Israeli discrimination policies in Occupied East Jerusalem - March 2008

Israel’s policies are quickly, and in many respects, irreversibly, eliminating prospects for establishing two viable states. The establishment of an unviable Palestinian state would perpetuate Palestinian sub-standard living conditions, fall short of Palestinian political and national aspirations, and make such a state perpetually dependent on Israel and the international community. In short, it would deny Palestinians any real independence or sovereignty, an option Palestinians cannot accept.

Historical Background

Israel’s goal with respect to it’s policies in Occupied East Jerusalem have been clearly, and repeatedly, stated as maintaining the Jewish demographic majority in Jerusalem. The goal was first officially stated in 1973 in a report by the inter-ministerial 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.” 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. However, it should be noted that regardless of the popular will and the power of the Israel government to legislate and implement discrimination policies, the current system of preserving a Jewish majority is both unstable and unsustainable. Population growth figures in 2007 indicate that the Palestinian population is outpacing the Jewish population by 3.3% a year to 1.2% a year respectively. As of 2007, Palestinian population reached 260,000 or 33.3% of the total population in Jerusalem.

In order to pursue this goal, systematic actions have been taken by the Government of Israel throughout the last 40 years of occupation. Since the Israeli occupation of East Jerusalem in 1967 it has systematically pursued measures intended to reduce the Palestinian population and transfer its own into the area for strategic nationalistic gains. These policies build upon the physical displacement of nearly the entire Palestinian population from Western Jerusalem in 1948.

Further details on some of these Israeli measures in Occupied East Jerusalem are listed below.

I. Israeli Land Expropriations and Settlement Expansion

Over the past 40 years of occupation, Israel has employed numerous strategies to control Palestinian lands in East Jerusalem by manipulating urban planning and restricting building permits. In furtherance of these strategies, Israel unilaterally and illegally expanded their own municipal boundaries of Arab East Jerusalem from the original 6.5 square kilometers during Jordanian rule to 72 square kilometers, reaching far deeper into the West Bank. Of this expanded area, Israel has thus far expropriated 49% of Palestinian land for Israeli settlement use, settler roads and infrastructure, 41% of undeveloped land as “Green Areas”, leaving only 10% of those 72 square kilometers for Palestinian use. In addition, from an almost negligible Jewish population in 1967, illegal settlement construction has raised the Jewish population in Occupied East Jerusalem to over 184,700.

II. Israeli ID Card Confiscation

ID card confiscations by the Israeli authorities deprive Palestinian Jerusalemites living outside the city (in the West Bank or abroad) of their Jerusalem resident status and may permanently prevent their ability to return to their hometown in East Jerusalem. According to Btselem, an Israeli human rights organization, 8,269 ID cards have been confiscated since 1967 affecting well over 18% of the Palestinian families in Occupied East Jerusalem. In 2006 alone, 1,363 ID cards were confiscated, an increase of 500% compared to 2005 ID card confiscations. This is the highest number of revoked permanent residency permits since the “center of life” policy was introduced in 1995 by the Israeli Interior Ministry.

This policy is compounded by the fact that many Jerusalemites are inclined to live outside Jerusalem if they are married to non-Jerusalemite Palestinians, due to Israel’s prohibition on Palestinian family reunification.

III. Palestinian Housing Shortage and Overcrowding

There is a chronic lack of housing in Palestinian areas of Occupied East Jerusalem and a high level of overcrowding. Restrictions on building and the small amount of space allowed for Palestinian development, combined with the influx of Palestinians who return to Jerusalem in order to preserve their residency rights, have caused overcrowding to become a major problem in many Palestinian areas in Jerusalem.

In 2006, the average housing density per room was twice as high as among Jews, and the problem continues to be compounded. The illegal settler population of Occupied East Jerusalem consisting of 184,700 settlers lived in 55,000 housing units. However, the indigenous Palestinian population of 250,000 was forced to live in only 30,000 housing units. In percentage terms the Palestinian population of Occupied East Jerusalem was 58% with 35% of the total housing units, as compared to the settlers which comprised 42% of the total population yet was occupying 65% of the total housing units. As evidence of the part of the impact of this policy, according to Israeli National Bureau of Statistics, Palestinians leaving East Jerusalem were 1,740 in 2002, 1,390 in 2003, 910 in 2004, 920 in 2005 and 1,150 in 2006.

IV. Demolition of Palestinian Homes

The demolition of Palestinian homes in Occupied East Jerusalem by the Israeli authorities has continued to dispossess Palestinian families and change the landscape of Jerusalem. According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics 78 Palestinian houses were demolished in the Israeli defined municipality in 2006. It is estimated that a total of 3,000 homes have been destroyed since 1967, including several historic and religious sites such as the destruction of the historic Moroccan Quarter in the Old City of Jerusalem. This policy of demolitions continues as is evidenced by thousands of pending house demolition orders and the ongoing destruction of homes currently being undertaken in Silwan.

These demolitions have left thousands of Palestinians without homes and contribute to their forced eviction from Occupied East Jerusalem.

V. Impact of Israeli Military Closure and the Wall around Jerusalem

While an average of one million tourists a year from around the world comes to visit Occupied East Jerusalem, the only group forbidden to enter the holy city was just outside its borders. The Israeli military closure has continued to obstruct the ability of Palestinians to enter Occupied East Jerusalem and has worsened since the closure was made permanent in March 1993. With the ongoing illegal construction of the Wall in and around Occupied East Jerusalem, Palestinian access rights to and ability to live in Jerusalem are continually eroded and have become increasingly difficult as the closure and the wall became a de facto (but non-recognized) border.

One of the immediate implications of Israel’s policy was and remains the prevention of three million Christian and Muslim Palestinians from accessing their holy sites and places located in Occupied East Jerusalem. Moreover, the closure and the Wall have also severely limited trade and commerce in, through and around Jerusalem by disconnecting the northern and southern parts of the Occupied West Bank, thereby preventing the movement of goods and people to and from the traditional Palestinian economic center of Occupied East Jerusalem.