The Weastern Wall in Jerusalem. Photo: David King.

1. Jerusalem has been the capital city of the Jewish people (but no one else) for 3,000 years, including both ancient Israel and current Israel.  There were caliphates based in Medina, Damascus, Baghdad, and Cairo–never in Jerusalem.

2. Jews lived in Jerusalem for 1,700 years before the Arab conquests in the Seventh century.

3. Jerusalem is mentioned 641 times in the bible and 0 times in the Koran.

4. Jewish legal rights to Jerusalem (and even all of Judea/Samaria) were “irrevocably” recognized in the San Remo conference of 1920 by unanimous agreement of the 51 members of the League of Nations.  Moreover, for the past 150 years, Jews have been the majority population in Jerusalem.

5. Jews were ethnically cleansed from eastern Jerusalem when they were attacked by 5 Arab armies in 1948.

6. Without Israeli security control that exists today, Jerusalem would descend into chaos, with rival militias battling each other like in the Gaza Strip.  This would make life intolerable to residents and tourists alike.  In 1949, 25% of Jerusalem Jews fled when exposed to random sniper fire from the Arab Legion.

7. Unified Israeli control of Jerusalem is crucial for the IDF, as it requires a secure route during wartime to move soldiers/equipment to the eastern border, along Jordan River.

8. Israeli Arab residents in Eastern Jerusalem enjoy social security and health insurance benefits valued at about $10,000 per annum. Removing such benefits and moving this population over to a tyrannical regime (PA or Hamas) is both unethical and immoral.  It also violates the wishes of the majority of Arabs in eastern Jerusalem

9. If Israel were to irrationally allow the establishment of a Palestinian Arab state, the PA would not protect the Christian population or religious sites, as witnessed by the PA’s persecution of Christian Arabs in Bethlehem.  The Jewish sites would also not be protected, as seen in Joseph’s tomb in Nablus (Shechem) and the synagogue in Jericho.  Between 1948-1967, fifty nine Jewish religious sites were destroyed by the occupying Jordanians.

10. PA control over eastern Jerusalem would create a “magnet” for Sunni terror organizations (Muslim Brotherhood/Al Qaeda/Palestinian Islamic Jihad and Shiite or Shiite-funded terror organizations (Iran, Hezbollah, Hamas) to undermine and then take over, as in Lebanon, Gaza, and now Egypt.  In fact, Jerusalem would become the focus of the rivalry by these two worldwide terror organizations.  Hamas is now formally a partner for the second time of Fatah in the PA.  Hamas actually hosted al-Qaeda groups in Gaza since 2006.

11. The increased hostilities, guaranteed to be created by the inevitable war, would lead to unnecessary tensions worldwide between Jews, Muslims, and Christians.

12. The division of Jerusalem is not in the interests of Israel, US, EU, PA, or local Arab residents.  It is only in the interests of Iran, thereby aiding its goal of world domination.