The Shepherd's lost sheep- As Palestinians call for recognition of their state, its contours are blurring

http://www.economist.com/node/17913606East Jerusalem

The Shepherd's lost sheep

As Palestinians call for recognition of their state, its contours are blurring

Jan 13th 2011 | EAST JERUSALEM

FEW architectural sites in East Jerusalem, the side of the city that Palestinians see as their future capital, capture the flavour of Palestine’s British Mandate more acutely than the Shepherd Hotel. It was where British officers hobnobbed with Palestinian high society before the territory was partitioned in 1948. General Sir Evelyn Barker, in command of British troops under the mandate, dallied there with a celebrated Arab hostess, Katy Antonius.

But on January 9th the Israeli authorities, who argue that all of Jerusalem is theirs, and rarely license Arabs in the city to add so much as a balcony to their homes, gave the go-ahead for bulldozers to flatten a wing of the hotel to enable Jewish homes to be erected in its place. European governments sound ever more eager to assure the Palestinians they will have a state of their own, yet cannot manage to save an historic building on Palestinian land bang next to their own diplomatic missions....READ MORE