26.08.2003

Jerusalem Berlin Forum - An Initiative for Trilateral Cooperation

In a bid to develop a just solution for the future of Jerusalem, a common Berlin Jerusalem platform was set up by the German Friedrich Ebert Foundation. Under this framework urban experts from Berlin are working together with Israelis and Palestinians from Jerusalem. Recently they met in Berlin.

Berlin-Checkpoint Charlie: A group of 20 people has gathered at the former crossing point between the Eastern and the Western part of the city. Fragments of lively discussions in German, English, Hebrew and Arabic can be heard.

These people belong to the "Jerusalem Berlin Forum" (JBF), an initiative set up by the Friedrich Ebert Foundation in 2001. They include Israelis, Palestinians and Germans from the former East and West. They work as architects, as urban planners, engineers, sociologists or as political researchers. And they have a common interest: to study the separation and integration processes of cities that were formerly divided.

Guided by three Berlin experts the group follows the line where the Berlin wall once stood. "It reminds me a little of Jerusalem because for 19 years Jerusalem also was a divided city with walls and border lines”, says Israel Kimchi, a regional planner from the Jewish part of Jerusalem, which is in the city's West. “We were very fortunate that the wall came down 35 years ago. And here the same situation, divided cities that became one city again”, he adds.

Searching a solution for Jerusalem

Walking along the former border in Berlin Kimchi thinks back to the six days war in 1967, during which Israel captured the Eastern part of Jerusalem from Jordan. Since then both parts of the city have been united under Israeli sovereignty. However, what people from Jerusalem feel reminded of in the German capital crucially depends on what part of the city they belong to. Rami Nasrallah, the head of the Palestinian group, grew up in Arab East Jerusalem and lives under Israeli rule. Whenever he wants to visit his family in the West Bank he first has to pass Israeli checkpoints: " When I crossed the Checkpoint Charlie I felt the same. The reality in Jerusalem is so hard, when it comes to division and separation. We should find a solution."

To develop such a solution for Jerusalem is the aim of the urban experts who have come together under the framework of the JBF. The overall idea is that the experience gained in Berlin in the years after the wall came down will help create visions for Jerusalem as well.

The teams from Jerusalem and Berlin are meeting for the third time. On their agenda are seven days of intense discussions, lectures and fieldtrips through Berlin. And the cooperation has become increasingly productive. The trilateral initiative stems from an Israeli-Palestinian dialogue, which began eight years ago. Back then the "Jerusalem Institute for Israel Studies" and the Palestinian "International Peace and Cooperation Center" set up regular bilateral meetings to discuss the future of Jerusalem.

Jerusalem – one of the major obstacles on the way to peace

And that's remarkable considering that the onset of the second Intifada in 2000 put an end to much of the dialogue between Israelis and Palestinians. Rami Nasrallah, who is the head of the International Peace and Cooperation Centre, explains why their cooperation has survived: “Many times we disagree, many times we fight, there is a lot of emotions. Jerusalem is a very spiritual, nationalistic issue, symbolic issue. So it was not that easy. But after getting the emotions out you start to think in a realistic way, what we have to do now”, Nasrallah says."

One city - two claims: Jerusalem is one of the major obstacles on the way to peace between Israelis and Palestinians. But at least within the JBF, both sides have managed to agree on a common vision. They want Jerusalem to be the capital of both states but not divided by borders or walls, as Rami Friedman, the head of the Israeli group, explains: "Jerusalem is a city that is very difficult to separate. From the economic, social religious point of view. If we manage to have two capitals and an open city which means each party will have it's own right on a certain area but yet it won't deny the other side access, right, this will help Jerusalem to flourish”, he says. And Friedman is sure that in it's transformation process Jerusalem can profit from the Berlin experience.

In fact, there are certain similarities between the two cities: Both are traditional urban centres. Both were once divided by a wall, and both face a rift between their eastern and western parts. But while Jerusalem is shared by two different peoples with two different languages and cultures, the gap between East and West Germans in Berlin was political and seems much easier to bridge. Still the Jerusalemites want to study whether certain models of cooperation that were successful in Berlin could be applied to their city as well.

The Berliners, for their part, have started to study the situation in Jerusalem. Together the two teams recently published a book summing up the first results of their work. And cooperation will continue. Lena Schulz zur Wiesch is positive that it will even intensify: "In many cases we are a little shy. Because we are afraid to interfere and because our opinion about the conflict is not the most important thing. Our expertise is our knowledge of the city. And in many cases they tell us: ‘Berlin you have to go into the process, we need you!’ And we need this emancipation in the team. I am very confident that we are going to manage."

The opportunity will come soon. But after a week of intense exchange in Berlin it's time to say goodbye for now. When the experts of the Jerusalem Berlin Forum meet next time, they hope to go a step further in promoting their vision: Jerusalem as the open capital city of two states - without a wall.