Al-Issawiya
Al-Issawiya (Arabic: العيسوية) is an Arab village and neighborhood in Jerusalem, Israel. Located on Mount Scopus near Hadassah Hospital, it formed part of an Israeli enclave between 1949-1967.[1]
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[edit] History
In 1964, Issawiya had a population of 1,300. It was located at this time within the Mount Scopus demilitarized zone, an unsupervised demilitarized zone between Jordan and Israel,[2] The Mount Scopus Agreement signed on July 7, 1948 regulated the demilitarised zone and authorized the United Nations Truce Supervision Organization to settle disputes between Israel and Jordan. One area of conflict involved two Jewish-owned plots in Issawiya, known as Gan Shlomit or Salomons Garden, which were purchased by V.F. Salomons in 1934 and sold to the Gan Shlomit Company, Ltd. in 1937.[3] Al-Issawiya was captured by Israeli forces during the Six-Day War in 1967, along with the rest of East Jerusalem[citation needed].
Issawiya is located at the foot of French Hill, northwest of the road to Ma'aleh Adumim.[4] Under the jurisdiction of the Jerusalem Municipality, its citizens are considered permanent residents of the city, entitled to live and work in Israel without special permits. As permanent residents, they are also entitled to social benefits provided by Bituah Leumi (Israeli National Insurance Institute) and Israeli health insurance.[5]
[edit] Land registry
Under Jordanian rule, land in Issawiya was registered under the owner's name, but registration stopped in 1967. Residents who apply for building permits are frequently turned down because ownership cannot be proven. Another problem is that land may belong to as many as ten clans. The land would need to be unified and then divided up between all residents who claim ownership.[6]
[edit] Education
The girls' school in al-Issawiya is one of five elementary schools in the Jerusalem area that teach philosophy to third-graders as part of a program operating in 70 countries.[7] A project sponsored by the Hebrew University of Jerusalem coordinates educational work with youth in Issawiya. Palestinian-Israeli students at the university undergo a training seminar that provides them with the requisite teaching and facilitation skills.[8]
[edit] Economy
Many residents of the neighborhood work at Hadassah Medical Center, located on a hill overlooking the neighborhood.[5]
[edit] Sports
In 2005, the Peres Center for Peace inaugurated a synthetic turf soccer field in Issawiya as part of the Twinned Peace Soccer School project.[9] The soccer field was a priority in 1993 during Teddy Kollek's election year and had been allocated funding at the time, but was finally built with South Korean funding.[10]
[edit] References
- ^ The Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations, 1999-2001, pg. 153.
- ^ "In No Man's Land", Newsweek, Volume 64, Part 2, p.52
- ^ Unispal.un.orgUnispal.un.org Report of the Firing Incident of May 26, 1958 on Mount Scopus UN Doc S/4030 17 June 1958
- ^ Jerusalem Municipality advancing plan to build 1,900 apartments for Arabs
- ^ a b Bridge Over Troubled Land
- ^ Interview with Ismaeel Hamoud, a community activist
- ^ Ha'aretz pdf article
- ^ Campus-Community Partnership
- ^ Peres Center opens Issawiya soccer field YNet News.
- ^ Amir S. Cheshin, Bill Hutman, AVI Melamed (2001) Separate and Unequal: The Inside Story of Israeli Rule in East Jerusalem Harvard University Press, ISBN 0-674-00553-8 p.73
Coordinates: 31°47′55.63″N 35°14′53.65″E / 31.7987861°N 35.2482361°E
