Israeli Planning and Policies in the City

Past, Present and Future

Daniel Seidemann – Lawyer, Jerusalem

 

Based on my experience, almost everybody lies about Jerusalem. Getting somebody to tell the truth about the city is quite exceptional.  I think that there is a small number of people who dedicate their lives to try to tell the story straight. I have been asked to talk about planning m construction and development in Jerusalem. There have been a lot of contradictory leaks from the political negotiations recently as to the future of East Jerusalem. One of the most ridiculous leaks I heard was that Israel would turn over to Palestinian control all of the authorities in East Jerusalem with the exception of planning and construction. This is like signing a peace agreement that forbids the use of all but light weapons. At the core of my presentation, that much of what need  be done today at Washington is based on a heresy. That heresy is based on two statements that are contradictory. Jerusalem is a city unlike any other in the world. At the same time Jerusalem is just a city, in that the sewage in Jerusalem obeys the laws of gravity, rather than the Palestinian national covenant or the Likud party platform. In order to create a viable Jerusalem, we have to examine not only the powerful universal imagery that Jerusalem evokes, but also how the city functions and does not function, meaning the ability of people to shape their own lives and their physical space. This concept is terribly unromantic when compared to King David, Jesus or Muhammad, but it happens to be the sins (????) of which decent human lives of people living in dignity are made.

In order to address this, I would like to present what Jerusalem has looked like for the last 33 years. Much of what I want to say will be highly critical of Israel with a good deal of justification. It is also important to bear in mind that Jerusalem is the arena where the immovable object and the irresistible force of Palestinian nationalism and Zionism clash in the place that is most important to both sides. Israelis and Palestinians have not been blessed with Scandinavian temperaments; we are both warm hearted but hot blooded people.

Having said that, the rules of engagement between these two peoples have taken the form of a not very leveled playing field. In 1967 Israel went to war against Egypt in a preventive strike. Upon this initiative Jerusalem and the West Bank were attacked. In 48 hours, Israel found itself in control of the entire West Bank and, of course, all of the area that has been constantly known as East Jerusalem. Jerusalem until 1967 was a physically divided city, separated not by a wall but with No Man’s Land. Jerusalem was a scarred city, and I think that Jerusalemites remember the scar. This is one of the things that informs the consciousness of people today. In 1967 West Jerusalem was 38 km² and East Jerusalem included the old city and another 5 km² around it. 

Although I will speak a lot about the discrimination and the neglect of East Jerusalem since 1967, honesty and historical accountability compel me to tell you that Israel did not invent the neglect of East Jerusalem. That is a Jordanian invention, and we merely perfected it to the level of high art. The Jordanians neglected East Jerusalem for nearly the same reasons that Israel did: they feared Palestinian nationalism and they did not want Jerusalem to be the source of the legitimacy of that national movement in competition with Amman. The neglect and the politicization of Jerusalem dated back not 33 years but rather 52.

In the Israeli psyche the return to Jerusalem was an event of biblical proportions. The Jewish people were exiled two thousand years ago, and when we returned to our land the fact that there was another people living here was a minor detail. We were deprived between 1948 and 1967 of access to the most sacred site to Judaism, the Western Wall, and we perceived ourselves to be on the verge of another holocaust. We were surrounded in 1967, but the sudden victory that brought us to the Temple Mount was perceived as biblical salvation. Israel fully anticipated international pressure to withdraw quickly, and everything that has been done since then has been geared towards creating facts on the ground. Everything on the Palestinian side has been geared towards denying the validity and the implications of those facts, and this has been a zero sum game at its best. Virtually everything that has been done by Israel since 1967 has been dictated by the national struggle's calculated consolidation of sole Israeli rule over all of Jerusalem, including East Jerusalem, and insuring that the city is physically indivisible.

First of all, immediately after the war Israel annexed more than 70 km² of land that was previously Jordanian territory. If you recall, East Jerusalem was only 6 km². Israel annexed not only East Jerusalem but also 27-28 Palestinian towns and villages that were in the Jerusalem environment. This is important not only historically but also politically. The impetus for Israel's annexation of these villages was control of the heights over the city (so that it would not be bombarded again by Jordanians) and also to take as much land and as few Palestinians as possible in order to maintain a demographic balance in the city. In 1967 Shu’fat, Beit Hanina and Sour Baher were not considered to be part of Jerusalem. This elasticity of Jerusalem's definition has political importance, because while Jerusalem is sacred the arbitrary drawn administrative and political lines are not, and this is one of the tools with which the negotiators are going to be playing.

In 1967 there were approximately 197,000 Israelis and 68,000 Palestinians living inside the extended borders of what Israel called the undivided Jerusalem, making the ratio 74.5% Israeli and 25.5% Palestinian. Virtually everything that has been done by Israel since has been geared toward maintaining that demographic balance, as this was the only way Israel could assure that its sovereignty would be maintained and the physical re-division of the city would be an impossibility. Israel has expropriated lands since 1967, overwhelmingly from the Palestinian population. Expropriation means that private land is taken by the government, which then pays compensation, and the land becomes public domain and is put to some public purpose. More than 35% of the land of East Jerusalem has been expropriated since 1967, overwhelmingly for the purpose of establishing new Israeli neighborhoods. Please notice that I am using the word neighborhoods and not settlements. Since 1967, there has been more than 42,000 residential units built for Israelis only on the expropriated lands, and less than 600 residential units built for Palestinians with any kind of governmental support since 1967, the last of which was built more than twenty yeas ago.

The Palestinian response to this policy was to not accept compensation, because it is not money that we want, but rather our land. Furthermore, to accept compensation would be to acquiesce to the legitimacy of the Israeli rule. Palestinians have consistently availed themselves to the rights and privileges afforded by Israel sine 1967, but only to the extent that this does not designate a recognition of the legitimacy of Israeli rule. Gilo, Har Homa under construction, Ramot, East Talpiot, Pisgat Ze'ev  and the industrial area in the north are all now in Israeli hands, and all of them lie beyond the 6-day war borders. That leaves only 25,000 km² left for the Palestinians, 60% of which remains unzoned and unplanned. Nothing can be done with unzoned land, because without a valid zoning plan one cannot obtain a building permit.

The dominant color on the map is green, which means that this land is private open space. Private open space is land that Palestinians continue to own but are not allowed to develop, as it has been designated to have 'ecological scenic pastoral value'. There are some areas in which the use of open spaces is entirely legitimate, for the Old City and the visual scenes surrounding the Old City are an international treasure and should be ruthlessly protected. However, in most cases the 'green open space' designation has been used as an artificial political device to prevent the organic development of the Palestinian population.

Less than 8% of the land of East Jerusalem is available for any kind of private sector development, and most of that has been exhausted. Even on this 8% enormous bureaucratic problems and constraints prevent such development, and because of this only the fortunate few among the Palestinians have had the ability to build legally in East Jerusalem. The remaining Palestinians are confronted with the dilemma of either continuing to live in overcrowded conditions approaching that of the third world (the population density of East Jerusalem is twice as great as that of West Jerusalem) or leaving Jerusalem for the periphery and running the risk of losing the right to live in the city. In the eyes of the Israeli law, the Palestinians are a minority comprising individuals whose entitlement to Jerusalem residency Israel controls. The law that governs the permanent residency of Palestinians in East Jerusalem is called the "Entry to Israel" law, as though the Israelis were not in fact the foreigners infringing on the pre-existing population.

I will give you an example to illustrate the inequality with which Israeli and Palestinian residents of Jerusalem are treated. I, being absent minded, sometimes leave my Israeli ID card in my shirt pocket when it is laundered. When I go to the Ministry of Interior, the authorities take between 15 minutes and 2 hours to generate for me a new ID card. If a Palestinian is so unfortunate to be in the same situation, he or she will have to spend months gathering documentation to prove that he or she has the right to live in the city.

Palestinians have a third option for dealing with overcrowded conditions and official constraints, and that is to build illegally. Many Palestinians have in desperation turned to this option, but in doing so run the risk of indictment, heavy fines and demolition.

Hundreds of houses are being built, and six to seven are demolished each year.

There are many other aspects to the Israeli neglect and underdevelopment of East Jerusalem . A blind person passing through the city knows when he passes from West to East Jerusalem because of the presence of sidewalks in the former and the lack thereof in the latter. Although no one has the precise information, it is estimated that less than 10% of the Jerusalem municipal budget goes toward the 32-33% of the population living in East Jerusalem. This is certainly unjustifiable discrimination, but it is largely attributable to the fact that the Palestinians do not vote in the municipal elections. This is a decision I have to respect; they do not vote because they do not want to recognize the legitimacy of the Israeli system. Such a decision comes with a heave price tag, however, for politicians do not work to benefit the lives of people who do not vote.

This is a particularly critical time for Jerusalem, as the two national leaders prepare to discuss the fundamental issues building blocks between the two peoples. The question of Jerusalem has been made increasingly difficult over the years as Israeli policy has changed the geography and the demography of the city. Although resolution is not impossible, the core political fact at the basis of the conflict is the fact that we in Jerusalem, Palestinians and Israelis, covet each other's space. We love the same area. We do not aspire to share any kind of community. This pronouncement may sound pessimistic, but it simply means that each side retains a strong separate identity. In everything that we do, though, we recognize that there is a collective here, and this is the significant change that has developed over the last several years. Israeli flooded Jerusalem after the six day war, and came back with a charm that made the Israeli tourist the most hated in the world. With the outbreak of the Intifada, a hidden cognitive wall arose, and Israelis did not venture into East Jerusalem. In the last year Israelis have returned to the Old City. The sharing of the city is an inevitability.

Where do we stand at the end of 33 years of Israeli rule, now that the final status talks on Jerusalem have begun?

The Israeli conception that the city will never be divided is completely detached from the reality. The enemies of the peace process have taken out their tribal drums. Tribal drums work best in Jerusalem. The Palestinian rhetoric is not much more realistic, talking about two capitals, a return to the pre-six days war borders, dismantling of all settlements,...etc. The following examples illustrate the problems that we are going to face, and where that leaves us in terms of political potential.

First of all, has Israel succeeded? The answer is yes and no. It has succeeded in that there are almost as many Israelis as there are Palestinians in East Jerusalem, as they have nearly achieved numerical parity. That is not simply a fact, but also dictates political possibilities, the most import of which is a change in the perceptions of both sides. Barak got on the plane yesterday saying that Israel has ruled over another people for too long, and we have to physically separate. Physical separation will not work in Jerusalem, although political separation might. One of the big questions I have is: will Barak be able to make the qualitative change to recognize how self-contradictory his position is? Barak is a good negotiator, and will succeed in anything that is quantifiable. There are things that can not be quantified, however; Jerusalem is one of them and the refugees are another.

Separating Jerusalem from the north or the south would be like separating Siamese twins that share vital organs; it can not be done. Nobody aspires to divide the city again; it is not a dream, but rather a nightmare.

Israelis have failed, and the best explanation as to why is a quote from Faisal Husseini: “the Israelis are creating facts on the ground, but we the Palestinians are the facts”. The Palestinian percentage of the population has risen from 25.5% in 1967 to 32-33% today. Israeli is running faster and faster in order to stand still. Jerusalem, the undivided eternal capital of Israel has a minority of its residents celebrating an Independence Day.

As another example of problems that must be addressed, when traveling north from Jerusalem in the direction of Ramallah one encounters a check point. That check point is the entry to Jerusalem, and Palestinians are not allowed in without a permit. This is one of the things that have to be addressed at Camp David. Interestingly, however, this check point is 4.5 km inside the 'official' city limit of Jerusalem. There is already a major distinction between the political boundaries of Jerusalem and the security boundaries as perceived by Israel. The Israeli army and police placed the checkpoint inside the boundary because north of it, no real Israeli interest needs protection.

Let us talk about the Palestinians side. There were rumors three or four months ago that Beit Hanina and Shu’fat would be returned to the Palestinian authority. How are the Palestinian residents of Beit Hanina and Shu’fat responding to the idea of being part of the Palestinian state? The answer is somewhere between high anxiety and panic; property and rental prices dropped. Olmert would say that they want to be Israelis. This is not the case; they will always be Palestinians, but they are not willing to replace the heavy hand of Israeli occupation with heavy hand of Yasser Arafat. The Palestinians in East Jerusalem are the most critical of the corruption and lack of democratic values in the Palestinian Authority.

The Israeli economy is the most researched economy in the world, and the Palestinian economy does not lag far behind. However, nobody knows anything about the economy of East Jerusalem, for Israel has not collected data since 1987, because of the Intifada. The Palestinian authorities want to collect data, but the Israelis will not let them. Jerusalem is like the lock in the cannel between the higher economic level of Israel and the lower economic level of the West Bank. Palestinians are holding on to their Jerusalem ID cards because although they promise them a lower standard of living than in Israel, it is still much higher than that of the West Bank, owing to universal mobility, access to places of work in Israel, and health care. The Palestinian hospitals in East Jerusalem are proud national institutions, drawing people from the West Bank. The Palestinians of East Jerusalem go to the Israeli hospitals, because they have a higher level of health care. Jerusalem does not live with the ideologies of either side. The political goal is to create ways in which Palestinians can continue to be Palestinians without being perceived as a threat to the Israelis.

The real threat to East Jerusalem now is neither the Israeli rule nor the Palestinian rule, but rather the lack of rule. Even the way Palestinians drive in East Jerusalem implies incipient anarchy. East Jerusalem has to be built up from the ground; instead it is being destroyed by illegal construction. The reality on the ground demonstrates how the suppression of a national struggle prohibits sustainable development. 

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