closed it. Palestinians could do the same, or could simply refuse entry through the gate by Jews.
posted on 10/22/2003
