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THE POLITICS OF NEIGHBORHOOD PLANNING JERUSALEM: THE MIXED, DIVIDED AND DISCONNECTED CITY
Madrid, June 2021
June 2021
Author, Figures: AHMED ALRAIE Photography: ANJAD HITHNAWI Coordinators: DANIEL SORANDO, JESUS LEAL MASTER IN COLLECTIVE HOUSING Universidad Politécnica de Madrid and ETH Zürich.
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1. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Numerous cities around the world have suffered because of conflict, war, or natural disasters, and many still are. This, in turn, causes many difficulties in all fields. In this essay, conflict and occupation is one of the old new reasons, which will be addressed in different ways. Such events directly impact the lives of people living in these cities as well as the quality of their living environment and structure. East Jerusalem is a potent example of how political conflict and the forced occupation impact the lives and livelihoods of Palestinians living in the city, which has been considered occupied by Israel by the United Nations Declaration number (A/ES-10/L.22). Palestinian communities living in East Jerusalem endure a planning crisis and Population displacement by demolition of homes and schools and the destruction of livelihoods, or threat thereof; the denial-of-service infrastructure; the restriction of access to farming and grazing land; settlers’ violence and poor law enforcement in response thereto; and the reversal of residency rights have created a bullying and negative environment. This turn impacts practically every aspect of Palestinian life in East Jerusalem, whether it is housing; availability and allocation of public or open spaces; social mobility and accessibility; or planning sufficient education and health facilities and insurances. In addition, Israel’s construction of its Separation Wall in and around East Jerusalem in the beginning of 2020 has made the situation even worse by segregating the Palestinian communities and living. In effect, Israel’s occupation has led to the creation of two separate spatial realities in East Jerusalem: a de facto Israelis characterized by excessive control, where the police and military are pervasive, and a de facto Palestinian spatiality characterized by physical fragmentation, environmental degradation, and social disintegration.
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2. HISTORICAL BACKGROUND For Palestinians, Jerusalem is always considered as the heartland of Palestine and all Palestinians (Christians and Muslims). The history of the city goes back more than five thousand years, and thus it is one of the oldest cities in the world. The many names given to it indicate the depth of this history. The peoples and nations that settled it called it different names. The Canaanites who migrated to it in the third millennium BC called it “Ursalem”, which means the city of peace or the city of the god Salem. Among the most important works carried out by the Canaanites in Jerusalem was the construction of a tunnel to secure the access of water to the city from the Gihon spring, which located in the Kidron Valley, which is known today as Ain Silwan. During the British Mandate period (1918-1948), connectivity between nearby Palestinian communities and Jerusalem became weaker, especially during the final days of the Mandate, which witnessed high rates of Jewish immigration to Jerusalem. placed on Palestinian access to East Jerusalem from the rest of the West Bank. Israeli efforts to change the city’s demographic and geo-political landscape have had a profound effect on both its environs and the Palestinian communities living there (1). One Israeli tactic that has been used by the Israeli Authorities to exercise power in East Jerusalem involves literally redrawing the map of the city, as well as introducing an engineered language manufactured to compete with and ultimately usurp the prevailing Arabic map, thus working to veil a Palestinian presence and history through the politics of toponymy
(5)
. In the post-Oslo
period (since 1993), nearby Palestinian communities have been almost completely severed from the city because of Israeli separation and fragmentation policies on the ground translated by building the separation wall and posting numerous checkpoints that control and limit access to the city.
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3. PLANNING CONTENTS From the end of the nineteenth century until today, the modern neighborhoods were at the core of spatial planning which takes into consideration the citizens and their needs; and this has never been the case in the Palestinian communities of East Jerusalem. The planning landscape in East Jerusalem is filled with many difficulties. This section, we will briefly study the housing, population, transportation, and public facilities in East Jerusalem.
3.1 Housing Some of the Palestinian neighborhoods in Jerusalem record as ones of highest density areas in the world (5), where there the Palestinian communities find it difficult to obtain or get any construction permits by the Israeli authorities to build any structures (residential, trade or agriculture), because their Identity. East Jerusalem is (70 km2) (6), until this essay period it divided into (26 km2) Israeli Settlements, (16 km2) Public, (19 km2) Jerusalem General Planned areas, (9 km2) Palestinian structures areas and this small percentage represent 70% of the total population. Currently, there is a need for over 10,000 housing units as a result, East Jerusalemites are living today in small and congested urban areas and sufficient infrastructure and social services are sorely very lacking, the same is not true for Israeli settlements in East Jerusalem, or Israeli communities located in West Jerusalem (Figure 1) (6).
3.2 Transportation and Road System 20 years took to construct Jerusalem light rail project (6), which it serves only the Israeli settlers who living in settlements in East Jerusalem and better
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connect them with West Jerusalem, dissimilar local Palestinian residents who are not well served by this project and only the neighborhoods located along the route of Israeli settlements benefit from this service. Public transportations such as Buses are largely segregated especially in terms of the routes. Jewish Israelis do not use Arab buses (which in white and blue colors), Jewish Israelis only used (which in green and black colors), where is some roads restrict Palestinian mobility, demolished their homes and other structures. while improving the connection and road network between Jerusalem and illegal Israeli settlements.
Built-up area in Israeli settlement Built-up area in Palestinian communities East Jerusalem The Old city
Figure (1): Built Environment in Jerusalem According to Masterplan
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3.3 Population displacement Under the agreement, Jordan provided the land and construction costs, while the agency constructed the buildings in exchange for families giving up refugee cards that the agency distributed to Palestinian refugees. After occupying the city, specifically in 1970, the Israeli Knesset passed a law that returned the lands that were owned by Jews before 1948 to their owners .In Area C and East Jerusalem in particular (6), including the demolition of homes and all kind of structure, and the destruction of livelihoods, or threat thereof; the denial-of-service infrastructure; the restriction of access to farming and grazing land; settler violence and poor law enforcement in response thereto; and the revocation of residency rights have created a coercive environment. Involuntary displacement and relocation to alternative residential areas as a result of such policies may amount to forcible transfer if it is carried out without the free and informed consent of the individuals who relocate, in violation of the obligations of Israel under international humanitarian and human rights law. Forcible transfer is a grave breach of the Geneva Convention relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War and amounts to a war crime. The increase in the number of demolitions and settler attacks in 2019 intensified the coercive environment. Between 1 April 2019 and 31 March 2020
(2)
, demolitions of structures by Israel resulted in the
displacement of 849 Palestinians, the majority of whom were women (221) and children (435, including189 girls), and negatively affected the livelihoods and service provision for thousands of others. Israel has facilitated the takeover by settlers of properties in the heart of Palestinian neighborhoods in East Jerusalem and Hebron, which has often resulted.
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4. GENERAL DEMOLITION FIGURES The demolition and seizure of Palestinian property by Israeli occupation in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem, continued during the essay period, especially this time in Sheikh Jarrah Neighborhood in East Jerusalem where is 15 Palestinian families suffering replacement, displacement and demolishing their properties. From January until June 2020, (Figure 2) (4) shows the data by individual months. 318 Palestinian owned structures were demolished or seized, and 374 people (including 200 children) were displaced. These numbers mark an increase in the number of structures demolished of around 4.6 % and a decrease in the number of displaced of around 20 % respectively, compared with the equivalent period in 2019. As a monthly average, the number of structures targeted in the first half of 2020 is the same as during 2019. Around 39 % of these structures were residential structures (123), while 47 % were related to agriculture and livelihood structures (148).
Figure (2): Demolished Structures by individual months (Jan-Jun 2020)
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in June 2020 which is the highest monthly rate (100 structures). This increase was driven by demolitions in Area C (77 structures), In Areas A & B, which according to the Oslo Accords fall under the civilian control of the Palestinian Authority 5 structures were demolished during the period from January to June 2020, 232 in Area C, 81 structures demolished in East Jerusalem accounted for about 25% of all demolished structures. Area C accounted for 73% of all demolished structures. On a monthly average, 53
(6)
structures were demolished or seized from the
period January to June 2020, which is 1 point higher than the average in 2019 (52 structures). This number is also higher 15 points than the average in 2018 (38 structures), and 18 points higher than in 2017 (35 structures), but still far away from the average in 2016 (91 structures). See (Figure 3) (6)
Figure (3): Annual number of structures demolished or seized, and monthly averages.
The demolitions and seizures in the reporting period resulted in displacement of 374 Palestinians (including 200 children), and adversely affected an additional 1,589 Palestinians (including 796 children), see (Figure 4) (7)
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Figure (4): Monthly number of people displaced and affected by demolitions or seizures.
The number of people displaced or affected by demolitions or seizures was significantly lower than the first six months of 2020 in comparison with previous years, especially 2019, where the number of affected people was exceptionally high, see (Figure 5) (5). However, the respective number of affected Palestinians was highest in June (436 all affected and 196 children).
Figure (5): Annual number of people displaced or affected by demolitions or seizures.
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5. CONCLUSION The extraordinary challenges posed by the COVID-19 crisis amplifies the susceptibility of Palestinians, in particular the population of East Jerusalem who are treated as citizens of the third degree with less rights than the Israeli Jewish population and exposes them to more risk and difficulties. Current social and economic trends in the Palestinian Territory show that the fulfillment of the Sustainable Development Goals will be out of reach if there are no radical positive changes to the existing conditions. The Israeli occupation of the Palestinian lands continues to have a harmful effect on the living conditions of the Palestinian populations, as well as on social and economic development. The damaging impact of the occupation and the Israeli policies is complicated, and the cumulative consequences affect the future of the Palestinians populations in Palestine. To change all of this. First, fixing the borders internationally, as long as Palestine and Israel have no known and clear borders on the map, and then the issue of land exchanges. The demand to establish the 1967 borders is an absolute and irreversible demand, then solving the settlement problem begins with the withdrawal of the Israeli army from the Palestinian territories, after that removing the separation wall from Jerusalem and then go further to all cities. Last, give the Palestinians who are living in Israel (Arab 48 population) their full human rights together with the need of a new planning approach aims at introducing a preliminary and flexible all-East Jerusalem spatial planning framework that is more action oriented, balanced between discursive narratives and actionable plans in the circumstantial context of East Jerusalem.
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6. SOURCES 1. Al-Shaikh, A.-R. (2010). Last Year in Jerusalem. This Week in Palestine, Issue No. 141, 28-32. Pullan, W. (2013). Conflict’s Tools. Borders, Boundaries and Mobility in Jerusalem’s Spatial Structures. Mobilities, 125-147.
2. Pullan, W. (2017). The Current Situation in Jerusalem. International Meeting on the Question of Jerusalem, Ankara, 12-13 May 2014. 3. The Arab Center for Alternative Planning (ACAP). (2014). GIS Database. Road No. 65 (Wadi Ara). Eilaboun, Haifa: ACAP. The Association for Civil Rights (ACRI). (2009). 200 Days of Grace:Israeli Policy in East Jerusalem in the Nir Barkat Era. Jerusalem: ACRI.
4. The Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI). (2012). Policies of Neglect in East Jerusalem:The Policies that Created 78% Poverty Rates and a Frail Job Market. 5. The Civic Coalition for Defending the Palestinians› Rights in Jerusalem (CCDPRJ). (2007). Imposed Procedures Concerning the Acquisition of Building Permits in Jerusalem. Jerusalem: CCDPRJ.
6. United Nations Conciliation Commission (UNCC). (1949). Final Report of the United Nations Economic Survey Mission for the Middle East: An Approach to Economic Development in the Middle East. New York: United Nations 7. B’Tselem - The Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories. East Jerusalem - Neglect of Infrastructure and Services in Palestinian Neighborhoods: http://www.btselem.org/jerusalem/infrastructure_and_services
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