Israel occupied Arab East Jerusalem in the second week of June
1967, and annexed the city later on June 22, extended Israeli
jurisdiction to it, and described that as the "Unification of
Jerusalem the Capital of Israel." In mid-May this year, Israel
celebrated, according to the Hebrew calendar, the 40th anniversary
of that "unification."
But while Israel was celebrating that occasion, the Palestinians
were recalling their sad memories of the occupation of Jerusalem
and the consequences of the annexation to Israel and the
application of Israeli laws to Jerusalem, against the wishes of its
inhabitants. The Israeli celebrations consisted in large part of
marches and military parades, most of which had to be cancelled due
to the sudden, unseasonable downpours which did not last long but
were enough to disrupt the main open-air events.
A number of seminars and meetings were also held in Jerusalem, Tel
Aviv and other major cities as part of these celebrations - this in
addition to the profusion of books and articles that filled the
pages of dailies and weekly supplements, and of radio and
television shows.
I took part in a number of these encounters to present the
Palestinian perspective. The Palestinians view these celebrations
as essentially the commemoration of the occupation of Jerusalem and
not its unification - an occupation that will inevitably end,
regardless of Israel's efforts to consolidate and intensify it. A
review of all the Israeli policies and practices on the ground and
the damaging impact they have on the prospects of a just and
comprehensive solution formed ample substantiation to my
viewpoints.
Israel's Two Concerns
There were two dominating arguments in all these Israeli debates
and discussions. The first is the exaggeration of the Palestinian
population growth in Jerusalem and their increased ratio to a third
of the total population as a result of their high fertility rate,
which exceeds that of the Jewish population. Many Israelis warn
that, if this trend continues, it would lead to parity between
Palestinian and Jewish inhabitants in Jerusalem in 15-25 years.
This is seen by the Israelis as a threat to the Jewish domination
over the city. Israel would then lose its grip on its capital
because its inhabitants would not be Israel's loyal subjects.
The second is the assertion and admission that Israel has failed to
unify the city of Jerusalem and that, for all practical purposes,
the city remains divided and inhabited by two distinct peoples
between whom there exists neither a connection nor interaction - on
one side live the Arabs, on the other the Jews. In point of fact,
the policies of discrimination against the Palestinians, the
neglect of Arab quarters and the destruction of the cultural,
social, economic and political infrastructure in the Arab part of
the city have led to the emergence of a variety of social ills,
like drugs and crime, on the one hand, and the rise in religious
extremism on the other. The latter was evident in the results of
the legislative elections in January 2006, as it is now obvious in
the growing number of young people attending mosques.
It is worth taking a closer look at the above-mentioned points
which form the common denominator of all the Israeli analyses and
deliberations, in order to make a proper reading of their possible
implications.
Disquieting Implications
The warnings about the Arab population growth in Jerusalem is,
basically, a racist incitement against them and an overt and brazen
call to take measures against them to prevent them from procreating
or multiplying - or to search for "other means" to face the threat.
This implies either actual transfer of the Arabs from the city, or
worsening their living conditions to force them indirectly to leave
or emigrate from the city.
The same can be said about those who decry the fact that Israel has
failed to unify Jerusalem, and are calling for it to review its
plans and policies in the holy city. The purpose behind that is not
the alleviation of the unjust conditions under which the
Palestinians are living, by acknowledging that Jerusalem is an
occupied Arab city. No, the real purpose is to revise and rectify
Israel's plans and policies to enhance their efficacy in order to
achieve the goal to which Israel has always aspired: the
consolidation of the annexation of Jerusalem to keep it permanently
in Israeli possession with the maximum Jewish population and the
minimum of Arabs.
The Palestinians in Jerusalem are subjected to a great deal of
suffering as a result of Israel's systematic discriminatory
practices against them. Such practices are expressed in the policy
of ethnic cleansing, spearheaded by the Ministry of the Interior;
the policy of withholding building permits and of the demolition of
houses; the imposition of fines and exorbitant and arbitrary taxes;
the building of the separation wall; the fragmentation of the city
and the isolation of its neighborhoods from one another; the
creation of Jewish settlement enclaves inside Arab neighborhoods so
that settlers can harass and provoke their Palestinian neighbors
and drive them out; and the building of Jewish settlements around
Jerusalem to isolate it geographically from the rest of the
occupied Palestinian territories. Yet, in spite of all this, in my
estimation, Israel has failed to execute its racist, settlement
plan, and it has failed to carry out its project of annexation and
Judaization of Jerusalem.
Not Another Jaffa
Today, over a quarter of a million Palestinians live in Jerusalem.
Israel cannot drive them out of their city. And Israel will not
succeed in transforming East Jerusalem into another Jaffa, where
the inhabitants were forced by different means to leave the city,
and some of those who have stayed under bad economic conditions
have become involved in unscrupulous and illicit dealings; and
where the houses have been turned into restaurants and the quarters
into tourist sites, after an era when Jaffa was the most prosperous
city in Palestine until 1948, and Tel Aviv was one of its
neighborhoods. This will not happen in Jerusalem. And, in spite of
all the measures and pressures against its people, Jerusalem will
remain a thorn in the side of the occupation.
Nonetheless, we must be attentive to the dangers of racial
instigation against the Palestinian inhabitants of Jerusalem, who
are the rightful owners of the city. Such incitement and the
portrayal of the Palestinians as a demographic threat and a time
bomb is a blatant invitation to drive them to leave the city out of
their own free will; alternatively, to implement a policy of
transfer and deportation in their regard.
It is also incumbent upon the Palestinians to use all their
concerted efforts to better face the perils threatening their
social fabric, like the spread of drug abuse and crimes. This is
why their local leadership believes that it must work to ensure
social cohesion and solidarity among the citizens and to heighten
their capacity to absorb the pressures and shocks to which they are
exposed, in order to preserve their steadfastness and resolve not
to flee their city. And if Israel has so far failed in its policy
to unify and Judaize Jerusalem, its persistence in pursuing this
same policy and in isolating the city from its Arab hinterland will
inevitably lead to the failure of all the efforts to achieve a
political solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict based on the
principle of two states for two peoples. The only alternative left
would be one bi-national state with Jerusalem as its capital.
Civil Societies Can Play a Role
However, and whatever the future scenarios are, it is of great
importance to intensify the relationship and cooperation with the
Israeli peace forces and movements that reject the occupation and
denounce Israel's discriminatory policies against the Palestinians.
These democratic and humanitarian forces in Israeli society must
not be underestimated; they are an ally and a partner in the
Palestinian struggle against racism and extremism.
Evidently, some contacts and cooperation exist between Palestinian
civil society organizations and certain Israeli civil society
organizations and movements. Examples are Ir Amim, Bat Shalom,
Peace Now, the Israeli Committee against House Demolitions, Machsom
Watch, Women in Black and others. The role of civil society
organizations on both sides is to deepen their relationships and to
utilize them for the purpose of reaching a genuine peace and
confronting extremism in the area.