The battle for the heart and soul of Jerusalem is being waged on the gentle hilltop of the Mount of Olives. There, high above the mostly Arab neighbourhood, flies one of the largest Israeli flags you'll ever see. Its metal flagpole is anchored in a pair of four-storey homes, joined together by brick passageways.
The tandem of houses, now known as Beit Hoshen, once housed to two large Arab families who reportedly sold them to a man from a nearby community. He, in turn, sold them to a Jewish organization called Elad. Seven religious Israeli families now live in the building, much to the consternation of their Arab neighbours.
The hoshen was the breastplate worn by the High Priest in the days of the Jewish Temple. It's an appropriate name, since the magnificent view from the top floors of the house is of the Temple Mount - and Dome of the Rock - where the Temple is believed to have stood.
Beit Hoshen stands amidst a cluster of Arab homes, just above the Garden of Gethsemane where Jesus is said to have spent his last night before being tried and crucified.
The Elad house is more concerned with the perils of these times: Its windows are covered with heavy metal screening, every centimetre of its perimeter is viewed from one of several video cameras, and two well-armed security guards have little patience with a snooping journalist.
"They want our home, now," said a Palestinian neighbour, fearful of giving his name. "We refuse."
Other properties in the Arab area, however, are now Jewish-owned. The Seven Arches Hotel, a popular spot where tourists pose on camels with the golden Dome of the Rock in the background, changed hands in the past few weeks and permits were issued last month for the construction of 24 homes adjacent to a nearby Jewish yeshiva.
Palestinian leaders say they want all such construction in east Jerusalem stopped before they will resume negotiations on peace with Israel. The government of Benjamin Netanyahu refuses, insisting that any future Palestinian state will not include any part of Jerusalem.
The pattern of Israeli development appears designed to insure exactly that.
Israeli activists last year revealed a secret plan of a network of new national parks in the capital area, which, along with strategically located Israeli developments, will effectively cut Arab east Jerusalem off from the rest of the occupied West Bank.
"The idea is to create facts on the ground that will prevent the partitioning of the city [into Jewish and Arab sectors]," said Orly Noy, spokeswoman for Ir Amim, an Israeli organization that seeks peaceful co-existence in the capital.
"When you connect the dots you see there's a ring around the Arab neighbourhoods," Ms. Noy said. Even more than the security barrier that rings Jerusalem "this precludes any connection to the rest of the West Bank."
Elisha Peleg, a Likud member of Jerusalem's city council, says this is a good thing. "This plan strengthens Israel's sovereignty in Jerusalem," he said, referring to the recent permits for the 24 Jewish homes. It's a statement "that Jerusalem will remain united and will not be part of any negotiations."
For years, following Israel's 1967 capture of the Old City and eastern Jerusalem, a low-key group known as Ateret Cohanim had clandestinely moved into houses in the Muslim and Christian quarters of the Old City.
Today, Elad (the name is an acronym for To the City of David) is the biggest player, and a much more sophisticated one.
