June 4, 2007

THE IRON LAW OF UNINTENDED CONSEQUENCES:

Change cast in concrete: The barrier Israel is building along the West Bank has had an unforeseen effect: Palestinians are flooding back into Jerusalem to bolster their claim to the holy city. (Ken Ellingwood, June 4, 2007, LA Times)

ISSA Natsheh watched warily from his West Bank suburb when Israel began building a concrete barrier along the fringes of Jerusalem four years ago.

As the partition slowly took shape, Natsheh grew increasingly worried that he would be cut off for good from the city of his birth. Powerless to stop the construction, Natsheh did what he could: He moved back into Jerusalem.

Two years after the move, Natsheh lives with a wife, three small daughters and a newborn son in a concrete-block shack on a trash-strewn hillside north of downtown. He built the structure without Israeli permission and has covered the front with a black tarp to disguise it so authorities won't tear it down.

Thousands of Palestinians like Natsheh, lured to the West Bank over the years by family ties, cheap property and fewer building regulations, are scrambling back into Jerusalem.

The unforeseen wave of migration has increased the Arab presence, bolstering a broader trend that has seen the Palestinian population grow to more than a third of Jerusalem's total. It is one sign of how the barrier is reshaping the holy city and further complicating any effort to settle competing claims to it.


Oops...

Posted by Orrin Judd at June 4, 2007 6:33 AM
Comments

That might make a difference if the issue were to be settled with speeches and majority votes, and not with blood and iron.

Posted by: Lou Gots at June 4, 2007 9:54 AM

Perhaps his kids won't like living under a tarp and will want to take part in the free society Israel has to offer. If people see a better way to live, it's probable they'll want it.

Posted by: erp at June 4, 2007 10:20 AM

What's arabic for "reconquista"?

Posted by: jswendt at June 4, 2007 10:39 AM

Likud

Posted by: oj at June 4, 2007 12:40 PM

Lou:

Nope, the third factor is the only one that matters: sperm and eggs.

Posted by: oj at June 4, 2007 12:43 PM

At least they're cut off from the brainwashing machine in the West Bank.

Posted by: Joseph Hertzlinger at June 4, 2007 4:33 PM
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