Jump to content

East Jerusalem

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by 82.17.238.199 (talk) at 11:17, 4 August 2010 (Undid revision 374965522 by Hope&Act3! (talk) rv pov edit). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Dome of the Rock in the Old City
Map of East Jerusalem.

East Jerusalem is the parts of Jerusalem captured by Jordan in the 1948 Arab-Israeli War and then taken by Israel in the 1967 Six-Day War. It includes Jerusalem's Old City and some of the holiest sites of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, such as the Temple Mount, Western Wall, Al-Aqsa Mosque, and the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. The term "East Jerusalem" may refer to either the area under Jordanian rule between 1949 and 1967 which was incorporated into the municipality of Jerusalem after 1967, covering some 70 km2 (27 sq mi), or the territory of the pre-1967 Jordanian municipality, covering 6.4 km2 (2 sq mi).

Following the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, Jerusalem was divided into two parts—the western portion, populated primarily by Jews, came under Israeli rule, while the eastern portion, populated mainly by Arabs, came under Jordanian rule. Arabs living in such western Jerusalem neighbourhoods as Katamon or Malha were forced to leave; the same fate befell Jews in the eastern areas, including the Old City and Silwan. The only eastern area of the city that remained in Israeli hands throughout the 19 years of Jordanian rule was Mt. Scopus, where the Hebrew University is located, which formed an enclave during that period and therefore is not considered part of East Jerusalem. Despite the Armistice terms guaranteeing access to Holy Sites, under Jordanian control Jews were banned from the Wailing Wall in Jerusalem, and all synagogues were demolished.

Following the 1967 Six-Day War, the eastern part of Jerusalem came under Israeli rule and was annexed to Jerusalem, together with several neighbouring West Bank villages. In November 1967, the United Nations Security Council Resolution 242 was passed, calling for Israel to withdraw "from territories occupied in the recent conflict". In 1980, the Knesset passed the Jerusalem Law, which declared that "Jerusalem, complete and united, is the capital of Israel",[1] however, without specifying boundaries. This declaration was declared "null and void" by United Nations Security Council Resolution 478.

The term “East Jerusalem” is used in three different, incompatible ways:

  • From 1949 to 1967 it referred to the Jordanian part of the city (6.4 km²), just as “West Jerusalem” referred to the Israeli part of the city.
  • In June 1967, after the war, Israel de facto annexed some 70 km2 (27.03 sq mi) from the West Bank and Jordanian Jerusalem, and included them in the expanded metropolitan boundary of Jerusalem. The term “East Jerusalem” was applied to the area of the expanded Jerusalem that had been captured by Israel in 1967, which lies north, east and south of the former East Jerusalem.
  • More recently, Israelis use the term “East Jerusalem” to refer only to those areas of Jerusalem which were captured in 1967 and which are inhabited by Arabs (plus Arab industrial areas). For example, the Jerusalem Municipality’s Education Yearbook calls the Arab schools “Schools in the Eastern Part of the City”, but Jewish neighborhoods in the captured area are no longer called “East Jerusalem”.[2]
Part of a series on
the Israeli–Palestinian conflict
Israeli–Palestinian
peace process
History
Camp David Accords1978
Madrid Conference1991
Oslo Accords1993 / 95
Hebron Protocol1997
Wye River Memorandum1998
Sharm El Sheikh Memorandum1999
Camp David Summit2000
The Clinton Parameters2000
Taba Summit2001
Road Map2003
Agreement on Movement and Access2005
Annapolis Conference2007
Mitchell-led talks2010–11
Kerry-led talks2013–14
Primary concerns
Secondary concerns
International brokers
Proposals
Projects / groups / NGOs

History

Jordanian rule

Main article: Occupation of the West Bank and East Jerusalem by Jordan

Jerusalem was designated an international city under the 1947 UN Partition Plan. It was not part of either the proposed Jewish or Arab states.

During the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, the western part of Jerusalem was captured by Israel, while East Jerusalem (including the Old City) was captured by Jordan. The 1948 Arab-Israeli War came to an end with the signing of the 1949 Armistice Agreements.[3]

Upon its capture, the Jordanians immediately expelled all the Jewish residents of the Jewish Quarter. All the main synagogues were destroyed, and the Jewish Quarter was bulldozed.[4] The ancient Jewish cemetery on Mount of Olives was desecrated, and the tombstones there were used for construction and paving roads.[4] Jordan also destroyed the Jewish villages of Atarot and Neve Yaakov just north of Jerusalem (their sites became Jerusalem neighborhoods after 1967).

East Jerusalem absorbed some of the refugees from West Jerusalem's Arab neighborhoods that came under Israeli rule. Thousands of Arabs were settled in the previously Jewish areas of Jerusalem.[3]

In 1950 East Jerusalem, along with the rest of the West Bank, was annexed by Jordan. However, the annexation of the West Bank was recognized only by the United Kingdom, although the Israeli and Jordanian annexations of the two parts of Jerusalem were given only de facto recognition. During the period of Jordanian rule, East Jerusalem lost much of its importance, as it was no longer a capital, and losing its link to the coast diminished its role as a commercial hub. It even saw a population decrease, with merchants and administrators moving to Amman. On the other hand, it maintained its religious importance, as well as its role as a regional center. Reaffirming a 1953 statement, Jordan in 1960 declared Jerusalem its second capital.[5] The USA (and other powers) protested this plan, and stated it could not "recognize or associate itself in any way with actions which confer upon Jerusalem the attributes of a seat of government . . ." [6]

During the 1960s Jerusalem saw economic improvement and its tourism industry developed significantly, and its holy sites attracted growing numbers of pilgrims, but Israelis of all religions were not allowed into East Jerusalem.[7] Jews were not allowed access to the Mount of Olives, Western Wall and other holy sites, in contravention of the 1949 Armistice Agreements.[3]

The Kendall Town Scheme was commissioned by the Jordanian government in 1966 to link East Jerusalem with the surrounding towns and villages, integrating them into a metropolitan area. This plan was not implemented, as East Jerusalem came under Israeli rule the following year.

Israeli rule

During the Six-Day War of 1967 Israel captured the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and eventually incorporated Eastern Jerusalem and its surroundings into the municipality of Jerusalem, including several neighboring villages.[8] This move, amounting to 111 km2 (43 sq mi) of West Bank territory,[9] excluded many of East Jerusalem's suburbs and divided several villages.

Under Israeli rule, members of all religions were largely granted access to their holy sites, with the Muslim Waqf maintaining control of the Temple Mount and the Muslim holy sites there. The old Mughrabi Quarter (Moroccan) in front of the Western Wall was bulldozed three days after its capture, leading to the deaths of several residents in the forced resettlement of its 135 families.[9][10][11] It was replaced with a large open air plaza. The Jewish Quarter, destroyed in 1948, was depopulated, rebuilt and resettled by Jews.[9]

With the stated purpose of preventing infiltration during the Second Intifada, Israel decided to surround Jerusalem's eastern perimeter with a security barrier. The structure has separated East Jerusalem neighborhoods from the West Bank suburbs, all of which are under the jurisdiction of Israel and the IDF. The separation barrier has raised much criticism, and the Israeli Supreme Court has ruled that the alignment of sections of the barrier (including East Jerusalem sections) must be amended.

In the January 25, 2006 Palestinian Legislative Elections, 6,300 East Jerusalem Arabs were registered and permitted to vote locally. All other residents had to travel to West Bank polling stations. Hamas won four seats and Fatah two, even though Hamas was barred by Israel from campaigning in the city. Fewer than 6,000 residents were permitted to vote locally in the prior 1996 elections.

In March 2009, a confidential "EU Heads of Mission Report on East Jerusalem" was published, in which the Israeli government was accused of "actively pursuing the illegal annexation" of East Jerusalem. The report stated: "Israeli 'facts on the ground' - including new settlements, construction of the barrier, discriminatory housing policies, house demolitions, restrictive permit regime and continued closure of Palestinian institutions - increase Jewish Israeli presence in East Jerusalem, weaken the Palestinian community in the city, impede Palestinian urban development and separate East Jerusalem from the rest of the West Bank."[12]

Demographics

See also: Demographics of Jerusalem

A census conducted by the Israeli authorities in 1967 registered 66,000 Palestinian residents (44,000 residing in the area known before the 1967 war as East Jerusalem; and 22,000, in the West Bank area annexed to Jerusalem after the war). Only a few hundred Jews were living in East Jerusalem at that time. By June 1993, a Jewish majority was established in East Jerusalem: 155,000 Jews were officially registered residents, as compared to 150,000 Palestinians.[13]

As of 2006, the population of East Jerusalem was 428,304, comprising 59.5% of Jerusalem's residents. Of these, 181,457 (42%) are Jews, (comprising 39% of the Jewish population of Jerusalem as a whole), 229,004 (53%) are Muslim (comprising 99% of the Muslim population of Jerusalem) and 13,638 (3%) are Christian (comprising 92% of the Christian population of Jerusalem).[14] The size of the Palestinian population living in East Jerusalem is controversial because of political implications. In 2008, the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics reported the number of Palestinians living in East Jerusalem was 208,000 according to a recently completed census.[15]

As of 2005, East Jerusalem's main Arab neighborhoods include Shuafat (34,700), Beit Hanina (24,745), a-Sawana (22,127), Jabal Mukaber (16,030), Ras al-Amud (14,841) and the lower part of Abu Tor (14,614). East Jerusalem's main Jewish neighborhoods include Pisgat Ze'ev (41,208), Gilo (27,258), Ramot Alon (22,460), Neve Yaakov (20,156), and East Talpiot (12,158). The Old City has an Arab population of 32,635 and a Jewish population of 3,942.[16]

Status

Jerusalem municipal area

Sovereignty

See also: Positions on Jerusalem

Since June 28, 1967, East Jerusalem has been under the law, jurisdiction, and administration of the State of Israel.[17] The right of Israel to declare sovereignty over the entirety of Jerusalem is not recognized by the international community, which regarded the move as de facto annexation [18] and deemed Israeli jurisdiction invalid in a subsequent non-binding United Nations General Assembly resolution.[19] However in a reply to the resolution, Israel denied that these measures constitute annexation.[20]

In the 1980 Basic Law, or "Jerusalem Law" Israel declared Jerusalem "complete and united", to be "the capital of Israel". The new law left the boundaries of Jerusalem unspecified.[21] In response, the UN Security Council unanimously adopted Resolution 478 (the U.S. abstained), declaring the law to be "null and void" and a violation of international law. In 1988, Jordan, while rejecting Israeli sovereignty over East Jerusalem, withdrew all its claims to the West Bank (including East Jerusalem).

The Israeli-Palestinian Declaration of Principles, signed September 13, 1993, deferred the settlement of the permanent status of Jerusalem to the final stages of negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians. The Palestinian National Authority views the future permanent status of East Jerusalem as the capital of the Palestinian state.[22] The possibility of a Palestinian capital in East Jerusalem was considered by Israel for the first time in the Taba Summit in 2001,[23] though these negotiations ended without an agreement and this possibility has not been considered by Israel since.

In a 1991 letter, United States Secretary of State James Baker stated that the United States is "opposed to the Israeli annexation of east Jerusalem and the extension of Israeli law on it and the extension of Jerusalem’s municipal boundaries".[24] However, the U.S. Senate in 1990 had adopted a resolution "acknowledging Jerusalem as Israel's capital" and stating that it "strongly believes that Jerusalem must remain an undivided city."[25] Congress passed the Jerusalem Embassy Act on October 23, 1995, which declared that Jerusalem should remain undivided and that it should be recognized as Israel's capital.

Some international law experts, such as Julius Stone, have argued that Israel has sovereignty over East Jerusalem under international law, since Jordan did not have legal sovereignty over the territory, and thus Israel was entitled in an act of self-defense during the Six Day War to "fill the vacuum".[26]

Some international law experts such as Howard Grief have argued that Israel obtained de jure sovereignty over Palestine under the San Remo Agreement which transformed the Balfour Declaration into International Law. Grief states that under the International law doctrine of acquired rights, codified in the 1969 Vienna Convention on Treaties, when England abandoned its League of Nations "mandate" or trusteeship as the arrangement is now referred to by the UN, Israel, the beneficiary of the political rights over Palestine kept the sovereignty promised under the agreement when the Jews were able to exercise it. Under Article 80 of the UN Charter, the rights awarded by the San Remo Agreement and the League of Nations Mandate, were preserved in full. For more detail, see: Howard Grief, "Legal Foundation and Borders of Israel under International Law.

Residency

Greater Jerusalem, May 2006. CIA remote sensing map showing areas they consider settlements, plus refugee camps, fences, walls, etc.

Following the 1967 annexation, Israel conducted a census in East Jerusalem and granted permanent Israeli residency to those Arab Jerusalemites present at the time of the census. Those not present lost the right to reside in Jerusalem. Jerusalem Palestinians were permitted to apply for Israeli citizenship, provided they met the requirements for naturalization—such as swearing allegiance to Israel and renouncing all other citizenships—which most of them refused to do. At the end of 2005, 93% of the Arab population of East Jerusalem had permanent residency and 5% had Israeli citizenship.[27]

As residents, East Jerusalemites rejecting Israeli citizenship have the right to vote in municipal elections and play a role in the administration of the city. Residents pay taxes, and following a 1988 Israeli Supreme Court ruling, East Jerusalem residents are guaranteed the right to social security benefits and state health care.

Until 1995, those who lived abroad for more than seven years or obtained residency or citizenship in another country were deemed liable to lose their residency status. In 1995, Israel began revoking permanent residency status from former Arab residents of Jerusalem who could not prove that their "center of life" was still in Jerusalem. This policy was rescinded four years later after it was discovered that more Arabs were moving back in order to retain their status. In March 2000, the Minister of the Interior, Natan Sharansky, stated that the "quiet deportation" policy would cease, the prior policy would be reverted, and Arab natives to Jerusalem would be able to regain residency[28] if they could prove that they have visited Israel at least once every three years. Since December 1995, permanent residency of more than 3,000 individuals "expired," leaving them with neither citizenship nor residency.[28] Despite changes in policy under Sharansky, in 2006 the number of former Arab Jerusalemites to lose their residency status was 1,363, a sixfold increase on the year before.[29] The loss of status is automatic and sometimes occurs without their knowledge.

According to the Israeli non-governmental organization B'Tselem, since the 1990s, policies that made construction permits harder to obtain for Arab residents have caused a housing shortage that forces many of them to seek housing outside East Jerusalem.[30] Furthermore, East Jerusalem residents that are married to residents of the West Bank and Gaza have had to leave Jerusalem to join their husbands and wives due to the citizenship law. Furthermore, many have had to leave Jerusalem in search of work abroad since, in the aftermath of the Second Intifada East Jerusalem has increasingly been cut off from the West Bank and thereby has lost its main economic hub.[31] Israeli journalist Shahar Ilan argues that this outmigration has led many Palestinians in East Jerusalem to lose their permanent residency status.[32]

According to the American Friends Service Committee and Marshall J. Breger, such restrictions on Palestinian planning and development in East Jerusalem are part of Israel's policy of promoting a Jewish majority in the city.[33][34] On May 13, 2007, the Israeli Cabinet began discussion regarding a proposition to expand Israel's presence in East Jerusalem and boost its economy so as to attract Jewish settlers. To facilitate more Jewish settlement in East Jerusalem, the Cabinet is now considering an approximately 5.75 billion NIS plan to reduce taxes in the area, relocate a range of governmental offices, construct new courthouses, and build a new center for Jerusalem studies.[35] Plans to construct 25,000 Jewish homes in East Jerusalem are in the development stages. As Arab residents are hard-pressed to obtain building permits to develop existing infrastructure or housing in East Jerusalem, this proposition has received much criticism.[36][37]

Culture

File:Alquds2009.JPG
Main article: Al-Quds Capital of Arab Culture

Al-Quds Arab Capital of Culture (Template:Lang-ar) is an initiative undertaken by UNESCO under the Arab Capital of Culture programme, part of the Cultural Capitals Program to promote and celebrate Arab culture and encourage cooperation in the Arab region.

Al-Quds is the Arab name for Jerusalem. However, many of the events were organised elsewhere in the Palestinian Territories. Those that were scheduled to take place in Jerusalem were actively discouraged by the Israeli authorities. The opening event was scheduled to be held on January 2009, but it was delayed until March due to the 2008–2009 Israel-Gaza Conflict, and it was launched on 21 March 2009.

Mayors of East Jerusalem

See also: List of mayors of Jerusalem

See also

Notes

  1. ^ "Basic Law- Jerusalem- Capital of Israel". Retrieved 2008-06-11.
  2. ^ [1]
  3. ^ a b c Israeli, Raphael. Jerusalem Divided: the armistice regime, 1947-1967, Routledge, 2002, p. 118.
  4. ^ a b Jordan’s Desecration of Jerusalem: The 19 Years of Jordanian “Guardianship” - Jewish Virtual Library
  5. ^ Bovis, H. Eugene (1971). The Jerusalem Question, 1917-1968. Stanford, CA: Hoover Institution Press. p. 99. ISBN 0-8179-3291-7.
  6. ^ Hirsch, Moshe; Lapidoth, Ruth Eschelbacher (1994). The Jerusalem Question and Its Resolution: Selected Documents. The Hague: M. Nijhoff. p. 160. ISBN 0-7923-2893-0.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  7. ^ Martin Gilbert, Jerusalem in the Twentieth Century (Pilmico 1996), p254.
  8. ^ "Israel & the Palestinians: Key Maps". British Broadcasting Corporation. Retrieved 2007-05-28.
  9. ^ a b c http://web.archive.org/web/19981201090448/http://www.merip.org/joost.htm
  10. ^ The Moroccan Quarter: A History of the Present, Jerusalem Quarterly (Winter 2000/7), Institute of Jerusalem Studies, Appendix I (retrieved March 31, 2010)
  11. ^ http://www.kbj.org.il/images/kotel_p.html
  12. ^ Rory McCarthy (2009-03-07). "Israel annexing East Jerusalem, says EU". The Guardian. Retrieved 2009-03-08.
  13. ^ "THE REALIZATION OF ECONOMIC, SOCIAL AND CULTURAL RIGHTS: Written statement submitted by Habitat International Coalition, a non-governmental organization on the Roster". United Nations Economic and Social Council. August 3, 1994. Retrieved 2009-08-12.
  14. ^ "Table III/10 - Population of Jerusalem, By age, Population Group and Geographical Spreading, 2005" (PDF). Statistical Yearbook of Jerusalem 2006/7. Jerusalem Institute for Israel Studies.
  15. ^ Copans, Laurie (2008-02-09). "Census Finds 3.76 Million Palestinians". WTOPnews.com. Retrieved 2008-05-05.
  16. ^ "Table III/14 - Population of Jerusalem, by Age, Quarter, Sub-Quarter and Statistical Area, 2005" (PDF). Statistical Yearbook of Jerusalem 2006/7. Jerusalem Institute for Israel Studies.
  17. ^ Law and Administration Ordinance (Amendment No. 11) Law, 1967 and Law and Administration Order (No. 1) of 28 June 1967.
  18. ^ Ruth Lapidoth. "Jerusalem: The Legal and Political Background". Justice No. 3, Autumn 1994. International Association of Jewish Lawyers and Jurists.
  19. ^ General Assembly Resolution 2253, July 4, 1967
  20. ^ The letter, delivered to the U.N. Secretary General on July 10, stated: "The term 'annexation' is out of place. The measures adopted related to the integration of Jerusalem in the administrative and municipal spheres and furnish a legal basis for the protection of the Holy Places" [2].
  21. ^ Ian Lustick, Has Israel Annexed East Jerusalem? [3]
  22. ^ "On international day of solidarity with Palestinians, Secretary-General heralds Annapolis as new beginning in efforts to achieve two-state solution" (Press release). United Nations, Department of Public Information, News and Media Division. 2007-11-29. Retrieved 2008-05-05.
  23. ^ "The Moratinos' "Non-Paper" on Taba negotiations". 2001-01-27.
  24. ^ James Baker's Letter of Assurance to the Palestinians, 18 October 1991
  25. ^ "S.Con.Res.106 for the 101st Congress". Retrieved 2007-07-04.
  26. ^ Lacey, Ian, ed. International Law and the Arab-Israeli Conflict (pdf) – Extracts from Israel and Palestine - Assault on the Law of Nations by Julius Stone, Second Edition with additional material and commentary updated to 2003, AIJAC website. Retrieved June 28, 2007. See also Yehuda Z. Blum, The Juridical status of Jerusalem (Jerusalem, The Leonard Davis Institute for International Relations, 1974); id., "The missing Reversioner: Reflections on the Status of Judea and Samaria", 3 The Israel Law Review (1968), pp. 279–301.
  27. ^ "Selected Statistics on Jerusalem Day 2007 (Hebrew)". Israel Central Bureau of Statistics. 2007-05-14.
  28. ^ a b B'Tselem - Revocation of Residency in East Jerusalem
  29. ^ "A capital question". The Economist. 2007-05-10. Retrieved 2007-05-11.
  30. ^ "East Jerusalem". B'Tselem. Retrieved 2007-05-14.
  31. ^ Movement and access restrictions in the West Bank - Uncertainty and inefficiency in the Palestinian economy - World Bank report (9 May 2007)
  32. ^ Shahar Ilan (2007-06-24). "Interior Min. increasingly revoking E. J'lem Arabs' residency permits". Haaretz.
  33. ^ "East Jerusalem and the Politics of Occupation" (PDF). American Friends Service Committee. Winter 2004.
  34. ^ Marshall J. Breger (1997). "Understanding Jerusalem". Middle East Quarterly. Middle East Forum. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
  35. ^ "Cabinet discusses measures to financially strengthen Jerusalem". Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs. May 13, 2007. Retrieved 2007-05-13.
  36. ^ "New Jerusalem settlement planned". BBC News. May 11, 2007. Retrieved 2007-05-14. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |source= ignored (help)
  37. ^ "Israel's Olmert says seeks to expand Jerusalem". May 13, 2007. Retrieved 2007-05-14. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |source= ignored (help)
  38. ^ http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P1-20515295.html

References

  • Bovis, H. Eugene (1971). The Jerusalem Question, 1917–1968. Stanford, CA: Hoover Institution Press. ISBN 0-8179-3291-7.
  • Bregman, Ahron (2002). Israel's Wars: A History Since 1947. London: Routledge. ISBN 0-415-28716-2
  • Cohen, Shaul Ephraim (1993). The Politics of Planting: Israeli-Palestinian Competition for Control of Land in the Jerusalem Periphery. University of Chicago Press. ISBN 0226112764.
  • Ghanem, As'ad (2001). The Palestinian-Arab Minority in Israel, 1948–2000: A Political Study. SUNY Press. ISBN 0791449971.
  • Israeli, Raphael (2002). Jerusalem Divided: the armistice regime, 1947–1967, Routledge, p. 118. ISBN 0714652660.
  • Rubenberg, Cheryl A. (2003). The Palestinians: In Search of a Just Peace. Lynne Rienner Publishers. ISBN 1588262251.
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=East_Jerusalem&oldid=377100598"