Palestinian
National Authority Official Website
Special Reports |
RESTRICTIONS FOR
PALESTINIAN JERUSALEMITES'
RESIDENCY CONTINUE
MAY 1997
Palestine Ministry of Information
In a provocative speech delivered before the "Teachers' Body
of Political and Economic Immunity," [Israeli] Minister of Interior Eli
Suissa said: "Who ever wants to live in Jerusalem has to abide by Israeli
laws and regulations and fulfill residency requirements. It also necessary
to increase the Jewish majority in Jerusalem to more than 80%."
This statement is no surprise to those who are aware of the biography of this rightist hard-liner, settlements architect Eli Suissa and his zoning plans that have swallowed the land of the holy city during 30 years of occupation, when he was director of the Ministry of Interior's office in Arab East Jerusalem. What is also important to note is that Suissa himself lives in a house built on confiscated Palestinian land on Jabal Az-Zaytoun and what is called now "Beit-Auroun". As for the Palestinian Jerusalemite, he has no option, according to Suissa's announcements, but to yield to the occupation authority by giving up his land and properties in order to obtain the Israeli blue identity card. This identity card in addition to being a political tool closely connected to the Israeli strategic geographic and demographic goals, is also a sword at the necks of over more than 70 thousand Palestinian Jerusalemites who live outside the boundaries of the "Olmert municipality", and another 40 thousand who live abroad for work or study purposes. All of these measures came on the heels of the new decision issued recently by the High Court of Justice which legitimized measures taken by the Israeli Ministry of Interior utilizing "Center of Life" as a tool to deprive the Palestinian Jerusalemites from their citizenship and their right to live in the holy city.
Yunval Genbar, from B'tselem, disclosed the real Israeli
intentions saying: "Israeli government has no need to hire planes and buses
or to congregate military vehicles and trucks to transfer the Palestinians,
for the Israeli administration has orchestrated a sophisticated system
of collective deportation based on data information." He added: "These
measures are considered as firmly establishing discrimination practices
against the Palestinian in comparison with Jews who are able to live outside
the city and return to it whenever they want. This situation applies to
Netanyahu personally, who was born in Jerusalem and lived in the USA for
more than ten years." The tight restrictions that were imposed on
the Palestinian Jerusalemite has forced him to choose between improving
his living conditions or fulfilling his residency stipulations according
to Suissa and the Israeli administration. So he chose the first, not foreseeing
what was awaiting him.
REFUSAL OF FAMILY RE-UNIFICATION APPLICATIONS:
Since 1994, every Jerusalemite woman who is married to
a man living in the West Bank or outside and could not obtain a unification
permit for her husband, will lose her right to live in the city and accordingly
her children who are registered in her identity card lose also this right,
and the family has no option but to leave .
The Following ironic story is the best telling example:
"Suad Nemer, a Palestinian woman was born and lived in
Jerusalem. She married her Jerusalemite relative who was working temporarily
in Saudi Arabia and in 1994 returned to Jerusalem, where he was granted
a temporary residency permit that authorized him to live and work in the
city until completing all procedures to have the blue Israeli identity
card issued to Palestinians living in Jerusalem. After renewing his residency
permit numerous times, unexpectedly they refused to renew his permit and
he received a notice to leave the city with his family in two weeks. The
family has not found a place to go to.
ISRAELI RACISM
Hanin Mazaru was born on Feb. 16, 1996 with a weak heart.
Doctors had recommended that immediately after birth she ought to be transferred
to Hadasa-Ein Karem hospital for an emergency surgery to save her life.
But the Israeli insurance establishment refused to give her mother a letter
obligating the patient's fund to pay the cost of the surgery, and consequently
the child Hanin died three months after birth. The pretext the Israeli
insurance establishment used was that her mother carries the blue identity
card while her father carries a Jordanian passport. However, Israeli law
states explicitly that children have the right to benefit from health insurance
as long as one of the spouses carry the Israeli identity card.
THE DEMOGRAPHIC FUTURE OF JERUSALEM
Dr. Bernard Sabila, professor of social science at Bethlehem
university, says that Palestinian Jerusalemites are in need of about 10
thousand housing units, noting that between 1700-1800 Palestinian Jerusalemites
leave the city annually due to shortage in hosing units and the number
is expected to rise two thousand persons yearly. He adds that Palestinian
Jerusalemites' birthrate is continually decreasing since the year 1982.
Israel wants the percentage of Palestinian citizens to be 28% and the Jews
72 which means toppling the demographic balance in favor of Jews.
Right now the Jewish neighborhood is built on 130 dunums of land with 18
settlers living on each dunum, compared to a ratio of 43 Palestinians per
dunum in other parts of the city.
CHANGING THE CITY'S LANDMARKS.
Israelis went beyond plundering the land and Judaizing
it to wage a war on names of sites and historical places in the holy city
and its nearby periphery, where Jewish settlements are built on confiscated
land. North of the city, Israelis built a military settlement named Anatout
on land confiscated from Anata village while Israeli bulldozers continue
breaking ground at Jabal Abu-Ghuneim. The attack on everything that is
Palestinian appears more clearly in Jerusalem. "Olmert's municipality"
put a sign last year at Lion's Gate-- one of the historical gates of the
holy city--naming the place "Mordachai Gore," the Israeli General who occupied
Jerusalem in the 1967 war. This war of names bears a religious character
that goes in harmony with political schemes that Israelis are seeking to
achieve through Judaizing the holy city.
REMOVING HISTORICAL PAVEMENTS
In a blatant deformation to history, "Olmert's municipality"
replaced stones that paved streets of the holy city with modern stones.
Despite the officials of the municipality bid to interpret the step as
if it was aimed at developing the city, this does not prevent Jerusalemites
from asking why these ancient stones were not resorted. The stones which
were removed from the old city streets can be clearly seen now being used
to pave the courtyards of "Olmert's new municipality" building that has
been erected at the entrance of Jaffa street near Jaffa Gate. Palestinian
Jerusalemites believe that Olmert's municipality aims to achieve two objectives:
first, obliteration of the old city's antiquities and history, and second,
using these stones to show the new Jewish sites as if it were ancient.
NEW EXCAVATIONS:
Since last March, Israel began a new episode of its excavation
serial inside the old city, using this time the pretext of opening a new
sewage system. After three weeks of these excavations, the Israeli authorities
revealed its real objectives when it announced the discovery of a road
that Jews allegedly used to take toward a Temple during the Roman era.
The Israeli archaeologist, Jakov Beilig, who supervises this project announced
that this road was one of the main roads in ancient Jerusalem and was called
"Cardo Seconds." This announcement recalls to memory the excavations that
have been carried out in the old part of Jerusalem twenty years ago and
resulted at that time in what Israel "Cardo Maximos", where it is called
now, after its restoration, "Cardo Market."