Palestinians need to unite

While Hamas and Fatah have been accusing each other of treason, the city of Occupied Jerusalem faces an Israeli plan to Judaise the city. Many are "victims" of this rift, but those in Occupied Jerusalem suffer most. In the largest Judaisation process since 1967, the Israeli occupation has taken the opportunity to appropriate the Holy City, exploiting the internal conflict between Fatah and Hamas and their "eternal" dialogues and accords that, for the past few years, have produced only differences, rather than unity.

An Israeli report distributed in the Knesset by the Macro Centre for Political Economics and the Fredrich Ebert Fund spoke without reservation about Israeli policy in Occupied Jerusalem. Israel's objective, according to this report, is to create a Jewish majority for the purpose of preventing its future division, following a policy of seizing properties or razing houses as the tool for achieving this goal. The report says that more than 35 per cent of the city's land has been appropriated since the occupation of 1967. Most of these tracts of land, from Nevi Ya'cob in the north to the Gila Quarter and Mount Abu Ghunaym in the south, have been confiscated from their original Palestinian owners to build housing units for Jews. Judging from the numbers, one can easily see the imbalance: while 50,000 housing units have been built for the Jews, the Israeli government has approved only 600 housing units for Palestinian Arab inhabitants.

Three months after the beginning of the intra-Palestinian fighting and Hamas taking control of the Gaza Strip on June 14, 2007, Israel opened the first synagogue in the Islamic Quarter in Occupied Jerusalem below Al Aqsa Mosque beside its southern wall at Al Silsila gate, only 97 metres from the Dome of the Rock.

Colonisation of the Old City has also gathered pace. The Itairat Kahunim Society, which manages colonisation projects in Occupied Jerusalem, has been given approval to build 300 housing units in the Ras Al Amud Quarter and 300 units in the Abu Dis area. Late in 2007, occupation authorities tendered two bids for the building of 150 units at Jabal Al Mukabber and another for the building of 400 units in the Armon Han Tsve quarter of the Tall-Biot colony south of Occupied Jerusalem. In the same year, 97 houses belonging to Palestinians in Occupied Jerusalem were pulled down. Israeli encroachment continued, the most prominent example of which were the excavations near Bab Al Maghariba in February 2007, which occurred at the time when the altercation between Hamas and Fatah reached its climax.

Gaining pace

According to the Israeli Peace Now Movement, the Judaisation of Occupied Jerusalem accelerated in 2008, when the number of colonies reached 1,500 units, as compared to 800 in 2007. That same year, 85 Palestinian houses and buildings were demolished, 219 ‘destruction notices' were issued and 36 land confiscations were effected. In addition, 44 Arab Palestinian institutions were shut down. Also that year, 1,931 bids for housing units to accommodate 6,750 Jewish colonists were issued and drafts for 5,431 units to accommodate 19,000 colonists were completed. Future plans for 33,500 additional units in East Occupied Jerusalem, to accommodate 117,000 colonists, were prepared. Plans for hundreds of units were also approved for new colonies such as Maalé Adomim, Ji'fat Zieve and Ariel. The same year, colony enlargements in the West Bank grew by 60 per cent.

In addition, a recent report issued by the Jerusalem Centre for Economic and Social Rights says that the first quarter of 2009 witnessed an increase in the destruction of Palestinian houses equal to that which has occurred since 1967. The objective has always been: Judaisation of the city. Since the beginning of this year, according to the same source, occupation authorities demolished about 30 houses, mostly within the Old City walls and the adjacent quarters of Al Aizariyya, Jaba' and Mikhmas, together with areas where the tribes of Al Jahalin and Al Ka'abina in East Occupied Jerusalem live. The report concludes by saying there are about 800 Palestinian buildings or houses inside the Old City that are threatened with destruction on the pretext that they were built after 1967.

It is true that the Judaisation of Occupied Jerusalem and the West Bank is not new, for Israel has always tried to erase its Arab-Islamic identity. The Palestinian rift, however, has given occupation authorities greater latitude to accelerate the process. The most dangerous consequences of this rift are the changing of priorities and shift of attention away from the Palestine cause. This is indeed the worst period in the history of Palestine and the whole Arab-Israeli confrontation.

Jerusalem is being kidnapped, and there is no saviour in sight but God. The Palestinian rift has become extremely ugly and unacceptable. How can the world pay attention to the Palestinian plight when they are divided? Why should the world support the Palestinian cause when Palestinians call each other traitors?

- Professor As'ad Abdul Rahman is the chairman of the Palestinian Encyclopaedia.