The fortieth anniversary of Israel’s occupation of the territories conquered in June, 1967 is an opportunity for reflection and taking stock. The Jewish state has ruled the West Bank, East Jerusalem, and the Golan Heights for forty of the almost sixty years of its modern existence.

Israel is stepping up its effort to enclose Jerusalem with a ring of barriers and settlements designed to sever Palestinian East Jerusalem from the West Bank.

Prime Minister Ariel Sharon was keenly aware that the execution of Israel’s “disengagement” from the Gaza Strip and a portion of the northern West Bank was critical if Israel is to continue to dominate the diplomatic playing field and maximize its security and settlement interests in the occupied territories.

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has distinguished himself in his first year as Prime Minister by his unprecedented rhetorical support for a large scale evacuation of land and settlements in the West Bank.

Israelis and Palestinians have agreed to a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip and called a tenuous halt to the most bloody struggle since Israel’s military re occupation of the entire West Bank in 2002. The main focus of destruction is the Gaza Strip, where the promise of Israel’s evacuation of settlements in 2005 degenerated into the latest round of warfare.

On June 13, a group of Israelis determined to scuttle Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert’s promise to evacuate West Bank settlements gathered in Jerusalem. In their view, neither opposition like that waged unsuccessfully against the August 2005 evacuation of the Gaza Strip nor the more confrontational tactics used in a failed attempt to prevent the destruction of permanent dwellings at the settlement outpost of Amona in January could avert future withdrawals.

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has promised to chart a new, unprecedented path for Israel’s 39 year occupation of territories captured in June 1967. In the aftermath of the costly Palestinian rebellion against Israeli rule in the early 2000s, Olmert has pledged to modify a policy defined by conquest, expansion, and denial of the national rights of Palestinians.

The battle for Jerusalem, or in effect the battle over the Judaization of the city, has been waged with ups and downs since East Jerusalem was annexed to Israel. Recently, it has reached a higher plane. One aspect of it is apparent and understood by everyone: the battle over assets.

The election campaign waged by Israeli prime minister Ehud Olmert was billed as a referendum on his idea for settling the continuing conflict between Israel and the Palestinians over control of lands under Israeli occupation.

Ariel Sharon’s historic legacy will not be defined by the exaggerated praise he receives today as a hero transformed from brutal warrior to “man of peace.” It will be determined by whether Israel, the Palestinians, and the United States can now create a vision of peace that builds upon Sharon’s successes and repairs his errors.