Protecting Palestinian citizenship rights in East Jerusalem Report 2014 PROTECTING PALESTINIAN CITIZENSHIP RIGHTS IN EAST JERUSALEM Protecting Palestinian Citizenship Rights in East Jerusalem 1 PROTECTING PALESTINIAN CITIZENSHIP RIGHTS IN EAST JERUSALEM 2 PROTECTING PALESTINIAN CITIZENSHIP RIGHTS IN EAST JERUSALEM Contents Special Thanks 5 Background 7 Introduction 9 Chapter One: An Introduction to Jerusalem 13 The Jerusalem Master Plan 2000 14 Adalah Objections to the Jerusalem Regional Master Plan 15 The Demographic Balance and Land Expropriation 17 Urban Planning and Policies 18 Land Policies in Jerusalem 18 Demolitions and Building Permits 18 The Barrier 18 Checkpoints 19 Conclusion 19 Chapter Two: Citizenship Rights 21 Introduction 21 The Status of Palestinian Jerusalemites, 1967 - Present 21 The Municipality’s Master Plan 22 Residency Revocation 22 Family Unification 23 Child Registration 23 Illegality of Israel’s Residency Policies in Occupied Jerusalem 24 Aliyah, Residency Rights for Jews in Israel 24 Conclusion 25 Chapter Three: House Demolitions and Displacement 27 Introduction 27 Israel’s Demolition Policy 28 The Demolition Process 28 The Impact of Demolitions on Palestinian Families 30 Conclusion 31 Chapter Four: The Disappearing Cultural Heritage 33 Introduction 33 Historical Background 33 Sites of Significance in the Old City of Jerusalem 33 Timeline of Threats against Significant Sites 34 Israel Responds: A Year of National Heritage 35 Altering Street Names, Changing the Past 35 Cultural and Intellectual Robbery 36 Efforts to Preserve Palestinian Heritage 36 Legal Implications 37 Conclusion 37 Conclusion 39 Endnotes 40 3 PROTECTING PALESTINIAN CITIZENSHIP RIGHTS IN EAST JERUSALEM 4 PROTECTING PALESTINIAN CITIZENSHIP RIGHTS IN EAST JERUSALEM Special Thanks... We would like to say a special thank you to the following individuals who contributed to the drafting of this paper: Megan Driscol (International Campaign to Protect Palestinian Residency in Jerusalem) Linda Ramsden (Director, ICAHD UK) Amaani Hoddoon (Student and FOA Intern, Summer 2013) 5 PROTECTING PALESTINIAN CITIZENSHIP RIGHTS IN EAST JERUSALEM 6 PROTECTING PALESTINIAN CITIZENSHIP RIGHTS IN EAST JERUSALEM Background The Palestinian heritage within the city of Jerusa- heritage in the city is being jeopardised as a result lem spans millennia. Christian, Muslim and Jewish of deliberate policies which amplify Jewish religious Palestinians lived and worshipped in the Old City for and historic claims while undermining, deliber- centuries, long before the state of Israel was created. ately or otherwise, Palestinian Muslim and Chris- In 1967, when Israel began its current occupation tian heritage. Citizenship rights are under constant of East Jerusalem it was compelled by international threat and family unification is routinely denied due law to govern in accordance with the Fourth Geneva to complex and iniquitous residency laws, which Convention, which places a number of obligations regulate Palestinians while Israeli Jews and illegal on Israel in its administration of the Palestinian terri- settlers are conversely allowed free access to the city. tory. East Jerusalem contains the major religious sites Further to this, the natural expansion of Palestinian sacred to Muslims (Al-Aqsa), Christians (Church of families is not accommodated by regulations such as the Holy Sepulchre) and Jews (The Wailing Wall). planning and building permits, making everyday life tremendously difficult. Desperately needed homes Palestinian civilians in Jerusalem are ‘protected’ built illegally due to the lack of permit grants are in civilians in accordance with the provisions of the constant threat of demolitions. Fourth Geneva Convention, as well as the Hague Regulations. According to the provisions contained within these international instruments, there is no difference between East Jerusalem, and the rest of the West Bank. It is considered to be occupied land since 1967, belonging to the Palestinian people. Israel has ratified the Fourth Geneva Convention and is bound to follow its provisions, which include a prohibition against forcibly transferring occupied people out of their territory and transferring ‘parts of its own civilian population into the territory it occupies’ (Article 49). While Jerusalem is often called a contentious city, with Israel attempting to annex it by creating a ‘Greater Jerusalem’ surrounded by a ring of illegal settlements intended to consolidate Israeli control of East Jerusalem, in fact the legal and historic Pales- tinian rights to the city are unequivocal. Prior to the occupation of the city, Jerusalem was a Palestinian city which was administered by various authorities. Since the creation of Israel in 1948, at the same time when numerous other jurisdictions entered state- hood, Palestine was not given the same opportunity. Due to the fracture caused by the war of 1947/48, and the creation of hundreds of thousands of Palestinian refugees, the Palestinian Territories were unable to achieve self-determination. Jordan administered Jerusalem and the West Bank and before a state of Palestine could emerge, Israel’s occupation began. The occupation of East Jerusalem has persisted The lack of a Palestinian state prior to the occupa- for almost 50 years. Palestinian Jerusalemites whose tion is used misleadingly by some Israeli politicians, families have resided in the exceptional city for gener- to suggest that therefore there is no occupation. ations retain ties to the land, which are deep-seated This is a deliberate obfuscation and is rejected by the and remarkable. Their struggle to remain in their city international community, which has passed several of birth and heritage is full of sorrow and distress, as UN Resolutions calling for an end to the occupation. they became relegated to second-class citizens facing the constant threat of deportation from the city. This This report outlines Israeli polices in Jerusa- report outlines their struggle and why there is a need lem since 1967 which have undermined Palestinian for international attention and intervention to put an rights within the city and stripped Palestinians of end to this unjust, prejudiced and illegal occupation free access to their holy religious sites. Palestinian of East Jerusalem. 7 PROTECTING PALESTINIAN CITIZENSHIP RIGHTS IN EAST JERUSALEM 8 PROTECTING PALESTINIAN CITIZENSHIP RIGHTS IN EAST JERUSALEM Introduction Jerusalem is a city that occupies hearts and minds constant threat of eviction and trespass as Israel lays for billions of people around the world. The Islamic claim to their neighbourhood. This is an escalation of traditions venerate the Holy Al-Aqsa Sanctuary as the occupation which now seeks to erase the cultural the most important site in Jerusalem and the point heritage of the Palestinians. An Israeli archaeolo- of departure for the prophet Muhammad on the gist, Yonatan Mizrahi, who previously worked for the celestial night journey. The Jewish traditions elevate Israeli Antiquities Authority left his position as he the Western Wall of the Al-Aqsa complex as the was disturbed by the use of archaeology for political remains of the celebrated Temple of Solomon. The purposes. He commented that even if archaeologists Christian traditions commemorate the life of Jesus were to dig up a big sign which read ‘Welcome to King within the city and mark the journey to his crucifix- David’s Palace’, that would not give Jewish Israelis the ion along the rambling alleys of the Old City to the right to claim East Jerusalem today. “Just like if the Church of Holy Sepulchre. Vatican found something here, it wouldn’t give the church the right to take ownership of this land. The Palestinian Jerusalemites, of all three Abrahamic bottom line is that Palestinians are the majority in faiths, have inhabited this holy place for centuries with East Jerusalem.”2 minor exceptions. During the 1948 war, the historic city was carved up with West Jerusalem coming under Israeli control and East Jerusalem, home to the Old City, staying within Jordanian control. The war and occupation of 1967 marked the beginning of the occupation of East Jerusalem and the struggle over control and access to religious sites became an everyday struggle for those within the city. In East Jerusalem, the holy sites to Islam, Christi- anity and Judaism have all come under Israeli administration as part of the Israeli efforts to unify East and West Jerusalem to create a single Jerusalem. This Israeli attempt to unify Jerusalem was rejected by the international community in a UN Resolution1 which stated that the measures taken by Israel to change the status of the city are invalid and they called on Israel to ‘desist forthwith from taking any action which would alter the status of Jerusalem’. Silwan is a small example of the risk Palestinians After the occupation, Israel provided Palestinians in Jerusalem face under occupation. For many years, within the city with a ‘permanent residents’ status, Palestinians within the West Bank have been unable and, those who fled from the violence were devastat- to freely visit the city of Jerusalem and are barred ingly not allowed to return home to Jerusalem and from even visiting family members without an Israeli have remained refugees since. permit. Such permits are hard to obtain and create a division between Palestinians in East Jerusalem and East Jerusalem has changed dramatically since communities in the West Bank. This separation has the occupation began. Palestinian suburbs and been