Letter: Jerusalem ballot box free of scorpions

Sir: Patrick Cockburn claims in his article "Another sting in the tale of the city of scorpions" (4 March) that the Jewish majority in Jerusalem is artificial. He points out that towns such as Bethlehem and Ramalah are deliberately not included by Israel in the city's boundaries, because of the high numbers of Palestinians that live in these areas.

Those towns have never been seen, and still are not, seen, as part of the city of Jerusalem either by the Jews nor by the Palestinians living in the area. It is true that Palestinian neighbourhoods such as Abu-Dhis, which are not included in the boundaries of the city, are effectively a part of it, but the Palestinian population in these areas is not significant enough anyway to change the fact that a Jewish majority does exist today in the city.

ERAN PELEG

Pembroke College, Oxford