Bad Fences Make Bad Neighbors - Focus on Jerusalem

[elduderino]

http://www.place4peace.com/article.php?sid=447


Bad Fences Make Bad Neighbors – Part VII

Focus on Jerusalem

<snip>

“Ariel Sharon keeps goats and sheep. He puts a fence around then and closes them in with a gate. He decides if they come in or go out. This is now what he is doing to us.”

– Palestinian farmer from Sur Baher
Fact Sheet:

Israel’s “security” wall around Occupied East Jerusalem is another step in a long-term strategy of confiscating as much Palestinian land as possible, while simultaneously encouraging the Palestinian population to leave the area. Previous steps in this strategy have included the demolition of homes in East Jerusalem, the revocation of Jerusalem residency cards and receipt of significantly less municipal social services than Palestinians contribute as revenue. At the same time, Israel has increased the number of illegal Israeli colonies and Israeli Jewish settlers in East Jerusalem by providing settlers with favorable apartment purchase prices, subsidized mortgages and exemptions from municipal taxes for certain periods. As a result, East Jerusalem settlers comprise an estimated 75-80% of the total increase in Israeli-defined Jerusalem’s Jewish population since 1967.<1>

Although justified as a “security” wall, the wall has little to do with security. If the wall were truly about security, the wall would have been built on Israel’s 1967 pre-occupation border (the “Green Line”). Like the wall surrounding the remainder of the Occupied West Bank, the wall surrounding Occupied East Jerusalem is not being built on the Green Line, but well within Occupied Palestinian Territory.

The Case of Jerusalem – Creating Palestinian Ghettoes, Expanding Israeli Colonies

Following Israel’s occupation of the West Bank in June 1967, Israel unilaterally expanded the borders of Jerusalem, incorporating 64 square kilometers of Occupied Palestinian Territory (also referred to as “East Jerusalem”) into a newly expanded “Jerusalem municipality.” The territory incorporated amounted to 1.1% of the Occupied West Bank. The expansion was internationally condemned as a violation of the international prohibition against acquiring territory by force. The borders were drawn in such a way as to incorporate undeveloped Palestinian land for future Israeli colonies, while leaving Palestinian population centers outside the new borders.

The land illegally incorporated into the Jerusalem municipality was used to build illegal Israeli colonies in an attempt to change the demographic make-up of the area. There are now 12 illegal Israeli colonies in Israeli-Occupied East Jerusalem, with approximately 170,000 Israeli settlers (representing almost half of the Israeli settlers in the Occupied Palestinian Territories).<2>
In 1980, Israel passed the Basic Law on Jerusalem by which it extended Israel’s jurisdiction to Israeli-Occupied East Jerusalem. The attempted annexation was internationally condemned and declared of “no legal validity” by the United Nations Security Council.
There are 19 Palestinian neighborhoods within the Jerusalem municipality, with a total Palestinian population of 249,000.<3> These Palestinians are forced to have residency cards to live in their own city. Israel requires Palestinian (but not Israeli) residents of East Jerusalem to regularly prove that Jerusalem is their “center of life.” If Palestinian residents of Jerusalem live, study or work outside of Jerusalem, they risk losing their residency rights. To date, almost 7,000 Palestinian residents of Jerusalem have lost their residency rights.
An additional 24 Palestinian neighborhoods (in the Occupied West Bank) surround East Jerusalem. These neighborhoods are dependent upon the facilities of Occupied East Jerusalem, including six specialized hospitals and two universities.
Since 1993, Israel has denied Palestinians free access to East Jerusalem. Non-Jerusalemite Palestinians wishing to visit East Jerusalem must obtain a temporary permit rarely granted by Israel. As a result, three million Christian and Muslim Palestinians have been denied access to their holy sites in Jerusalem, even during religious holidays.
Israel continues to expand the colonies and the colony infrastructure around the Jerusalem area.


Facts on the Wall Enclosing Jerusalem

Israel is building a wall on the north, south and east sides of Israeli-Occupied East Jerusalem. When completed, the wall will be more than 40 kilometers long.

more:
http://www.place4peace.com/article.php?sid=447

[papau]

1. temporary permit rarely granted by Israel solution is more permits

and a vote by both sides on Clinton's Taba solution - with the Green line adjustment limited to the 6% at Taba - with Israel accepting the vast majority of settlements being on PA land, and the PA accepting no right of return.