Livni, Herzog vow to keep Western Wall under Israeli control

The two leaders of Israel’s center-left political camp, who have united their parties for the current election campaign, declared on Sunday night that the Western Wall plaza in the Old City of Jerusalem will always remain under Israeli control, despite its location in East Jerusalem.

Labor Party leader Isaac Herzog and Hatnua party chief Tzipi Livni lit the menorah at the site as part of the eight-day Hanukkah festival that began last Tuesday night.

“We are committed, Tzipi Livni and I, to preserve Jerusalem as our capital, and to ensure its future and to preserve this holy place, and to ensure that we maintain Jerusalem,” Herzog declared. “We will do everything so that it is not torn and divided, we will strive for its social character and for the fact that Jerusalem is not just stones.”

Livni echoed Herzog’s vow to keep the plaza under Israeli control.

“We commit that — no matter what — it will remain ours, of the Jewish people, that it will remain under the jurisdiction of the state of Israel,” she said.

The fate of the Old City of Jerusalem is one of the issues at the heart of the right-left divide of Israeli politics and peace negotiations with the Palestinians.

Conquered by Israel during the 1967 Six Day War, the 16th-century Old City walls encompass a densely built area that includes the Temple Mount, considered holy by Jews and Muslims, as well as the adjoining Western Wall, a remnant of the Second Jewish Temple that stood at the site.

Palestinians want East Jerusalem — with the Old City — as the capital of a future Palestinian state.

Israel effectively annexed the eastern part of the city in 1980, reuniting the capital, though the move was not recognized by the international community and remains a point of contention. In recent years, Israeli politicians from the peace camp, including former prime minister Ehud Olmert, have broached the subject of dividing Jerusalem, an idea once considered taboo in mainstream discourse.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, whose Likud party sits in the center-right of Israeli politics, has repeatedly vowed that Jerusalem will remain unified under Israeli control — including the Old City with the Western Wall and the Temple Mount.

Earlier this month, Herzog and Livni announced their intention to run on a joint list for the coming elections, scheduled for March 17, the better to challenge Netanyahu’s premiership and his ruling Likud party.