Forced Eviction and Dispossession
of Palestinians in Occupied Jerusalem by Current Israeli Policies
1999 - 2000
q
Demographics:
the roots of Israeli Discrimination
q
Israeli
Land Expropriation and Settlement Expansion
q
ID
Card Confiscation
q
Concerns
Over Recent Changes to Israeli Residency Policy
q
Housing
Shortage and Overcrowding
q
Demolition
of Palestinian Homes
q
Impact
of Israeli Military Closure Around Jerusalem
q
Restrictions
on Palestinian Educational System
q
Israeli
Social Policy and Lack of Public Investment in Palestinian Areas of Jerusalem
Prepared by the Department of
International Relations
at The Orient House
Table
of Contents:
A.
Introduction
B.
Historical
Background of Israeli Policies of Eviction
C.
Demography:
the Roots of Israeli Discrimination
D.
Israeli
Land Expropriation and Settlement Expansion
a.
Realizing
Greater Jerusalem
b.
The
Easter Expansion: the E1 Plan
c.
Separating
Jerusalem from the West Bank: Bypass Road Construction
d.
The
Western Expansion
e.
Closing
the Southern Ring: the "Har Homa" Settlement
f.
Settlements
Inside Palestinian Areas:
q
Ras al
Amud
q
Sheikh
Jarrah
q
The
Old City Jerusalem
E.
ID
Card Confiscation
F.
Concerns
Over Recent Changes to Israeli Residency Policy
G.
Housing
Shortage and Overcrowding
H.
Demolition
of Palestinian Homes
I.
Impact
of Israeli Military Closure Around Jerusalem
a.
Limitation
on Freedom of Movement
b.
Impact
on Palestinian Economy
c.
New
"Erez Style" Checkpoint in Bethlehem
J.
Restrictions
on Palestinian Educational System
K.
Israeli
Social Policy and Lack of Public Investment in Palestinian Areas of Jerusalem
Appendix
1st.
Chart
of ID Card Confiscations (1967 - 1999)
2nd.
Chart
of Israeli Settlement Activity in Municipal Jerusalem and its Sub Districts -
1999
3rd.
Map of
Israeli By-Pass Roads and Settlements in Jerusalem and the Surrounding Areas
I. Introduction
This report intends to detail current Israeli policies that
create "facts on the ground" in order to consolidate Israeli
sovereignty over occupied Jerusalem.
These policies extend from two central strategies. The first creates a Jewish majority in
the city through establishing an inner and outer ring of "Jewish
only" settlements,[1]
while the second pursues the same goal by reducing the Palestinian population
through policies that either forcefully evict Palestinians from Jerusalem or
impede their growth and development as a community.
Israeli policies that cause the forced eviction and
dispossession of Palestinians continue under the current Israeli government
even as the Israelis and Palestinians enter final status negotiations on
Jerusalem. If these talks are to
be successful, it is absolutely essential that the Israelis fulfill their
commitment to not initiate or take any steps that change the status of Jerusalem
before final status negotiations.[2] Moreover, it is time that the
international community fulfill their obligation to enforce the 1907 Hague
Convention and the 1949 Geneva Convention relating to the Protection of
Civilians in Time of War in occupied Jerusalem and obligate Israel to practice
its power in accordance with international law.
II. Historical
Background on Israeli Policies of Eviction
Over the past century, the leaders of the Zionist movement
were driven not just to create a state but a Jewish homeland - with a firmly
established Jewish majority. In
Jerusalem, as with the rest of Palestine, leaders of the Zionist movement
considered the transfer of the Palestinian population and their replacement by
new Jewish immigrants as the only plausible strategy to achieving this goal.[3]
Although the methods of creating Jewish hegemony in historic Palestine have
changed, the intent has remained the same.
The impact of Jewish immigration and
the expulsion of Palestinians over 50 years has radically altered the
demographic and geographic character of historic Palestine. From 1873, before the first wave of
European Jewish immigrants entered Palestine, to 1944, the overall Palestinian
population in Jerusalem decreased from 73% to 40% respectively.[4]
During the 1948 war, Zionist forces expelled approximately 80,000 Palestinians
residents, nearly the entire Palestinian population at that time, from the
western environs of Jerusalem.[5] Already by February 1948, Israel's
first Prime Minister David Ben Gurion wrote in his diary,
Since
Jerusalem was destroyed by the Romans, it has not been so Jewish as it is
now. In many Arab neighborhoods in
the west one sees not a single Arab.
I do not assume that this will change.[6]
The mass expulsion of Palestinians continued
in the 1967 war when an estimated 26,000 Palestinians were displaced by Israeli
forces in less than a week.[7] While the displacement of persons is
often an unavoidable result of war, it must be taken into consideration that
the explicit intention of the Zionist forces was to evict as many Palestinians
as possible.[8]
The commitment of Israel to extend cultural and political
ownership over occupied Jerusalem, gives rise to a system that is intrinsically
hostile to the Palestinian population. Structurally, the Israeli State is
composed of such institutions like the World Zionist Organization and the
Jewish Agency who, by virtue of their mandate, serve Jews exclusively. For this reason, a recent UN report has
proven that the Israeli State apparatus is inherently discriminatory.[9] While causes of Palestinian eviction
are now more often a result of bureaucratic policies, they cannot be viewed
simply as an absence of civil rights. Rather, these policies are an inevitable
consequence of the structural discrimination within the Israeli occupation.
III. Demography
and the Roots of Israeli Discrimination
To understand the logic of the West Jerusalem Municipality
(WJM), it is necessary to understand the “demographic problem" as
perceived by the Israeli government.
For Jerusalem municipal policy makers, endowed with the responsibility
of keeping Jerusalem the capital of Israel, it is a national imperative to
address the question of how to "Judaize" Jerusalem. The importance of maintaining the
demographic dominance of Jews in Jerusalem is not only paramount for the
Israeli state but is supported by a majority of the Jewish Israeli public.
According to a recent survey, 65% of the Jewish Israeli public support the use
of such policies as restricting housing for Palestinians in Jerusalem in order
to prevent them from becoming a majority.[10]
Although it is widely understood in the WJM that preserving
a Jewish demographic majority in Jerusalem underlies municipal legislation, the
goal was first officially stated in 1973 in a report by the Interministerial
Committee to Examine the Rate of Development for Jerusalem. In this report the recommendation was
made that the “demographic balance of Jews and Arabs must be maintained as it
was at the end of 1972.”[11] The balance at that time was 73.5%
Jews, and 26.5% Palestinian. Since
that time, this policy goal has been restated numerous times in Israeli policy
briefs, news releases and even formal development plans.[12]
In 1998, for instance, one city planner working on the
Jerusalem Development Plan for 2020 stated that,
If Jerusalem is to remain the united
capital of Israel it will be necessary to aim for a target in which 70% of the
population will be Jewish and 30% will be Arabs in 2020.[13]
These target goals based on preserving the Jewish hegemony
in Jerusalem, naturally lead to policies of discrimination against the
non-Jewish population. However, regardless of the popular will and the power of
the Israel government to legislate and implement policy,[14]
the current system of preserving a Jewish majority is both unstable and
unsustainable. Population growth
figures in 1998 indicate that the Palestinian population outpacing the Jewish
by 3.5% a year to 1% respectively.[15] As of 1998, Israeli statistics indicate
that the Palestinian population reached 200,100 or 31.6% of the total
population in Jerusalem,[16]
while Palestinian figures give a slightly higher figure of 210,219.[17]
If Israel is unsuccessful in curtailing Palestinian population growth, current
estimates have the Palestinian population exceeding 38% of the total population
in Jerusalem by 2020.[18] Israel is acutely aware of this danger
and has and will continue to do everything in its power to maintain control
over the Palestinian population even while they engage in negotiations with
them.
IV. Israeli
Land Expropriations and Settlement Expansion[19]
The Occupying Power shall not deport
or transfer parts of its civilian population into the territory it occupies.
-- Fourth Geneva
Convention (Article 49)
Since
the occupation of East Jerusalem in 1967, Israel has consolidated its control
by expropriating at least one third of Palestinian land for the purpose of
building illegal Jewish settlements around Jerusalem.[20]
From an almost negligible Jewish population in 1967, illegal settlement
construction has raised the Jewish population in occupied East Jerusalem to
over 180,000. Israel also expanded
the municipal boundaries of Arab East Jerusalem from 6.5 km2 during
the Jordanian rule to 72km2 and created an inner and outer ring of
Jewish settlements around the newly annexed territory. The purpose of this settlement
construction is to maximize contiguous territory with a minimum non-Jewish
population within the city’s boundaries and territorially separate Jerusalem from
the Palestinian West Bank.
Despite
repeated claims by the current Labor government that settlement activity will
stop - on the ground, it is business as usual. Prime Minister Barak's appointment of Israeli hard liner
Yitzak Levi to the position of Minister of Housing all but ensured that
settlement construction will continue.
In fact, Barak’s new government has outpaced that of his predecessor
by approving the construction of 5,752 new housing units in various West Bank
settlements, 2,149 of which are in Jerusalem and its surrounding areas.[21]
To
illustrate the degree of settlement construction in the West Bank, 44 new
settlement outposts were established in 1999[22]
and 30 new settlement structural plans, with a combined area of 9,953 dunums
(2,488 acres), were given final approval.[23]
While most of the new settlement outposts were constructed during the Netanyahu
period, Barak has given his tacit approval for 32 of them.[24]
Moreover,
14 new by-pass roads have also been approved in the occupied West Bank and
Jerusalem in 1999. By-pass roads
serve the dual purpose of allowing Israeli settlers travel routes around
Palestinian areas while dividing Palestinian population centers so as to
prevent any chance for territorial contiguity for the emerging Palestinian
State. The total area of
the 14 new by-pass roads requires the confiscation of another 10,129 dunums
(2,532 acres) of Palestinian land.[25] In order to keep pace with all the
new construction, Israeli legislators allotted the Israeli Ministry of Housing
an increase of NIS 8,364 million in the new national budget specifically for
settlement infrastructure .[26]
According
to Prime Minister Barak himself, settlement construction in Jerusalem has and
will continue in the footsteps of past Labor administrations.
Look back and think how the 150,000
settlers in East Jerusalem came to live there. It was not by a government that just talks, talks, and
defers action to the next generations. No! That [Labor] government brought 150,000 people to live in Jerusalem
without any provocative actions.[27]
The
current Israeli settlement activity in Jerusalem and its surrounding areas will
seal Israeli control over Jerusalem before an agreement can be reached in
negotiations. The following is an
analysis of the latest Israeli settlement plans, all of which are currently in
varying stages of development.
i. Realizing
a Greater Metropolitan Jerusalem
On 5 May 1997 the Israeli government officially approved a
plan that would annex further land into the WJM in order to realise a “Greater
Jerusalem.”[28] Once implemented, an Israeli
"Greater Jerusalem" would cover an area of 860 km2, of
which less than a quarter lies within pre-1967 Israel. The plan dramatically
expands the scale of previous Israeli planning efforts for the Jerusalem area.
Key aspects of the plan include:
1.
The
Incorporation of illegal Jewish settlements, including Givat Ze’ev, Metzpe
Jericho and Ma’ale Adumim, as well as other areas inside the green line.
2.
An
acceleration of by-pass road construction in the West Bank to link settlements
along an eastern ring around Jerusalem
3.
Creating
contiguity between the settlements of the outer ring including Givat Ze’ev,
Ma’ale Adumim, Meztpe Jericho, Betar and Efrat.[29]
ii. The Eastern
Expansion: The E1 Plan
An essential element of the Israeli plan to realize a
Greater Jerusalem is the E1 development plan. Officially approved by the Israeli Minister of Defense Moshe
Arens on 6 March 1999, the plan was given final approval by the Israeli High
Court on 4 October 1999.[30]
The E1 plan covers an area of 12,443 dunums (3110 acres) and intends to develop
the area between Palestinian areas in East Jerusalem (Abu Dis, Azzeriah, etc.)
and the settlement of Ma’ale Adumim.[31] The E1 Plan will add approximately 10,240 dunums (2,560
acres) to Maaleh Adumim district, establishing geographic contiguity between
this eastern settlement and the other north-eastern settlements of Pisgat
Ze’ev, Pisgat Omer, Neve Ya'akov and French Hill.[32]
To
understand the massive impact of this plan on the territorial and demographic
character of Jerusalem, the planning area of Ma'ale Adumim settlement,
currently one of Israel's largest settlements with a population of
approximately 25,000 settlers, would expand from its current 35 km2
to 47 km2, an area similar to that of Tel Aviv (51km2). According to aspirations of the Ma'ale
Adumim City Council, the settlement population is expected to grow to 60,000 by
the year 2020.[33] The E-1 provides a healthy start to
this goal by slating another 3,500 housing units to be built in the additional
space.[34] Ma'ale Adumim also looks forward to
renewed investments of multinational corporations including Burger King, who
continues to operate its franchise in the city mall,[35]
and plans for constructing a five star hotel and a country club with private
investment from abroad.[36] If the E1 plan is
implemented and incorporated in the WJM, the planning area of Ma'aleh Adumim
would expand to cover 67% of East Jerusalem, making municipal Jerusalem twice
its current size.[37] As stated by carteographer Jan de Jong,
The scale of settlement buidling and
road construction achieved during the past three decades within the
unilaterally extended city limits of Jerusalem - may be repeated in half the
time and on a scale twice as large in terms of settler population and three
times as large in terms of area.[38]
The expansion will require the expropriation of land from
five Palestinian areas including Issawiyah, Anata, al Tour, Abu Dis, and el-Azaria,
violating not only the right to property but exacerbating the problem of
overcrowding and development.
While the illegal settlement of Ma'aleh Adumim has 25,000 settlers
living in an area the size of Tel Aviv, the Palestinian neighborhoods of Abu Dis,
Anata and el-Azaria have a combined population of 40,000 but only 4,600 dunums
available for planning.[39] The linkage of illegal settlements and
the additional Jewish settlers will also sabotage Palestinian national rights
to Jerusalem.
iii. Separating
Jerusalem from the West Bank: Bypass Road Construction
Another key element of the new E1 plan is the construction
of a new by-pass road (Route 16) which will tunnel underneath Mt. Scopus and
provide Ma'aleh Adumim settlers with a direct atery into occcupied Jerusalem
without having to pass through Palestinian areas. The current route for Ma'aleh Adumim settlers (Route 9)
passes through several Palestinian areas on its way to Jerusalem.
The network of bypass roads in the east is brought together
by the new ring road, Route 45.
This bypass road encirlces Jerusalem and links the Ben Gurion Airport
with the Jerusalem Airport in Kalandia.
By tunneling under Mt. of Olives and building a bridge over Kidron
Valley, Route 45 connects settlers in the east with another "Palestinian
free" route to the southern settlements of Har Homa and Gilo. This road is not built to serve
Palestinian areas, rather its primary purpose is to create an outer ring around
outlying Palesitnian areas and link all the outlying Israeli settlements. When finished, the new ring road will
seal Israeli control over all routes connecting the northern West Bank from the
south.
iv. The Westward Expansion
In order to preserve Israeli control over occupied
Jerusalem, Israeli urban planners have recently decided to expand Jerusalem’s
boundaries westward in order to incorporate adjacent Israeli suburbs and save
the Jewish demography in Jerusalem. In May 1998, the Ministerial Committee for
Jerusalem explained the reasoning behind efforts for a westward expansion
stating that it would "preserve the demographic balance between Jews and
Arabs currently existing in Jerusalem.”[40] The westward expansion will not
only entail the inclusion of existing Jerusalem suburbs and their primarily
Jewish populations into the Jerusalem municipality but also provide for the
construction of 75,000 new housing units.[41]
vi. Closing the Southern
Ring: Jabal Abu Ghneim (Har Homa)
In 1999, heavy construction began
on realizing another illegal Israeli settlement on Jabal Abu Ghneim. The Israeli settlement on Jabal Abu
Ghneim is one of the biggest settlement projects in Israeli settlement history
and when completed will be composed of 6,500 living units, with an absorption
capacity of 30,000 Jewish settlers within its first stage of development.[42] The master plan of the Israeli settlement covers an area of
2,056 dunums, most of which is confiscated from Palestinian owners in Beit
Sahour and Um Taba.[43]
Its impact on the Palestinian
territorial contiguity with Jerusalem is decisive. The new "Har Homa"
settlement will connect to the neighboring settlements of Givat Hamotous, Gilo
and Har Gilo, definitively closing the southern entrance to Jerusalem. Palestinian areas located within the
boundaries of the WJM will become isolated and outside villages will be barred
access into Jerusalem.
v. Settlements
Inside Palestinian Communities
Israeli settlements inside Palestinian communities in
occupied East Jerusalem by radical Jewish settler groups are not only illegal
according to international law but extremely provocative. Coerced property
takeovers by these settler groups, daily harassment of Palestinians by
settlers, and the constant presence of private security forces contribute to a
militarization of the conflict akin to the escalation of violence in Hebron.
The takeover of Palestinian property or property claimed as
having former Jewish ownership in Occupied East Jerusalem, reveals another
contradiction in Israeli policy.
While Jews continue to be permitted to repossess former Jewish property
in East Jerusalem, Palestinians are denied that same right,[44]
even though Palestinians own 70% of the properties in West Jerusalem.[45]
q
Ras
al Amud
Although preliminary approval for the
settlement was given by former Interior Minister Ehud Barak, the Ras al Amud
settlement (Plan #4689) received final approval from the WJM on 13 January
1999. The new settlement is another project of Florida businessman Irving
Moskowitz[46] who
facilitates the project with the Ateret Cohanim (Crown of Priests) settler
group. The settlement, whose
construction began on 14 May 1999 (a day before the election of Barak),[47]
will create 132 housing units for Jewish families inside a Palestinian
community of 10,137.[48]
There have already been several violent clashes between Palestinian residents
and Israeli settlers and inevitably continue to heighten tensions.
q
Sheikh
Jarrah
On 10 February 1999, the 'Settlers
of Zion' association led by MK Rabbi Benny Elon illegally acquired property
rights to six properties in Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood. Although the settler group claims that
they are repossessing lost Jewish property, property rights and rental
contracts were endowed to several Palestinian families, including the Abu
Shousha, Al Masri, Al Nashashibi families since 1948.[49] These Palestinian families continue to
be denied their rights to properties in West Jerusalem.
q
The
Old City Jerusalem
Israeli settler activity in the Old
City Jerusalem continues to transform the character of the historic
city. The number of settler
controlled buildings in the Old City now numbers at least 63 with an estimated
1,000 settlers living outside the Jewish Quarter.[50] In 1999, settler group Ateret Cohanim
took over another two buildings, including a shop, and received approval from
the WJM to enlarge two other properties.[51]
There have also been repeated
attempts by Jewish fundamentalists to enter the Haram al Sharif compound and
desecrate the Muslim holy sites, sparking several clashes with Muslim
worshipers. Adherents to the
Temple Mount Faithful, a fundamentalist Jewish group committed to
"building the Third Temple on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem in [their]
lifetime,"[52] initiated
most of the attempts.
Moreover, the extreme overcrowding,
the inability of Palestinian residents to renovate and restore property due to
Israeli regulations, and the extensive Israeli tunneling under the Muslim
Quarter[53]
has caused extensive damage to Palestinian life and properties in the Old City.
V. Israeli
ID Card Confiscation
The revocation of residency rights is a prime example of the
Israeli method of silently evicting Palestinians from Jerusalem.[54]
By changing the residency status of Palestinian Jerusalemites to that of
resident aliens in 1967, Israel gave itself the power to revoke the residency
rights of Palestinians.[55] According to official numbers from the
Israeli Interior Ministry at least 6,264 Jerusalem ID cards were confiscated
between 1967 and October of 1999,[56]
affecting well over 25,000 Palestinians.[57]
The policy of ID card confiscation increased by 786%[58]
in 1996 due to a new policy implemented by the Interior Ministry called
"center of life." This
policy greatly increased the criteria necessary for Palestinians to maintain
permanent residency status.
According to lawyers working on a public petition against ID card
confiscation,[59] the policy
was implemented in order to stop the influx of Palestinians into Jerusalem
after Israel granted Palestinian women the right to apply for family
re-unification in 1994.[60] Former Interior Minister, Eliahu
Suissa, explained the purpose of the new policy by saying, “We must increase
the Jewish majority in Jerusalem to more than 80%” and end the
"stampede" of Palestinians residents returning to the city of their
birth.[61] From 1996 to 1999 over 3,000
Palestinians were forced to leave Jerusalem as a result of this policy.[62]
Paradoxically, the “center of life” policy did not have its
desired effect. Although
Palestinians widely regard the Israel ID card as a symbol of the Israeli
occupation, possession of the blue identity card had become a lifeline for
Palestinians to Jerusalem. Not
only does Israeli residency entitle the carrier to state health insurance and
other social benefits but, after the military closure was imposed permanently
around Jerusalem in March 1993, carrying the Israeli residency card became the
only way for Palestinians to live, work and freely enter Jerusalem. In short,
possession of the Israeli ID card allows the carrier to surpass many of the
Israeli limitations placed on Palestinian life in Jerusalem. Thus, despite the original intention of
the Israeli policy, Palestinians began moving back into Jerusalem in order to
save their residency rights.
VI. Concerns
Over Recent Changes to Israeli Residency Policy
After three years of implementing the "center of
life" policy, the Israeli government finally realized that, despite the
increase in ID card confiscations, the policy did not result in an overall
decrease in the Palestinian population. On 17 September 1999, Minister of
Jerusalem Affairs, Haim Ramon stated that,
In my opinion this [center of life]
policy failed both morally and practically. The implicit aim of that policy was to reduce the number of
Arab residents in East Jerusalem. What happened in fact was that the number of
residents rose, but they are not Israeli citizens.[63]
International criticism of Israel's policy of ID card
confiscation had been mounting and litigation, by five local and international
human rights groups,[64]
in the Israeli High Court to end the policy of "center of life" was
forcing the Ministry to change its policy. By the 17th of October,
the newly elected Interior Minister Natan Sharansky announced that he would end
the policy of ID card confiscation which he called both "inhuman" and
bad for Israel's image.
However, while Sharansky's declaration was welcomed by the
international and Palestinian community, implementation of the new policy has
been slow and its scope, unsatisfactory.
Although human rights organizations have witnessed a decrease in the
number of ID card confiscations, Palestinians still receive letters from the
Israeli Interior Ministry informing them that their residency has been revoked.[65] Moreover, human rights lawyers working
in litigation against the Interior Ministry have also become frustrated due to
the fact that the Interior Ministry has failed to submit documents to the
Israeli High Court detailing its "center of life" policy. This despite the fact that a court
order required the Ministry to submit the documents by no later than 31 October
1999.[66] As of yet, no action has been taken to
reprimand the Ministry for its delay.
Although the Interior Ministry has yet to unveil its new
policy concerning Palestinian residency rights, statements by government
officials fall short of the minimum of human rights standards on the following
points.
q
Palestinian
residency in Jerusalem remains a 'privilege,' not a right
Israel continues to refuse Palestinians
irrevocable residency status in Jerusalem. Unlike Jewish inhabitants of Jerusalem who acquire
citizenship almost immediately, Palestinian Jerusalemites are classified as
foreigners in their own city.
Under the emmerging new policy, Palestinians residency status will
depend on maintaining an "appropriate connection" to Jerusalem, which
ostensibly includes family ties or periodic visits.[67] While this may reduce the number of
confiscations, it does not give Palestinians their inalienable right to secure
living in Jerusalem.
q
Reinstatement
of previously confiscated ID cards remains uncertain
Although the Orient House has
reported a handful of isolated cases wherein Palestinian residency status was
reinstated, the fate of well over 6,500 Palestinians whose residency was
revoked between 1967 and 1999 remains uncertain.[68] These Jerusalemites were made
strangers in their hometown virtually overnight and lost not only their rights
to residency and secure living but the right to access their property.
q
No
change in Israeli law allows the Interior Ministry to maintain control over
defining residency policy
Palestinians must be given legally
secured residency rights in Jerusalem.
Without a change in the legal status of Palestinian residency, changes
in policy will remain de facto and dependent on the arbitrary discretion
of the Interior Minister. Without
structural safeguards for Palestinian Jerusalemites, the Israeli Interior
Ministry can and will re-interpret Palestinian residency policy at will.
q
Treatment
of Palestinians at Israeli Interior Ministry is inhumane
Palestinians continue to be treated
inhumanely at the Israeli Interior Ministry. Long lines outside the Interior Ministry under all types of
weather continue to chafe at the dignity of Palestinian residents in
Jerusalem. Moreover, only
10% of those lining up outside the Ministry are actually seen by Israeli
officials, meaning that most will have to return several times.[69]
G.
Housing
Shortage and Overcrowding
There is a chronic lack of housing in Palestinian areas of
Jerusalem and a high level of overcrowding. Restrictions on building and the small amount of space
allowed for Palestinians combined with the influx of Palestinians who return to
Jerusalem in order to preserve their residency rights has caused overcrowding
to become a major problem in many Palestinian areas in Jerusalem. In 1998, the average housing density
per room was twice as high as among Jews and the problem is growing.[70]
By manipulating urban planning and restricting building
permits, successive Israeli governments have succeeded to both limit and
undermine the development of Palestinian communities. Today, the majority of the land remaining in Palestinian
hands after the massive expropriations in 1967, some 24 km2, is
still not designated for building.[71] In fact, between 1967 and 1997, only
12% of new building occurred in Palestinian areas of Jerusalem, most of which
were privately built.[72] Today only 5km2 of
Palestinian land or 8% of the total land in East Jerusalem is included in the
required Israeli master plan.[73]
Of this, 7.3% is available for Palestinian residential construction and
remaining 0.6% for industrial.
Most of the land, some 78% of the total area in East Jerusalem is either
expropriated for “public purposes” or classified as a “green area.” These lands
are often reserved for Jewish settlements, as is the case with the “Har Homa”
settlement on Jabal Abu Ghneim.
According to the Jerusalem Building and Planning Law, all
building in the city must be carried out within the framework of authorized
Town Planning Schemes (TPS).
Without exception, all building must comply to the infrastructure,
zoning and housing requirements of the Israeli plan. But while a TPS exists for every Jewish settlement in East
Jerusalem, the WJM has delayed the approval of plans for Palestinian
neighborhoods. For example, a plan
for Shu’fat was approved only after 13 years, for Abu Tor it took 12 years,
and, for the Ras al-Amud plan submitted in 1987, authorization is still
pending. Even when a TPS is
approved, the number of proposed housing units is usually cut in half.[74]
Despite these restrictions Palestinian housing has grown
modestly in the past few years.
Although the majority of these houses are constructed “illegally”
according to Israeli law, some 6,000 new housing units were constructed in the
past three years.[75]
According to the Orient House, some 40,000 housing units are needed immediately
to absorb the growing Palestinian population. Meanwhile, Israeli settlers continue to receive generous
subsidies and tax breaks for housing from the Israeli government.
VIII. Demolition
of Palestinian Homes
The demolition of Palestinian homes in Jerusalem by the WJM
has continued to dispossess Palestinian families and change the landscape of
Jerusalem. In 1999, 21 Palestinian
houses were demolished in municipal Jerusalem, for a total of 186 homes since
1993. [76] Also this year, out of 141 demolition
orders issued by the WJM, only 5 were issued in West Jerusalem.[77] According to the Orient House an
estimated 2,000 Palestinian homes were demolished since 1967,[78]
including several historic and religious sites such as those destroyed during
the destruction of the historic Moroccan Quarter in the Old City Jerusalem.[79]
These demolitions have left hundreds of Palestinians without homes and
contributes to their forced eviction from Jerusalem.
While Israel carries out house demolition under the pretext
that these homes are being built illegally or a threat to security, excessive
restrictions on building permits and the lack of space reserved for Palestinian
residential building forces Palestinian to build illegally. The Israeli
procedure for obtaining building permits for Palestinians is convoluted and can
easily take between one to seven years and cost an average of $25,000. Even if the Palestinian landowner is
able to show the required proof of ownership, proof of Jerusalem residency,
pre-payment of water, road and sewage tax, the application is likely to be
turned down. On average, the WJM
issues one building permit for every additional 6.3 West Jerusalemites and only
one for every 42.6 additional Palestinian residents.[80]
The Israeli policy of house demolition also targets
Palestinian areas disproportionately than Jewish areas. While Palestinians were responsible for
only 16% of building violations in Jerusalem, over two thirds of demolitions
orders are given to Palestinians.[81]
Moreover, although Jews commit the vast majority of building violations, the
demolition of a Jewish home almost never occurs.
Most importantly though, Israeli house demolition continues
to disposess Palestinians and defy international law.[82]
This despite the fact that Israel has committed to exercise its power pursuant
to internationally accepted norms.[83] House demolition engenders the
forced eviction of Palestinian families and changes the status of Jerusalem
both demographically and topographically, giving more evidence that Israel is
committed to change the reality on the ground before a negotiated agreement.
IX. Impact of Israeli Military Closure Around Jerusalem
While thousands came from around the world to visit
Jerusalem for the millenium, the only group forbidden to enter the holy city
were just outside its borders.
The Israeli military closure, first imposed during the Gulf War in 1991,
has continued to obstruct Palestinians right to enter Jerusalem and, after the
closure was made permanent in March 1993, Palestinian national rights to
Jerusalem were sabotaged as the closure became a de facto border. Since
its inception, the Israeli military closure has devastated Palestinian life,
including severe restricts on the freedom of movement, access to health care
and has adversely effected the Palestinian economy. There are also indications that Israel is preparing to
reinforce its policy of military closure in the West Bank as it did to the Gaza
Strip in 1993 when the IDF built an electric fence around the territory.
a.
Limitations
on Freedom of Movement
Any
access into Jerusalem is monitored and controlled by Israel and requires
Palestinians, without Jerusalem identification, to acquire an Israeli
visitation permit. Since the
creation of the Palestinian Authority, Israeli visitation permits are obtained
through the Palestinian District Coordinating Office (DCO). However, since Israel is still
responsible for overall security, the Palestinian DCO must submit it to their
Israeli counterpart for approval thus relieving them of any real
authority. As stated by
Hamoked/The Center for the Rights of the Individual, “the Palestinian officials
play no real role – they are like the mailman who delivers the application to
the Israelis.”[84] Until today, Palestinians applications
continue to be arbitrarily refused and, in the case of total closure, all
permits are automatically invalidated.
Moreover, as of the year 2000, Palestinians with West Bank
identification are now required to register for a magnetic ID card at the
Israeli Civil Administration office if they wish to apply for permission to
enter Jerusalem. The magnetic ID
card allows Israeli soldiers to quickly look up all security records of the
carrier as they do in Gaza since total closure was imposed there in 1993.
b.
Impact
on Palestinian Economy
The
Israeli military closure has decimated the Palestinian economy in the West
Bank, including occupied Jerusalem, and Gaza. According to UNSCO/World Bank reports, about 12% of the
Palestinian labor force are employed in Israel.[85] Since the implementation of military
closure in the West Bank and Gaza, unemployment has increased by 50% (from 20%
to 30%).[86]
The
closure has also severely limited trade and commerce to Jerusalem and between
the northern and southern West Bank. As 90 % of the value of imports and 70 %
of the value of exports were from and to Israel, the closure has caused an
estimated 35% decline in per capita GNP between 1992 and 1996.[87] Moreover, Palestinians wishing to
travel between the northern and southern West Bank are now forced to take the
treacherous and costly Wadi Nar road in order to avoid the WJM boundaries.
In
Jerusalem itself, many Palestinian businesses, NGOs and cultural institutions
have left Jerusalem for the other Palestinian territories in order to avoid
complications. Moreover, other
Palestinian businesses and gathering places closed during the Israeli
occupation, have not been able to reopen.
This has greatly exacerbated the economic gap between East and West
Jerusalem.
c.
New
"Erez Style" Checkpoint in Bethlehem
In 1999, Israel began to construct a
new military checkpoint in Bethlehem modeled on the one used in Erez, Gaza.
According to recent construction and an Israeli map handed to the Palestinian
DCO office in Bethlehem, the new checkpoint will create two arteries into
Jerusalem: one for Palestinians and one for Jewish settlers, tourists, and
VIPs. From Rachel's Tomb to the Gilo Junction, Palestinians will be separated
from the Hebron Road and forced to use an alternative route, park unauthorized
cars in a 700 car parking lot and walk 650 meters to a new checkpoint. An estimated 500,000 Palestinians, the
entire population of the southern West Bank, would be affected by this plan.
On October 21, Bethlehem University students
demonstrated at Rachel's Tomb against the new Israeli checkpoint. Without provocation, Israeli soldiers
fired on the students, beginning 5 days of intense clashes in which one
Palestinian is killed and dozens injured by tear gas and various ammunitions. Despite the "provocation",
Israel has continued construction on the new checkpoint which is scheduled for
completion this year.
X. Restrictions
on Palestinian Education
The Israelis have always viewed control over the Palestinian
educational system in Jerusalem as a key strategy in their efforts to exert
cultural and political control over Jerusalem. Due to the resistance of Palestinian students who
transferred en masse to private schools where the Jordanian curriculum was
still taught, repeated attempts by the Israelis to impose the Israeli Arab
curriculum on all Palestinian schools in East Jerusalem schools have failed.[88] However, the restraints placed on
Palestinian schools has created many hardships and lowered the standard of
education in general.
Today, there are 34 non-municipal schools, composed of
private, Waqf, and UNWRA schools, and 35 WJM schools in East Jerusalem,
educating 49,165 Palestinian students.[89] In attempts to consolidate its control
over the Palestinian education system, Israel has attempted to force non-municipal
Palestinian schools to accept state funding by limiting the transfer of funds
from Jordan and the PLO.
Although this strategy has been largely unsuccessful, non-municipal
Palestinian schools face a difficult dilemma. Receive funding from the WJM and
accept their conditions or remain a discrete institution and risk lowering the
standard of education. As
the Palestinian schools continue to resist the Israeli occupation, the
financial situation has become so grave that some schools cannot even afford
rent. “Schools cannot live on national rhetoric and aspirations alone,” states
Samia Khouri, President of the charitable school Rawdat el-Zuhur. “No financial
support will force a change in the curriculum and a decline in the standard of
education.”[90]
Unfortunately, although the Palestinian side officially took
responsibility for Palestinian schools in East Jerusalem in 1994,[91]
the financial problems of Palestinian schools have not improved. The Israeli government, by virtue of
the ‘Jerusalem Bill,’ prevents Palestinian national institutions from operating
in the city. Although Israel cannot prevent the Palestinian side from issuing
the curriculum in East Jerusalem schools, Israel has disallowed the transfer of
any funds from the PA to Palestinian schools. Suad Qaddoumi, a senior administrator in the Palestinian
Ministry of Education states that, “there are many problems because of the
occupation. The Palestinian Ministry of Education cannot enter East Jerusalem.” [92] The lack of funds has caused many
problems with substandard classrooms, shortage of equipment, and payments to
Palestinian teachers. Also,
according to the 1999 report by the Palestinian Ministry of Education, one
third of Palestinian teachers regularly have difficulties entering Jerusalem as
a result of the Israeli military closure.
Schools funded and run by the WJM have also been found to be
severely sub-standard. According to its own mandate the Jerusalem Municipality
has failed to adequately fund public schools. In the recent investigation
headed by former Education Ministry Director, General Ben Zion Dell, the
Minister stated
The
educational system in East Jerusalem does not meet the necessary pedagogic
standards. The teaching methods are outdated, the studying environment lacks resources
and there are hardly any assistance services.[93]
The report goes on to indicate that 30% of elementary school
students in East Jerusalem are illiterate and 40% of High School students drop
out. This data is confirmed by Palestinian
statistics in the Old City by the Society for Austro-Arab Relations which
indicate 35% of female students and 59% of male students drop out of school,
mostly for reasons of substandard education and financial responsibilities to
their families.[94]
Discrimination in the WJM is further evidenced by the fact that while there is
26 public libraries in West Jerusalem, there are only two in the eastern part
of the city and not a single cinema.
XI. Israeli
Social Policy and Lack of Public Investment in Palestinian Areas of Jerusalem
As the Israeli occupation prevents the PLO from collecting
taxes or investing in infrastructure and municipal services, Palestinians
depend heavily on WJM services for their basic needs. By levying
proportionately heavy taxes on the Palestinian population and withholding
public investment in Palestinian areas of Jerusalem, the Israeli government has
contributed to the underdevelopment of Palestinian communities in
Jerusalem.
Although it is illegal under international law, including
the Fourth Geneva Convention, for a populace to be taxed by an occupying power,
Israel has steadily increased the level of taxation on Palestinians in East
Jerusalem. Already by mid-1968,
Palestinian Jerusalemites were charged the same as Israelis, with an increase
of 50-60% from the cumulative taxes charged under Jordan.[95] The payment of taxes is openly
discriminatory. While Israeli
settlers are exempt from paying arnona (municipal tax) for the first
five years of their residency,[96]
Palestinians are forced to pay full taxes despite the fact that Palestinians’
per capita income in Jerusalem is half that of Israelis.
There are even some cases wherein Palestinian neighborhoods
in the WJM borders pay full arnona tax and receive no municipal services
whatsoever. In the case of Bir'Ona
and al Wallaje, which lie on the periphery of Beit Jala, the WJM obligates
residents to pay full taxes even while the Palestinian residents receive no
municipal services or have Jerusalem ID cards to "enter" Jerusalem.
On 28 June 1998, Sharon Goldstein, the Advisor on Political Affairs for the
Mayor of Jerusalem, requested that the council of Bir'Ona discuss the
possibilities of establishing a municipal sanitation and sewage system in the
Palestinian neighborhood.[97]
When the Council asked why the garbage could go to Jerusalem while they
themselves could not, the question was dismissed by the municipal officials as
being a "political question."[98]
Palestinian unemployment has also increased in Jerusalem due
to the recent influx of approximately 200,000 foreign non-Jewish immigrants. [99] As at least one third of the
Palestinians are employed in jobs classified as unskilled labor,[100]
the influx of foreign workers has greatly marginalized Palestinian workers.
Today, only half of Palestinian workers entitled to minimum wage actually get
it.[101]
Despite the obvious disparity in per capita income and
standard of living, Palestinians pay a disproportionate amount of taxes for the
amount of services received. According to one WJM report, completed in 1994,
Palestinian areas are only allocated between 5 and 12 percent of the WJM
budget.[102] Other WJM data indicate that the gap
between East and West Jerusalem often exceeds 1,000 percent. For example, there are 1,080 public
parks in West Jerusalem, or one per every 447 Jewish residents and only 30 in
East Jerusalem, or one per every 7,362 Palestinians.[103] The same ratio is found in the length
of streets, the number of cultural centers, etc. Despite the obvious discrepancies, the WJM has done little
to ameliorate the conditions of Palestinian Jerusalemites.
The reason behind this clear discrimination is that Israel
continues to prioritize Jewish settlement expansion and development. Except for
nominal improvements, Palestinian neighborhoods are deliberately overlooked in
favor of initiatives that will consolidate Israeli sovereignty. On a list of
municipal budget priorities for 1995, “enhancing Jerusalem’s status as the
capital of Israel” is number one, while “expanding the social and physical
services provided in East Jerusalem,” lies next to the bottom.[104] More recently in a municipal council
meeting, the proposal to invest NIS130 million for infrastructure development
in Arab neighborhoods was put aside in favor of settlement expansion.[105] The clear discrimination in public
investment and the unwillingness of the Israeli government to change the status
quo, has stagnated the life and development of Palestinians in Jerusalem.
Most importantly, Palestinian interests are not represented in
the Israeli municipality due to their refusal to participate in Israeli
municipal elections. However, the
Palestinian boycott arises not from a disbelief in the democratic process but
from a refusal to acknowledge Israel’s legitimacy in Jerusalem. Israeli attempts to create a system of
dependency on the WJM[106]
while inadequately supplying Palestinian neighborhoods with municipal services
is an attempt to force Palestinians into a trap - participate in Israeli
municipal elections as a sizeable minority and attempt to receive more
municipal investments or continue to refuse Israeli sovereignty and see living
conditions continue to deteriorate.
For Palestinians, whose participation rate in the last municipal elections
was only 3.3%, the choice is clear.[107]
ANNEX A
ID Card Confiscations (1967 to 1999)
The following are official figures
from the Israeli Interior Ministry.
These figures are admittedly low due to the following reasons:
·
ID
numbers issued to residents in East Jerusalem can no longer be distinguished
from those given to inhabitants of West Jerusalem.
·
In the
past, ID card confiscation were registered in the appropriate personal file but
not always in the computerized database.
·
ID
cards confiscated by virtue of their Jerusalem address proved inaccurate
because the Ministry's address records are incomplete.[108]
|
Year |
# of IýDs |
Year |
# of IDs |
|
1967 |
105 |
1984 |
161 |
|
1968 |
395 |
1985 |
99 |
|
1969 |
178 |
1986 |
84 |
|
1970 |
327 |
1987 |
23 |
|
1971 |
126 |
1988 |
2 |
|
1972 |
93 |
1989 |
32 |
|
1973 |
77 |
1990 |
36 |
|
1974 |
45 |
1991 |
20 |
|
1975 |
54 |
1992 |
41 |
|
1976 |
42 |
1993 |
32 |
|
1977 |
35 |
1994 |
45 |
|
1978 |
36 |
1995 |
91 |
|
1979 |
91 |
1996 |
739 |
|
1980 |
158 |
1997 |
1067 |
|
1981 |
51 |
1998 |
788 |
|
1982 |
74 |
1999 -
up |
394 |
|
1983 |
616 |
to 17th
Oct. |
|
|
TOTAL |
6,264[109]
- app. 25,056 individuals* |
||
* According to the Palestinian Bureau of Statistics, the
average Palestinian families in the West Bank consist of 5.7 persons. Since ID card confiscation affects the
entire family, a conservative family size of four is used.
ANNEX B
Israeli Government Sanctioned
Settlement Activity in
Municipal Jerusalem and Sub
Districts - 1999
By-pass Roads Approved in 1999
|
# |
Date
|
Road No. |
Road Area |
Project No. |
Location |
|
1 |
01/01/1999 |
45 |
550 |
1/910 |
Anata
|
|
2 |
13/06/1999 |
45 |
1076 |
926 |
Al-Ram, Jaba’a, Hizma |
|
3 |
07/11/1998* |
16 |
52 |
4751 |
Mt. Scopus, a- Tur |
*Although not approved in
1999, the construction continues under Prime Minister Barak.
Settlement Structural Plans Approved in 1999
|
# |
Date
|
Settlement |
Plan No. |
Planning Area
|
Location
|
|
1 |
10/02/1999 |
Giv’at Ze’ev |
18/220 |
7.7 dunums |
Al-Jib |
|
2 |
13/02/1999 |
Givron |
1/216 |
255 dunums |
Al-Jib/Beit Ijza |
|
3 |
10/03/1999 |
Giv’at Ze’ev |
10/220 |
472.6 dunums |
Al-Jib/Bitounia |
|
4 |
20/10/1999 |
Giv’at Ze’ev |
1/10/220 |
41.3 dunums |
Al-Jib/Bitounia |
|
5 |
26/09/1999 |
Pisgat Ze'ev |
B33/98 |
Unavailable |
Hizma |
New Settlement Outposts Established
in 1999
|
# |
Date |
Satellite Settlement* |
Mother Settlement |
No. of Caravans |
Location |
|
1 |
3/1999 |
Na name |
Alomon |
3 |
Anata, Ein Al-quilt |
|
2 |
04/1999 |
Ze'et Ra'nan |
Telmon |
1 |
Ras Karkar |
|
3 |
06/1999 |
Hill 660 |
Kifar Tibuoa |
2 |
Esqaqa |
|
4 |
1999 |
Hill 804 |
Shilo |
1 |
Jaloud/Kariot |
* Satellite Settlements
are created on the periphery of existing settlements. These outposts begin with small mobile caravans or water
tanks and are eventually developed and incorporated into the larger mother
settlement.
New Housing Units Approved in 1999
|
# |
Settlement |
No. of Units |
|
1 |
Pisgat Ze’ev |
577 |
|
2 |
Giva’at Ze’ev |
594 |
|
3 |
Giva'at Benjamin |
177 |
|
4 |
Haradaar |
185 |
|
5 |
Gilo |
500 |
|
|
TOTAL
|
2,149 |
Note: All numbers taken from Maps Center - Orient House