Peace Now: Israeli government supports Judaisation of Jerusalem
Palestine-Israel, Politics, 5/23/2006

An anti-occupation Israeli organization revealed that the Israeli Government supports a plan of judaization of Jerusalem.

In a new report issued recently the "Peace Now" movement said that in recent months Israel has begun allowing the most extremist Jewish settlers to take control of some of the most highly contested areas of Jerusalem.

The report produced by Lara Friedman, Government Relations Director, Americans for Peace Now (USA), with the assistance of Daniel Seidemann, Ir Amim (Jerusalem), Peace Now said.

The report begins by talking about the role of the Israeli Municipality of Jerusalem in the plan. It says that the Jerusalem municipality wants to demolish Palestinian homes in the al Bustan area of Silwan for the stated reasons of enforcing Israeli law regarding building permits or reclaiming an archeologically important area to create a park.

It also reveals that the Municipality wants to demolish a large number of Palestinian homes in East Jerusalem.

In November 2004, the Jerusalem town planner reportedly sent instructions to the building enforcement department to aggressively enforce building laws in a Palestinian neighborhood of Silwan, on the southern edge of the Old City. Subsequently, in May 2005, the municipality announced plans to demolish 88 homes in this area, home to about 1000 Palestinians. The affected homes make up a section of Silwan the Palestinians call "al Bustan" (which means "the grove") and the settlers call "Emek Ha'Melech" (which means "Valley of the King," referring to King David).

The report says that the Government authorities clearly abet the settlers' efforts some specific cases.

"Perhaps the most egregious example of this is the case of the large national park that surrounds the Old City on its south and east," Peace Now said. "Israel recently handed de facto control of this national park - and the many religious and historic sites it contains - to the extremist settler organization El Ad (which for years has led efforts to establish a Jewish presence in the neighborhood of Silwan."

Another national park northeast of the Old City, to be placed under the control of Jewish extremists, is in the planning stages. In addition, in recent months the Jerusalem settlers have once again begun taking over Palestinian properties and intensifying activities in the heart of the Muslim Quarter, in Silwan, and in the areas around and overlooking the Old City, it added.

According to the report, such activities are not new. It is a resurgence of a controversial and blatantly illegal campaign to take over homes and property in Palestinian neighborhoods of East Jerusalem that peaked in the 1980's.

"The most significant Israeli government support for such activities took place from the mid-1980's until 1992. During this period there was a covert Israeli government policy of targeting properties in Palestinian neighborhoods and turning them over to settler organizations like El Ad (whose activities focus exclusively on Silwan) and Ateret Cohanim (whose focus is the Old City). As revealed in an Israeli government-commissioned report, the tactics included declaring Palestinian property to be absentee property (i.e., property whose owners were in "enemy" territory at the end of the 1967 War, and whose assets thus reverted, under Israeli law, to the State of Israel) and turning it over to settlers, and using government pressure to convince Palestinian owners to sell to settlers." (As quoted from a previous article."

The report says that the Israeli Antiquities Authority, the National Parks Authority, the Ministry of Construction, the Ministry of infrastructures, for example, are clearly support such activities. It adds that there is clear evidence of active Israeli Government support for the settlers.

"For example, in 2005 the Knesset approved NIS 60 million (around $13.5 million) per year for 7 years to fund restoration of the Old City and its environs - funds that some experts argue are tantamount to a slush fund for settler activities in the area. In addition, the decision to give settlers control over various public areas, like the national park discussed earlier, and an historic quarry, discussed below - indicate clear support from at least some elements in the Israeli government." With a special focus on the Jewish settlers (colonizers) target sites in key areas of the Old City and the Holy Basin, these sites are briefed as follows:

- Muslim Quarter: The Government of Israel is preparing to move ahead with a plan to build a new settlement inside Herod's Gate, in the heart of the Muslim Quarter.

- Muslim Quarter: The Government of Israel recently handed over to the Ateret Cohanim settler organization a new project to "restore" a 3000 year-old quarry running under the Old City, from Herod's Gate 280 meters toward the Temple Mount/Haram al Sharif. The project is being funded by, among others, the Ministry of Infrastructure, from monies budgeted for the rehabilitation of quarries (funds ostensibly meant to deal with the blight on the land left by modern quarries, not the transformation of a 3000 year-old underground quarry into a tourist site run by far right-wing settlers).

- Jaffa Gate: In 2005 settlers claimed to have acquired - under questionable circumstances that are now the subject of legal proceedings- two Palestinian hotels located at Jaffa Gate. This is the entrance to the Old City that will under the best of circumstances (like those envisioned by the Geneva Initiative) require the most delicate and complicated arrangements, since it represents a key point of control, with access to all four Quarters of of the Old City.

The Holy Basin:
- Sheikh Jarrah (north of the Old City): The Shepherd's Hotel, a property formerly owned by the Mufti of Jerusalem, came under Israeli control in 1967 and was used for years as an Israeli Border Police station. In recent years the site has stood vacant, but the building is to be demolished imminently to make way for a new privately funded settlement compound, funded by a company controlled by Irving Moskowitz, a wealthy American businessman and longtime patron of the far right-wing settlers in Jerusalem.

- North of the Old City: A national park is being planned for this area, and will reportedly be turned over to the settlers to run.

- A-Tur (Mount of Olives): In April 2006 settlers took over - under dubious circumstances - two large buildings in the neighborhood of A-Tur on the Mount of Olives, overlooking the Old City. This is the first time since 1967 the settlers have succeeded in acquiring property in this densely-populated Palestinian neighborhood.

- Ras al-Amud (Mount of Olives): The recent commencement of construction of the new Israeli police station in E1 means that the current police station in Ras al-Amud will soon be turned over to the settlers. Reportedly the settlers are funding the construction of the new police station in order to facilitate the handover of the property in Ras al-Amud, where the settlers plan to construct a large new settlement complex.

- (Abu Dis): There is a government-sponsored plan, approved by the Jerusalem Municipality, for the construction of several hundred housing units in this area, located in the heart of the Palestinian neighborhood of Abu-Dis - an area isolated from any other Israeli presence. Two new houses (one built illegally) have already been turned over to settlers.

- Silwan (south of the Old City): In March 2006 settlers took over a Palestinian home in Silwan. Earlier attempts to evict the family living in this home in the late 1990s were abandoned after they drew critical media coverage.

- Silwan (south of the Old City): As mentioned earlier, the Government of Israel has handed control of the major elements in the national park adjacent to the Old City to the settlers.

- Abu Tor (south of the Old City): Settlers recently took over a Palestinian property in this neighborhood. The site they took over was being used to serve the mentally disabled.

As for the settlers goals, the report says that the patterns of settlement activity in Jerusalem reveal three "rings" of settlements, two of these reflect religious/messianic ideology, and the other reflects a political/strategic plan for the city. Clearly, there is a "thermal map" of Jerusalem - not all areas resonate equally for the settlers (and other Israelis). The settlers concentrate their energies on those areas that resonate the most strongly:

Ring 1 - the Old City: Plotting the settlement activities inside and immediately around the Old City, it appears clear that the settlers are focusing their activities on a band of settlements extending from Herod's Gate, through the Old City, to Silwan. By establishing a presence in these areas, the settlers appear to want to "ring" the Temple Mount and cut it off from the Palestinian population.

Ring 2 - the Holy Basin: Plotting the settlement activities in the areas beyond the Old City but still within Jerusalem's municipal borders, the settlements clearly delineate the larger area of greatest importance to religious and messianic Jews - the Old City and its visual basin (i.e., the surrounding areas and those areas looking out onto the Old City from the Mount of Olives).

Ring 3 - Greater Jerusalem: Plotting settlement activities further from the Old City, on the periphery of the municipal borders, reveals a third ring of settlements - one which defines the shape and scope of former Prime Minister Sharon's concept of Greater Jerusalem - consistent with his long-held view that blocking geographic contiguity between the West Bank and East Jerusalem is necessary to ensure that there is no political contiguity between the two.

It concludes by saying that the efforts of the messianic settlers in Jerusalem do not enjoy wide popularity among the Israeli public or even within the Israeli Government.

With respect to the Israeli Government, it should be recalled that, historically, all Israeli governments have recognised the importance of respecting the unique multi-religious, multi-cultural balance of the city. It seems likely that with some prodding from the international community, the new leadership of Israel would be amenable to restoring such a policy.

At the same time, while the messianic settlers are not well-liked or widely-supported in Israel, many people in government fear them, since they are well-organized, well-funded (including substantial tax-exempt funds coming from supporters in the USA), and single-minded in their focus. Historically, Israeli officials appear to have often decided that it is easier to let these settlers have their way than to expend the time and effort to fight them and all of their supporters.

Thus, real pressure - both domestic and international - will likely be a key element to ensuring a change in Israeli government policy to check the dangerous and destabilizing activities of these settlers in Jerusalem, Peace Now concluded.

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