"Next Year in Jerusalem." This phrase ends Yom Kippur, the holiest day of the Jewish calendar, accompanied by a long blow of the shofar (ram’s horn). So too ends the seder, the at-home service that is the heart of the commemoration of Passover approximately 6 months later. These two liturgical final words at opposite ends of the calendar, in place for close to 2,000 years, are prime examples of why, whatever the other issues, a successful Israeli-Palestinian negotiation leading to a two-state solution will not, and should not, include a division of Jerusalem. Jews will never willingly turn "Next Year in Jerusalem" into a question. The "status of Jerusalem" is not like issues of border location, or security, or resource sharing, or legitimate grievances of displaced residents. Nor is the division of Jerusalem into two cities either geographically or politically doable. The Palestinian Authority and officials of the Obama administration and other governments supporting peace talks must understand: for Israelis and Jews in general, Jerusalem is, simply put, different.
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