"...this is an intolerable breach in orderly, peaceful life in our capital. Automatic weapons were used by people who appear to be professional killers. We want to find them, root them out...we are going to do everything we can...every day we get fresh reminders in the region of the cost of  terrorism. It is also a reminder we are committed to a united Jerusalem, a peaceful Jerusalem, under Israeli sovereignty."
 Prime Minister Netanyahu

Last week in Jerusalem, near the Damascus Gate, Israeli settlers and religious zealots were attacked, one killed. It has been one provocation after another that has led to this. Even in this Muslim quarter of the ancient city, the Israelis have used one deception after another to confiscate buildings, set up Yeshivas and Synagogues, and push in settlers.

Adding insult to injury Ariel Sharon not only forced his way into this area -- not far in fact from the Damascus Gate -- but insists on flying a ;arge Israeli flag from "his" apartment, has installed a huge Jewish Menorah very visibly on the top of "his" building, and uzi-totting soldiers are constantly on view on the main street outside "his" entrance.

Nor far from Sharon's place is the new tunnel "exit" that caused rioting last year when in the dead of night the Israelis, including Jerusalem Mayor Ehud Olmert, "connected" the Jewish area around the wailing wall to this section of the city in the heart of the Muslim quarter.

Indeed, one should further recall all of the dispossession and destruction the Israelis brought about in the area of the Wailing Wall itself when they bulldozed hundreds of homes soon after capturing this part of the city in the 1967 war to set up the very expansive plaza area.

In short, there is no unity, no sovereignty, and no peace in today's Jerusalem. There is though a great deal of Israeli provocation, a great deal of Israeli deception, and a great deal of  Israeli treachery and duplicity.