FACING A CROWD: A Palestinian woman whose house has been occupied by Jewish, settlers argued with Israelis who came to celebrate Jerusalem Day in the mainly Arab neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah, East Jerusalem. Wednesday, May 22, 2010 Jerusalem Under Occupation Prepared by: Israeli Violations Monitoring Department Land Research Center - LRC September - 2010 Team Leader Jamal Talab Editors Yaqoub Odah Hiba Al Whoosh Contributors Walid Habbas Hamed Qawasmeh GIS Specialist & Designer Mohammed AlAmleh LRC Land Research Center - LRC Halhul - Hebron Palestine Tel: +970 - 2 - 2217239 Fax: +970 - 2 - 2290918 E-mail: [email protected] Web page: www.lrcj.org I Jerusalem Under Occupation Land Research Center Land Research Center (LRC) is a Palestinian non-governmental civil society organi- zation. It was established in 1986 in Jerusalem and has currently branches in Hebron, Ramallah and Nablus. Its activities cover the West Bank (including Jerusalem) and Gaza Strip. The Center’s mission is the protection and development of the land and to defend the right of the citizens in land ownership, land use and the right to be housed in it. The Center’s vision is that Palestinians have the right to control their lands and to use it for agricultural and housing purposes in consistency with human rights (especially the right to development and housing) en route to achieve total and complete sover- eignty. The general goals of the Center: 1. Reduction of Israeli occupation’s measures against housing, land and water. 2. Development of natural and economic resources. 3. Development of local policies. 4. Farmer organization and community outreach. Land Research Center Address: Halhul – Main Street – Al Natsheh Building – 2nd Floor PO Box: 35 Halhul. Phone: 02-221-7239 – Fax: 02-229-0918 E-mail: [email protected] Webpage: www.lrcj.org The cost of printing this book was covered as part of the Kanaan Project funded by the Spanish International Cooperation Agency in cooperation “ with Mundubat and ACSUR. The Project is being implemented in Oc- cupied Jerusalem between 2008 and 2011 and it aims at contributing to the protection of Palestinian Rights in Jerusalem and to provide techni- cal, legal and material assistance to them. The execution of the project is carried out in partnership with Land Research Center, Union of Health Work Committees, Defence for Children International, Union of Palestin- ian Women’s Committees and the Bisan Center for Research and Develop- ment. The project implemented a number of activities in the fields of right to housing and right to land, children rights, women rights and health. It also provided a number of services to civil organizations in Jerusalem. This project is being implemented in accordance with the Center’s developmen- tal vision pursued inside Occupied Jerusalem in the context of Kanaan. ” II Table of Contenet Introduction ................................................................................................................................... VI Methodology ................................................................................................................................. VII Chapter 1: Jerusalem Through Occupations .............................................................................. 1 General Definition of Jerusalem ................................................................................... 3 The Occupation of East Jerusalem in 1967 .................................................................. 4 Jerusalem in the Year 1980 ............................................................................................ 5 Jerusalem in the Eye of the Palestinian National Authority ..................................... 6 Chapter 2: Israeli Colonial Plans in Jerusalem ........................................................................... 9 The Greater Jerusalem Project – 1993 .......................................................................... 11 Jerusalem 2020 ................................................................................................................ 12 E1 Plan ............................................................................................................................. 13 The Eastern Gate Plan .................................................................................................... 14 The Colony of Nof Etzion (The View of Etzion) on Jabal Al Mukaber ......................... 14 A New Colony Planned for Qalandia Airport ............................................................ 15 Light Train Project ......................................................................................................... 16 The Inclusion of the Colony of Kedar into Ma’ale Adumim ..................................... 16 The Colony of Misfarat Adumim on Jabal Al Tur Lands .......................................... 17 The Planned Colony of Giv’at Yael ............................................................................... 18 The Holy Basin – The King’s Garden in Al Bustan Neighborhood in Silwan ......... 18 The “Museum of Tolerance” !!! Built atop the Islamic Cemetery of Ma’aman Al- lah ..................................................................................................................................... 19 Excavations and Tunnels ............................................................................................... 21 1. The New Bridge – Bab Al Magharba Project ................................................ 21 2. Elevator and Electric Corridor Between Al Buraq Wall (a.k.a. the Wail- ing Wall) and Harat Al Sharaf ............................................................................ 22 3. The Plan to Change the Features of the Old City of Jerusalem ...................... 22 4. The Theft of Ummayad Islamic Stones ......................................................... 23 Chapter 3: Methods and Tools Used by the Israeli Occupation to Implement Colonial Schemes and the Forced Displacement of Palestinian Jerusalemites ..................................... 25 The Policy of Land Grab ............................................................................................... 27 The Policy of Site Planning and Zoning ..................................................................... 27 Chapter 4: The Racist Isolation and Annexation Wall ............................................................. 35 Facts and Figures about the Racist Wall in Jerusalem .............................................. 37 III Jerusalem Under Occupation Chapter 5: Violation of the Right to Housing ........................................................................... 41 The demolition of Palestinian Houses in Jerusalem ................................................. 43 Stop Work and Demolition Orders against Palestinian Shelters in Jerusalem ....... 68 “Self” Demolition ........................................................................................................... 70 Taking Over of Palestinian Homs in Jerusalem .......................................................... 72 Conclusion ..................................................................................................................................... 75 References ...................................................................................................................................... 77 IV Jerusalem Under Occupation Introduction Sixty-two years have passed since the occupation of the western section of the City of Jerusalem while forty-three years have gone by on the occupation of the West Bank (including the eastern section of Jerusalem) and Gaza Strip on the 5th of June, 1967. Many years have passed since the occupa- ARAB STUDIES SOCIETY tion of Jerusalem, the capital of the Arab Land Research Center culture, the capital of the hoped-for Pal- Jenin estinian state and the desired center for its September - 2010 WWW.LRCJ.ORG GIS & Mapping Unit political, economic, social and cultural life. Tulkarm Tubas Ever since it occupied Jerusalem, Israel has continued its aggression on Palestinian land Qalqiliya Nablus and rights in the Holy City as all Israeli gov- Salfit ernments have considered Jerusalem an in- Mediterranean Sea tegral part of the Israeli entity and under its full sovereignty. Since the early days of the Ramallah Jericho occupation, Israel has turned its back to all of the decisions and position of the interna- Jerusalem tional community concerning Jerusalem as it drew and implemented policies aimed at annexing and Judaizing Jerusalem through Bethlehem a series of geographical, demographical, Dead Sea economic and administrative measures. To Hebron achieve the desired control and sovereign- ty over the city, Ehud Olmert – the former Gaza Strip Israeli Prime Minister – has allocated 1.5 billion dollars while the current Prime Min- ister, Benjamin Netanyahu, is striving to al- locate a budget of 14 billion dollars for the same purpose. Legend Governorates Boundaries Jerusalem Governorate The Israeli policies and procedures of evic- West Jerusalem Water Bodies 0 10 20 40 tions and displacement of thousands of Kilometers · Palestinian Jerusalemites began right after Map 1: The geographical location of Jerusalem. the end of hostilities in the Six-Day War in 1967; the obliteration of Bab Al Magharba and Al Sharaf Neighborhood inside the walls of the Old City shortly after the War’s end and the annexation of 71,000 dunums of Palestinian lands to enlarge the mu- nicipal area of Jerusalem on the basis of seizing the largest