No end to Occupied Jerusalem's anguish

Gaza: The designation of occupied Jerusalem as the Capital of Arab Culture has set off an unseemly game of political one-upmanship, with tensions among rival Palestinian groups threatening to spoil the good work.

This even as Israeli authorities refuse to approve celebrations to commeorate the nomination of occupied Jerusalem as the Arab World's new Cultural centre and coming just months after the war in Gaza. The Orient House in Jerusalem has been closed since 2001 for security reasons.

"We can't let Israelis rip us of our culture and prevent us from celebrating [occupied] Jerusalem as the Arab cultural capital - our culture means a lot to us, it is our identity," said Sarah Salah, a school teacher from Gaza.

Occupied Jerusalem has always been a hotly contested prize in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict: Israel considers it the birthplace of the Jewish culture but the city holds immense cultural significance in the Arab world. Two years ago, the Arab ministers of culture - coming together in the Arab League Educational, Cultural and Scientific Organisation (Alesco) - elected Jerusalem as Culture Capital 2009.

Events to celebrate occupied Jerusalem's new status have been postponed since the war in Gaza. It is still not clear as to when the festivities will be held or whether any commemorative events will be held at all.

The conflict between Hamas and Fatah has not helped. Each group has its own 'national' committee. Hamas's Minister of Culture, Attah Abu Al Sebah, proposed that the two groups could work together in the hope that "culture might unite that which politics divided".

That has not yet happened. The Hamas government has budgeted $1 million towards this stated purpose and the Fatah administration allocated $5 million to organise activities in East Jerusalem and along the West Bank to celebrate the occasion.

Jerusalem's designation as the Arab cultural capital has been tarnished by the split between Hamas and Fatah and Israel, seizing on the opportunity, has banned Palestinians' celebrations in the holy city.

Israel has beefed up security in the city to prevent celebrations and arrested several Palestinian National Authority (PNA) officials who are based there. It has also banned festivities to mark the occasion in Nazareth, the largest Arab city in the Jewish state.

The Fatah-dominated PNA launched a series of activities in West Bank to celebrate the nomination by Arab culture ministers of occupied Jerusalem as the Capital of Arab Culture for 2009 but failed to hold any event of note in the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip and the Israeli-occupied East Jerusalem.

Two weeks ago, the deposed Hamas government of Gaza launched celebrations but with it's own distinctive slogans and logos.