Wednesday, January 03, 2007

"After Israeli forces occupied East Jerusalem in June 1967, Kollek reached out to Arab residents in an effort to bridge religious and cultural divides that persist in this city of 700,000 residents." Oh, yeah. He sure reached out to Arabs, especially when he ordered the destruction of the Arab Maghribi quarter (to expand the prayer area for Jewish worshippers), and the eviction of its residents, and when he institutionalized the discriminatory and segregationist policies of the municipality. But he did reach out to Arabs, just as the apartheid regime of South Africa reached out to blacks.