Bridging the Palestinian Jurisdiction in Jerusalem

The Palestinian Association for Empowerment and Local Development‒ REFORM, held a three day workshop from 31/03/2016- 02/04/2016 on Jurisdiction in the Jerusalem governorate, and means to support Palestinian jurisdiction to enhance its responsiveness to Jerusalemites’ needs.

The paper will focus on ways for dealing with Jerusalem that remained under the Israeli control, being one of the final status issues according the Palestinian- Israeli agreement for the transitional stage.

Introduction: Delaying or postponing the Jerusalem file to the final status negotiations resulted in excluding all issues regarding Jerusalem including Jurisdiction authorities from practicing its legislative, executive and judicial rights Cited from article (17) including courts and the authorities of Israeli transitional agreement enforcing law from applying the under the declaration of Palestinian law inside the governorate of principles and according to the terms of the Palestinian –Israeli Jerusalem, which is actually known transitional agreement, the today as (the part located inside the councils authority shall include apartheid wall and the part located the and as outside it). one geographic entity this At the same time, areas located outside authority exclude issues to be the wall which are known as the suburbs negotiated over the final status negotiations including Jerusalem, of Jerusalem were of very complex settlement and specific security nature due to several reasons: zones, Palestinian refugees, borders, international relations as First: these zones being located in areas well as relations with the Israelis (C), as such, it falls under the civil and and other responsibilities that the militarily Israeli authority, while council is not authorized to deal with. personal authority is in accordance with the nationality or the identity card.

Second: as the Israeli bodies do not enforce the law and do not commit to their duties as regulated and identified in the agreement and the international law regulations as an occupying authority that is responsible for keeping security and general discipline, and preventing the Palestinian bodies from

enforcing the law in these areas, this led to security disorder and created safety zones for criminals and those escaping from justice.

Third: Most of the population of these zones are Jerusalemites who hold Israeli identity cards (Blue ID), and who are considered as residents of by the occupation authorities and thus Palestinian law does not apply to them, as a result, some of them exploited such a case and ventured to violate the Palestinian law benefiting from the immunity granted to him by their special status.

Palestinians in Jerusalem and Jurisdiction

Jerusalemites live a state of survives a The most important basis that state of duplicity in law: the Israeli forcible should be worked on, in case of authority which is against international law having continuous validity of regulations and the weak Palestinian legal Article 17, building national authority which can only be enforced in very partnership to bridge the gap limited cases because of the occupation, between Jerusalem and West adding to the limited financial resources and Bank – Jerusalem is part of West Bank – through which the official the restrictions imposed by the . institutions could work with the national organizations to enhance the “complicated” legal authority in the citizenship values as well as Jerusalem impose major challenges for the unity in standing and destiny. Jerusalemites, challenges that are related to In the same context, the realizing their Jerusalemite identity, and preparation of comprehensive awareness plan for the enhancing their steadfastness in the city, Palestinians of Jerusalem on the while facing the problem of dealing and rule of law, respect of those coping with the Israeli police, laws and enforcing thereof should be of the courts. top priority to be adopted. Advocate Mohammad Hadiyah, As a result of the above mentioned reasons, Head of Alfaisal Center for Arbitration and Mediation, ACT the governorate of Jerusalem in Particular, and the Palestinian justice and security institutions in general, face several legal and real complicated challenges – jurisdiction is always surfaced being the present-absent in the equation of enforcing the law, especially when the issue is related to Jerusalemites who in the latest years committed crimes in the Palestinian territories and thus fall under the Palestinian law, but the question was always, whether, carrying the Israeli identity allows them to

cross a traffic light or issue a cheques with no sufficient balance, or get or deal with drugs or drug trafficking, or carry unlicensed weapons. It is just enough for them to show the Israeli identity card to a Palestinian police to remind them they have immunity against the Palestinian law. Is it true that having this identity card grant them immunity against the rule of justice as the case with any Palestinian from other governorates committing the same crime at the same time and the same place?1

This situation was the main cause of the disintegration of the citizenship of Jerusalemites. Another issue was the declining power of the official Palestinian bodies to support the Palestinians in the city. A third issue was the decrease in economic interventions and redesigning them to meet the needs of Jerusalemites, neither the budget assigned for such economic interventions, nor the institutional efficiency, nor the role of the private sector and national institution could be considered sufficient to promote and change this situation with the presence of the Israeli occupation with its huge limitless financial and legal potentials.

In addition, Jerusalem suffers from the multiplicity of Palestinian official bodies. Some are directed by the PLO like the department of Jerusalem affairs, or the ministry of Jerusalem affairs which follows the government, or the Jerusalem governorate which follows the president’s office, adding to other entities which follow Fateh movement as the public conference, others which follow supportive Arab and Islamic institutions within a regional or international frameworks and several working independent national institutions of several specializations. The authority struggle between these institutions prevented unifying Palestinian efforts to support the steadfastness of Jerusalemites against the Israeli policies and in resisting settlements in the city.

Opinions about the responsibilities of these institutions are contradictory. Two major opinions are dominant:

(1) Activating the role of the main body that other institutions should follow and coordinate with so as to improve the work and integration among those bodies, so as to meet the needs of Jerusalemites as well as those of the city.

1 Mohammad Hadiyah, the legal authority in Jerusalem, a paper presented, not published, to the workshop entitled, “These status of legal authority in the governorate of Jerusalem”

(2) There is no harm in keeping these entities as they are provided that they review their responsibilities and revise the ways of coordination and communication among them to decide the responsibility of each one and Jerusalemites.

The focal points mentioned above formed and obstacle to embodying and bridging Palestinian jurisdiction in the city, adding to other obstacles that must be taken into consideration in any future interventions such as the division, the weak social awareness of legal regulations that organize the lives of Jerusalemites, the financial situation of the Palestinian government, the poor coordination among all sectors, the work of the national and private sectors in Jerusalem and its neighborhoods, the nature of provided projects, unemployment, the decline in voluntary work and Palestinian youth refraining from voluntary work.

Possible suggestions:

 Form local committees within the neighborhoods of Jerusalem elected by Jerusalemites (According to specific procedure for election) so as to gain public legalization, and them ensure the ability of these committees to enforce the rule of law.

 Formulate a collective framework for official institutions working in the city through creating a coordinating body (supreme consultative council) based on centralization of information and decentralization of implementation within the integration of roles and consideration of specializations. This council should be affiliated to the Prime Minister directly, while ensuring that these institutions and bodies remain independent, but on the other hand, keep a high level of coordination to provide the experience and support for Jerusalemites. In this case, information is accessible to all these bodies so as to avoid duplicity in roles and to get rid of the mal practices of getting benefit from the scattered entities, and to ensure getting information, activating the role of these institutions especially in providing services as much as possible to enhance and integrate efforts and roles between the public sector and private sector as in (education, health, law, housing…etc) sectors. This should be practiced through specifying and identifying the roles and responsibilities of each institution.

 Develop a central database. The consultative council then has to keep updating it regularly. The central database then enhances coordination in getting information among all legal bodies working in Jerusalem in the best order.

 Support the usage of alternative judicial system to solve problems and quarrels through intervention and stop approaching Israeli courts. Moreover, opening new horizons to enable and empower the Palestinian law in the Palestinian provinces and in accordance with the international law.

 Clarify the status of Jerusalem when setting national development plans through setting strategic objectives for the work in Jerusalem, based on allocating a special budget by the Palestinian Authority to meet the needs Jerusalemites. This can only be achieved through enabling the various sectors in the city and its neighborhoods to set the plans and the needed budgets.

 Sett an integrated media system so as to protect Jerusalem and its identity, to document Israeli violations of international law and the confiscation of land and real estates, and attacks on property, people and holy sites.

 Work on reviving the role of the Palestinian institutions in Jerusalem so as to develop national policies in partnership with the educational institutions this, in turn, will encourage and enable youth to engage in voluntary work through forming committees that will take the lead in raising awareness or reviving the of national folklore and heritage, benefiting from the special case of Jerusalem, a city rich in diversity and able to excel in several fields of cultural productions.

 Develop procedures to provide legal support and guidance for those exposed to Israeli violations through establishing centers for this purpose and coordination among the already established ones.

 Establish special information centers that would work around the clock and form legal teams that are able to support the development trends in the city.

 Establish Youth Voluntary groups and provide them with access to networking with the ministry of local governance, the Ministry of Interior and the governorate of Jerusalem.

 Develop an executive plan and identify procedures and manuals to develop suggestions provided in this paper in partnership with institutions and bodies working in Jerusalem, in an effort to meet the needs of Jerusalemites and support their steadfastness in the holy city.