The Judaisation of Jerusalem

Ever since 1967, Israel has been systematically following a policy of changing the demographic nature of occupied Jerusalem.

This is part of a plan that aims at creating a new status quo by freezing the Palestinian presence at the city, working on minimising it to naught, and, at the same time, replacing it with a Jewish majority.

With that objective in mind, the Israeli governments have followed a policy of colonial, demographic and economic siege over the city in various ways. The scene in occupied Jerusalem ascertains the serious and tragic policy of "silently" pulling down ancient Arab houses and quarters at the city and its suburbs. The Al Haqq Institution confirms that more than 27,000 Arab houses in occupied Jerusalem are threatened of being pulled down.

The PLO Negotiations Affairs Department also confirms that, in this last year alone, the Israeli Ministry of Housing has decided to build 4,486 housing units in the colonies, 92 per cent of which are in the occupied Jerusalem region, and the rest are in the West Bank. This Department has also pointed to the serious excavations at Al Magharibah Gate, where three subterranean tunnels are being built below the old city.

Israel has also confiscated the identity card of every Jerusalem resident who is proved to be living in the West Bank "outside" the city or who carries a foreign nationality. Moreover, the Israeli government has confiscated the identity cards of 10,000 Arab citizens of occupied Jerusalem, depriving them of returning to their houses and properties.

What heightened people's worries had been the proposal of Defence Minister Ehud Barak, last September, of a political solution to move some highly populated quarters of the city to the Palestinian Authority where a Palestinian capital could be established.

Israel has realised that occupied Jerusalem is at the core of the Palestinian problem. Looking carefully at Israel's attitude vis-Ã -vis peace, and its colonisation plans appertaining to the city, one can easily discern the Zionist project. What the Israeli governments have been doing is the "Israelisation" (indeed Judaisation) of occupied Jerusalem, politically, culturally, socially and religiously through creating new facts on the ground with the purpose of forging a sole Israeli image of the City and its consecrated places.

It is an accelerated process secured by a futile Israeli/Palestinian peace process that has granted nothing to the Sacred City. In spite of Israel's failure to stop international protests, to say nothing of the international rejection of its flagrant violations of all international covenants, it still continues creating Greater Jewish Jerusalem. To achieve this objective, it has resorted to various colonial and racial means, the first of which is the widening of the city "borders" at the expense of other Palestinian territories.

The Judaisation of Jerusalem, after having been encircled, indeed besieged, with a belt of Jewish colonies, is being completed by erecting the "wall" around it. All this has the purpose of destabilising the demographic balance in favour of the Israeli interests. Arab residents, according to new studies, still form one third of the total inhabitants of the "unified" city, though less than that in the newly invented "Metropolitan Jerusalem"!

Recognition

On a different political level, what endangers the status of the city even more is the unlimited support that Israel is receiving from the USA. The American Congress, for example, has a draft resolution of not recognising the Palestinian State in the future unless "unified and undivided Jerusalem" is recognised as the capital of Israel!

This is in addition to the frantic attempts of the friends of Israel at the Congress to have the American Embassy moved to occupied Jerusalem with the purpose of confirming it a capital of the Zionist state. With the repetition of the operations by resistance fighters in occupied Jerusalem, which, from the beginning of this year have seen six operations causing the death of 13 Israelis, Israel is thinking of how to counteract such operations that are actually difficult to stop.

The real reasons behind such events (the Israeli occupation, the "wall", the ever-growing colonies, the Judaisation) are, unfortunately, being ignored, while a bulldozer or a private car driven by an angry Palestinian is a weapon that is easily available.

In an article on occupied Jerusalem, (Ozi Ben Zeman) discusses the reasons behind such operations saying that: "Israel and the Palestinians are again getting into a critical period. In addition to the failure of the peace negotiations, one may cite other factors that are likely to increase the motivations behind similar operations. Those are the presidential elections in the US, the rift between Hamas and Fatah regarding presidency renewal for Mahmoud Abbas after January 2009, even the municipal elections in Jerusalem and the right to attract the attention of the information media".

In this connection, the writer mentioned that Defence Minister Ehud Barak had demanded that "legal hindrances to pull down the houses of these fedayeen be removed". (Ben Zeman) also reminded us of the fact that Prime Minister Ehud Olmert had said after the Palestinian resistance operations of last July: "He who thinks that Israeli continued control of all the quarters of occupied Jerusalem is possible, must be ready for such operations.

In short, Israel aims at having unified Jerusalem as "the eternal capital" of the Zionist state.

Therefore, it tries very hard to impose a de facto status on the ground and to bring an end to the "Question of Jerusalem" at this precarious period of time, although it is one of the most critical issues in the peace process.

Professor As'ad Abdul Rahman is the Chairman of the Palestinian Encyclopedia.