Ever since the current Palestinian-Israeli negotiations commenced, all the leaked information about the talks focused on borders and whether Israeli soldiers will be present in the Jordan Valley. Israel’s demand that Palestinians recognize Israel as a Jewish state received a lot of coverage. But while the Palestinian refugee issue received scant coverage, one topic was totally ignored: Jerusalem.

The US sponsors, along with the Israelis, might have thought that keeping Jerusalem out of the framework agreement would be the best way to avoid having the process blow up in their faces. Such an idea is clearly in violation of the agreement, reached at the start of the talks, that all permanent status issues are on the table and will be discussed.

Once it became clear that Jerusalem was going to be off the table, the Palestinian and Arab side went to work. First, it was Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen) meeting with a delegation of East Jerusalem institutions and assuring them that no solution will be found unless East Jerusalem is the capital of the Palestinian state. Then off to Marrakesh, where the Moroccan sponsored Al-Quds (Jerusalem) Committee met and reiterated the same position. Jordanian and Palestinian officials also met and reportedly agreed to create a special $1 billion fund to support the occupied city of Jerusalem.

The sudden Arab flurry over Jerusalem brings back memories of what happened near the end of the 2000 Camp David summit that included US President Bill Clinton, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak and Palestinian President Yasser Arafat. Then, as now, the issue of Jerusalem — and not the refugee issue, as was reported in some places — was the deal breaker. Arafat adamantly refused to compromise on Palestinian sovereignty over East Jerusalem and especially the Al-Aqsa Mosque in the Old City of Jerusalem. Under pressure, he turned to the Arab leaders and talked to them from Camp David with a simple question that he knew the answer to: “Do you agree to any deal that doesn’t include Jerusalem?”