After Israel won the 1967 Six Day War and gained control over all of Jerusalem and the entire west bank of the Jordan river, it set out to distinguish between East Jerusalem – held until then by Jordan – and the rest of the West Bank. East Jerusalem was annexed by Israel and its Palestinian population given residency status, granting them health and social services benefits similar to citizens. The rest of the West Bank, as well as the Gaza Strip, remained in limbo. Israel’s desire to separate Jerusalem from the larger Palestinian issue did not prove successful, as there are cyclical eruptions of violence in the Jewish State’s capital; and the question of its inclusion in Palestinian Authority elections is a perennial problem between Israelis, Palestinians and Americans. Panel: – Jonathan Hessen, Host. – Amir Oren, TV7 Analyst and Host of Watchmen Talk. – Col. (Res.) Miri Eisin, Israeli Public Diplomacy, Security, Intelligence Expert at the Institute for Counter-Terrorism at IDC Herzliya. – Prof. Efraim Inbar, President of the Jerusalem Institute for Strategy and Security (JISS).
