Jerusalem as Final Status Issue
The final status issues are the most important questions of the Palestine-Israel conflict. However, under the Oslo agreements these have been postponed until some future date in the negotiations. The likelihood that meaningful negotiations occur is quickly receding; even more remote is the likelihood of agreement.
Israel has preempted all of the final status issues, by changing the factual situation in the Occupied Palestinian Territories. It seems unlikely that the Palestinian refugees will be granted the right to return, Israel is gradually ethnic cleansing Jerusalem of its Palestinian population, settlements are expanding at an alarming rate, and land confiscation and settlement building has reduced the proprietary claim of Palestinians.
Since the occupation of East Jerusalem in 1967 Israel has undertaken a range of measures, secured by Israeli law, that seek to undermine and reduce the Palestinian presence in Jerusalem. The Israeli objective is to legitimise its occupation and annexation of Jerusalem, and to secure Israeli sovereignty over the entire city by the creation of a de facto majority Jewish demographic presence.
Israel takes the view that is entitled to sovereignty over Jerusalem. Israeli government statements refer to the 3,000 years of "Jewish Continuity". It is claimed that the Palestinians, Muslims and Christians alike, do not venerate the city as Jews do. Moreover, Israel claims that it was willing to respect the cease-fire lines as border but Jordanian "aggression" caused it to forfeit this entitlement.
The present Israeli government rejects any possibility that it will relinquish its claimed sovereignty over the city. Consquently, there appears to be little to discuss. Israel is seeking to ensure that there is a Jewish majority in Jerusalem, thereby securing possession as a means of obtaining title.
The Israeli government and the Jerusalem municipality have adopted a policy of "balanced housing". The policy is designed to limit the Palestinian presence in Jerusalem and significantly to increase the Jewish population in Arab East Jerusalem. Amir Heishan, the advisor to former Mayor Teddy Kollek, declared that "balanced housing" meant a preference for Jewish housing, with the eventual aim of making the Arab population a minority in East Jerusalem. The percentage for the Palestinians targeted by the policy was set at 24 percent of the total population of Jerusalem.
The United Nations General Assembly has regularly condemned Israeli actions. At the 10th Emergency Special Session on 12 November 1997, the United Nations General Assembly reiterated its demands for "immediate and full cessation" of illegal settlement building and of "illegal measures and actions in Jerusalem", and sought compliance from Israel. Israel has ignored the resolution and has continued its policies of ethnic cleansing.
Such policies are prohibited under human rights law because of their devastating impact on a human population.
A number of measures have been adopted to attain the target figures set by the Israeli municipality. The residency rights of Palestinians are revoked; Jerusalem identity cards are confiscated; permits for building are denied to Palestinians; land is confiscated; homes are destroyed; zoning is restricted and discriminatory taxes are levied while little or no services are provided. Moreover, Israel has sought to isolate Jerusalem from the rest of the West Bank and Occupied Territories through settlement building around Jerusalem and the blockade of the West Bank. The consequence has been a severe downturn in the East Jerusalem economy.