Right-wing lawmakers lashed out Friday at a statement attributed to Jerusalem mayor Nir Barkat and reported by Haaretz earlier in the day, according to which Israel should relinquish Jerusalem’s Palestinian neighborhoods beyond the separation barrier.

In the Haaretz report, Barkat added that the separation between West and East Jerusalem should take place, despite the fact that Palestinian residents of the neighborhoods beyond the barrier hold Israeli ID cards.

Reopening to Barkat’s comments later Friday, top Likud official MK Ze’ev Elkin criticized the Jerusalem mayor for advocating “an injury against the completeness and unity of Jerusalem.”

Forwarding the News

Thoughtful, balanced reporting from the Forward and around the web, bringing you updated news and analysis each day.

Terms(Required)

I agree to the Forward's Terms of Service and Privacy Policy

Email(Required)

“The areas Barkat wants to subtract from the city’s territory are part sovereign Israeli land and are protected by the Jerusalem Basic Law as well as by the referendum law passed in the Kneeste,” Elkin said.

The Likud MK said that the exclusion of Palestinian areas “was a terrible mistake that only increased the Palestinian population within the city and undermined the security situation, specifically in the Pisgat Ze’ev neighborhood.”

“Anyone who wishes to add insult to injury turning Jerusalem neighborhoods into the ‘Gaza Strip’ will turn all of Jerusalem into Sderot,” he said, adding: “We won’t let that happen.”

Also commenting to the Haaretz report, National Union MK Aryeh Eldad said that “Nir Barkat is ignoring section 97 of the criminal law, according to which any act contributing to the extraction of sovereign land from the state and to the hands of another state is an act of treason.”

“Barkat is trying to play prime minister and set diplomatic changes in motion instead of enforcing his authorities as mayor on all of Jerusalem’s part,” Eldad said.

For more, go to Haaretz.com

The Forward is free to read, but it isn’t free to produce

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward.

Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.

At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.

Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.

This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism you rely on. Make a gift today!

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.

$90 $180

$360

Other amount