Blog
Palestine Diaries: Part 4 – East Jerusalem and return to Sheikh Jarrah
Next up for our delegation was a tour of East Jerusalem. East Jerusalem was occupied in 1967 along with the rest of the West Bank. Unlike the rest of the West Bank, it and the Palestinians living there also fall under the jurisdiction of the municipal government of Jerusalem. The border of the Jerusalem municipality was not drawn by accident, though – it was drawn in such a way so as to get the maximum amount of land, but a minimum of Palestinians in order to keep the number of Palestinians low enough that they wouldn’t constitute a “demographic threat.” Now, Jerusalem is considered by the Israeli state and many Zionists to be Israel’s “eternal and indivisible” capital - a highly problematic notion at best because East Jerusalem is occupied territory. As such, cementing their hold on East Jerusalem is a major goal of the Israeli state and the Zionist movement - a goal which denies justice to the Palestinian residents.
Palestinians living in East Jerusalem (at least, those who were home the day of the census) were issued a special ID as Palestinian residents of East Jerusalem. This ID card entitles them to a few extra privileges, such as the right to vote in municipal elections (although they generally don’t as they don’t recognize the municipal government), the right to work in Israel (as cheap, exploited labour, considering the unemployment rates in East Jerusalem are 50-70%), and the right to municipal services (in theory). The few rights that the Jerusalem ID card grants Palestinians means that many live in fear of losing their residency – and many do. Any number of seemingly innocuous acts can raise the suspicion of the authorities, who are seemingly happy to revoke the residency rights of Palestinians living in East Jerusalem. Marriage is also made difficult, as a West Bank Palestinian who marries and East Jerusalem Palestinian is not entitled to a residency permit.
Speaking of municipal services, just by driving around East Jerusalem one could tell that the infrastructure was rather poor. Streets were narrow, winding, and in need of repair, there were few sidewalks and bus stops, and garbage collection was evidently lacking. Palestinians living in East Jerusalem are subject to taxes collected by the municipal government and get few services in return. According to the Association for Civil Rights in Israel, 130,000 Palestinian residents of East Jerusalem don’t have running water.
The city planning regime also discriminates against Palestinians by making it difficult to impossible for Palestinian residents to get building permits. Population growth and overcrowding thus forces Palestinians to build without permits, thus 22,000 houses are considered illegal. Houses built from 1948 to 1967 can be considered by the municipal authorities to be “retroactively illegal,” a legal concept which seems rather curious (and dubious).
What happens to an East Jerusalem resident whose house is considered illegal? Well, at some point they receive a demolition order. Of the 22,000 “illegal” houses in East Jerusalem, about 6,000 have demolition orders outstanding. These demolition orders generally can’t be fought in court as they are perfectly legal – the laws themselves and the discriminatory application of them are the problem. These demolition orders have no expiry date, so once a family is issues a demolition order, it can be demolished at any time. As there is only a limited budget for demolitions, it could be weeks, months or years before the bulldozers arrive. Then one morning (mornings are preferred because men are more likely to be at work), a bulldozer will arrive and give the family 15 minutes to pack up before their house is demolished. Often, after losing their homes, the families will leave the city and thus risk losing their Jerusalem ID and the few rights that go with it. On top of all of this, families can be fined for the cost of demolishing their homes. It is not unheard of for Palestinians in East Jerusalem to demolish their own homes in order to avoid these fines and charges which they can not afford.
The Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions (ICAHD) attempt to work against house demolitions, however it is difficult work. Generally, they aren’t able to save people’s houses by themselves, but on some occasions they can buy enough time for the families to get some sort of stay of demolition. ICAHD also works to educate the world about Palestine/Israel through the prism of house demolitions.
We discussed the economy of occupation in detail. There were four main ways in which Palestinians were economically exploited. As any colonial power knows, occupation can be good business for the occupier. First, Palestinians are exploited as producers and consumers, as their exports are subjected to export taxes, thus making Israeli goods often cheaper. As consumers, they are often . Second, Palestinians are treated as guinea pigs by the security products agency, a major industry in Israel. Many international companies also made large fortunes building the wall and through privatization of certain aspects of security. Third, Palestinian resources are exploited by Israeli companies in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. One example of this is the Ahava beauty products, which are made out of non-renewable resources in the West Bank. Finally, Palestinian water is spirited away by the Israeli state. 80% of the water falling into the West Bank is redirected to settlements or into Israel proper. While the importance of water may be difficult for Canadians to appreciate with our plentiful (in Winnipeg, sometimes too plentiful!) water supplies, it becomes an issue of utmost importance given the climate of the region.
On this tour, I got my first up close and personal look at the wall, running through Abu Dis. It was an indescribable emotional experience to turn the corner and coming face to face with the infamous apartheid wall. First, the wall looks much bigger in person than it does in the pictures, especially when you’re able to walk right up and touch it. Second, how the wall affects Palestinians becomes abundantly clear as you see firsthand the wall and the surrounding area. Alongside the wall was a road, and across the street from the wall was a small shop. One can only imagine how the wall might have affected the business and livelihood of this shopkeeper. Over the wall, I could see rooftops – houses separated from their neighbours across the street by 25 feet of concrete. Like many experiences on this trip, the wall was one of those things which, no matter how much I had read about it and understood intellectually, it makes for a difficult emotional experience to see this kind of thing firsthand.
While we were near the wall, our guide posed the question of if the wall is for security purposes, why does it cut Palestinian neighbourhoods in half? Did the planners figure out that all the terrorists live on one side of town? Of course, the wall is not for security purposes. It’s meant as a way for Israel to unilaterally define its borders by changing the “facts on the ground,” as well as to disrupt Palestinian communities as part of the broad campaign to make life miserable for Palestinians. The claim that the wall is responsible for decreases in suicide bombings is also questionable – the use of that tactic was abandoned for other reasons, and the timeline to that narrative doesn’t quite fit.
We can see that between the wall, the locations of the settlement blocs, and their political pronouncements that one of the main political goals of the Israeli state is to hang on to all of East Jerusalem. However, there is a delicate balance here, in that Israeli state also doesn’t want too many Arabs which they may have to grant citizenship (even the second class citizenship which Palestinian citizens of Israel receive) and voting rights otherwise it could undermine the concept of Israel as a Jewish state. Thus, the settlers are part of an overall project in East Jerusalem whose goal is to increase the Jewish presence and make life so difficult for Palestinian residents that they are forced to leave. Some right-wing Israeli politicians such as Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman openly call for a “transfer” of population – which essentially amounts to ethnic cleansing. This process is meant to solidify an Israeli claim to East Jerusalem, an area which the Israeli state considers to be their “eternal and indivisible capital”
Interestingly, near the end of the tour, our guide mentioned offhand that it is difficult to even mention the word “Palestinian” in schools. This made me feel homesick, as it was shortly after the Manitoba government caved to B’nai Brith’s objections to a passing mention of Palestinians and Palestinian suffering on a provincial exam. I guess this is just another thing that is the same around the world…
We ended the day with a return to Sheikh Jarrah, where we met with the Al-Kurd family. In 1999, the family of 12 applied to add two rooms onto their house, and, like all other Palestinian residents of East Jerusalem, the permit was denied. So, like many others, they built anyways, and shortly after, the rooms were sealed by court order with many of their belongings inside. Settlers had taken over this wing of their house in November of 2009 and threw all their belongings on the front lawn. These settlers come and go every day, causing disruptions in the neighbourhood with protection by the police. Needless to say, the presence of aggressive settlers causes massive disruptions to the family and the neighbourhood. Israeli and international activists stay in a tent on the property of the Al-Kurd family, helping the family and keeping an eye on the place.
It was again a surreal experience to see the situation of the Al-Kurd family. To Canadian eyes, it would seem absurd that someone would do such a thing as try to take over half of someone’s house. Even more bizarre was the legal nightmare that the family was subjected to, including permits, court cases, lawyers, and old legal documents. On top of it all were the tales of harassment by settlers and the racism of the police. The hardships of this family are just one of the stories of living under apartheid, stories which we were to hear many more of in the coming days.
Brian Latour is a student, activist, and student activist living in Winnipeg. Read more by Brian Latour.
One thing that Canadians may not understand about citizenship and nationality is that we equate the two as being the same here in Canada. In Israel, citizenship and nationality are two distinct features. While both Jews and Arabs of Israel are Israeli citizens, they are distinct in their nationalities by being of Jewish and Arabic (non-Jewish) backgrounds. The services that they receive from the government depends on their nationalities.
#1. Posted by Skinny Dipper in Toronto on August 30th 2010 at 7:48am
services? you mean like medical aid for example? are you aware of the fact that israeli doctors treat and aid arabs all the time. without israeli technology and medicinal advancements the arabs of the country would have quite a bit of trouoble getting on. Nationality does not matter to those who are pro-israel. we are aware that there are kinks to work out but by no means is israel apartheid or any of the ridiculous accusations you said it was. anti-israel protesters are the only ones who separate arabs and israelis. Yes they are different nationality. Yes they are all treated as citizens.
#2. Posted by ProudtobewhatIam on September 8th 2010 at 12:45pm
The fact of the matter is that in a lot of ways, Palestinian citizens of Israel as well as Palestinian residents of East Jerusalem receive lesser services from their respective governments. You can see it firsthand in East Jerusalem, but if you don’t believe me, I know there are a lot of sources out there which report on differences in things like educational funding, infrastructure, etc. I believe the Association for Civil Rights in Israel has done a lot of work on this issue.
Also, a good portion of this series is dedicated to Israeli and Palestinian peace and anti-apartheid activists working together, so I don’t know where you’re getting this bit about “the only ones who separate arabs and israelis.” Furthermore, you can’t make a just peace by pretending that the oppression doesn’t exist.
As for citizens, it is a second class citizenship at best for Palestinian citizens of Israel.
#3. Posted by Brian in Winnipeg on September 29th 2010 at 12:53pm