The unfinished state
Haaretz by Shlomo Avineri
Haaretz by Shlomo Avineri
PRISTINA, Kosovo - On my previous visit to Pristina, in 1995, Kosovo was still under Serbian control, and the Albanian population, which is the vast majority in the region, considered itself to be under occupation. I was a member of an international committee that met with the Albanians' leaders, and also with the Serbian governor of the province; when the official spotted the Israeli member of the delegation, he approached me and said: "As you know, for us Kosovo is like Jerusalem." I told him that I knew this was how Serbs felt, but as someone who is prepared to think about dividing Jerusalem, under certain conditions, I was perhaps the wrong person to whom this analogy may appeal.