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"Quiet revolution that is freezing Palestinians out of Jerusalem" by Rory McCarthy
From time to time, the
Palestine Center distributes
articles it believes will enhance understanding
of the Palestinian political
reality. The following article by Rory McCarthy
was published in
The
Guardian
on 7 March 2010. To view
this article online, please go to http://www.guardian.co.uk/theobserver/2010/mar/07/palestinians-jerusalem-frozen-out.
"Quiet revolution that is freezing
Palestinians out of Jerusalem"
By Rory
McCarthy
In the brochure handed out by
the mayor's office in Jerusalem last week,
there were pretty sketches illustrating a
development that would turn a poor, crowded
area into a park, with streams, restaurants and
hotels. It talked of reviving the area's
"ancient glory" and returning the site to "an
island of green" just outside the walls of the
Old City. True, some houses would have to be
demolished but they had been built illegally
and anyway the plan was a "win-win" for both
the residents and the city, said the mayor, Nir
Barkat.
Except that Jerusalem is not any
city: it is at the heart of the conflict
between Israel and the Palestinians and
planning projects like this are political and
potentially volatile. The area under the
spotlight is Bustan, part of Silwan in east
Jerusalem, home to Palestinians and,
increasingly, to well-funded, heavily guarded
Jewish settlers. Most of the world, including
Britain, does not recognise Israeli sovereignty
in the east of the city, the part it captured
in 1967, occupied and then
annexed.
Barkat is a secular mayor with
strong rightwing views. When asked about the
Palestinians of Bustan, he intervened to say
they were "Arab residents". He highlighted the
fact that the 88 Palestinian homes in Bustan
were built without planning permission and that
a city like New York, say, would never allow
unplanned homes to be built in Central Park.
But planning here is an instrument of policy, a
policy in which Israel maintains a Jewish
demographic majority in Jerusalem and seeks to
exert full control over the city it regards as
its united, eternal capital. Few Palestinians
get planning permission, but most go ahead and
build regardless. Only 13% of the east is zoned
for Palestinian construction, according to the
UN.
Although much attention has been
paid to rows over settlements in the occupied
West Bank, it is in Jerusalem that the key
contest is being fought. The rightwng
government insists a united, fully sovereign
Jerusalem is a pillar of the Jewish state. But
Palestinians say without east Jerusalem as a
capital of a Palestinian state there can be no
viable two-state peace agreement.
The
Bustan plan – on hold now because Israel is
conscious of international criticism – is one
change among many. In Sheikh Jarrah, also in
the east, Palestinian refugees have been
evicted from their homes and settlers have
moved in. A growing number of Palestinians are
losing Israeli residency permits without which
they cannot live in the city. New passport
stamps issued by Israel at the Jordanian border
are preventing some visitors – mostly
expatriate Palestinians – from entering
Jerusalem. Put together, it represents a
significant, if quiet, change on the ground.
European diplomats are so worried that in
leaked internal reports they warn it is
gradually making the prospect of a two-state
peace deal
"unfeasible".
The
views
expressed in this article are those of the
author and do not necessarily
reflect
those of The Jerusalem Fund.
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