Issawiya
Al-Issawiya (Template:Lang-ar) is an Arab neighborhood in East Jerusalem.[1] Located on Mount Scopus near Hadassah Hospital, it was part of a Jordanian and Israeli demilitarized zone in 1948-1967.[2] In 2006, it had a population of 12,000. Together with Shuafat and the Shuafat refugee camp, al-Issawiya's land area is 15,489 dunams.[3]
History
Al-Issawiya was captured by Israeli forces during the Six-Day War in 1967, along with the rest of East Jerusalem. It 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 the necessity of special permits. As permanent residents, they are also entitled to social benefits provided by the National Insurance Institute and to health insurance. They have the right to vote in local elections, but not in elections to Knesset.[5]
In September 1980 the Israeli authorities closed three wells in al-Issawiya that had been used for irrigation of farmland.[6]
Land registry
During the period of Jordanian rule, land in Issawiya was registered under the owner's name, but registration stopped in 1967 when Israel took over. Usually lands are registered by the Israel Land Administration but in Jerusalem and specifically Issawiya, there are no such services and there is no legal record of land ownership. When residents want to build on their land, they are forced to do so illegally. Applications for building permits are turned down because ownership cannot be proven. Another problem is that land is inherited and 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.[7]
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.[8]
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]
References
- ^ "Israel razes Palestinian homes in Jerusalem". Ma'an News Agency. 2009-11-19. Retrieved 15 March 2010.
- ^ Report of the Firing Incident of 26 May 1958 on Mount Scopus UN Doc S/4030 17 June 1958
- ^ Israel expands an Army Military Base East of Al 'Isawiya village Applied Research Institute - Jerusalem. 2007-07-05.
- ^ Jerusalem Municipality advancing plan to build 1,900 apartments for Arabs
- ^ B'Tselem Legal status of East Jerusalem and its residents
- ^ POICA
- ^ Interview with Ismaeel Hamoud, Issawiya community coordinator
- ^ Ha'aretz pdf article
- ^ 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 0674005538 p.73