Israeli Municipal Policies

Jerusalem is not united; two completely different policies are applied to East and West Jerusalem (incl. settlements in East Jerusalem) and the Arab and Jewish hardly mix with each other. The city was also never –re-united’ as today’s municipal Jerusalem did not exist pre- 1967. The annexed West Bank areas around Jerusalem were neither part of Jordanian Jerusalem, nor any geographic, political or historical entity in the past.

Municipal Budget, Taxation and Infrastructure

According to the Israeli CBS, the over 200,000 Palestinians (more than 30% of Jerusalem’s total population) receive less than 10% of the municipal budget, on average, the city invests seven times as much on a Jewish resident as on Palestinian resident. These figures ridicule the WJM’s (currently responsible for infrastructure measures, maintenance works and provision of services) claims that its policies and services are designed to benefit all residents equally. Palestinians also exposed to an unfair tax system (e.g., arnona tax), according to which Palestinian shopkeepers often have to play the same rates as their Israeli counterparts in West Jerusalem where income levels are far higher.

In East Jerusalem, only 324 dunums have been allocated for public parks while in West Jerusalem the total figure is 5,540 dunums. According to existing plans for East Jerusalem, some 140 dunums only have been allocated for commercial areas, and less than 8% of the total area is available for Palestinian private sector development (Ir-Shalem. East Jerusalem- The Current Planning Situation. A Survey of Municipal Plans and Planning policy, 1998). The sewage system in East Jerusalem is inadequate and insufficient; about half of the water network needs replacing, and repairs and maintenance work on street lighting and roads are ungently needed. The gap in the infrastructures between East and West Jerusalem is currently estimated at US $ 10 billion.

In 1999, only about NIS 40 million out of total of NIS 423 million of the WJM’s development budget was designated for investments in East Jerusalem. The chapter relating to East Jerusalem reads: “The basic working assumption of the city. Therefore the government and the municipality have the obligation to act to reduce the gaps and to ensure services in all of the city. The municipality administration has taken it upon itself to express this in its working plan and in its budget “ (quoted in Kol Ha’lr, 18 April 1999). According to calculations of the city treasury, NIS 776 million are needed to reach a ‘basic equality’ of infrastructure in East and West Jerusalem, in addition to the NIS 200 million which have already been invested. So far, only symbolic work has been undertaken in the east, as the following figures illustrate:

CLOSURE

In March 1993, the Rabin government imposed a general closure denying Palestinians from the WBGS entrance to Israel, free movement between the southern and northern part of the West Bank and access to Jerusalem, thus depriving thousands of Palestinians from reaching their workplaces and holy places as well as accessing medical, educational and economic services. Those Palestinians who enter the city ‘illegally’ risk imprisonment and high penalties.

In addition to the general closure impose total closures- usually after attacks or to prevent attacks at sensitive times, such as Israeli holidays - in which all entry permits are cancelled, and internal closures- mostly imposed after a Palestinian attack on Israeli civilians or security forces -which blockade West Bank towns and villages by de facto isolating them.

The closure policy disregards International Law, according to which East Jerusalem is an integral part of the West Bank, and the Oslo Accords, which view the WBGS as ‘one territorial unit’.

The closure has had a devastating impact on the economy of East Jerusalem and thus, on the Palestinian economy in general; it is estimated that the lifting of the Israeli closure (i.e.’ the opening of Jerusalem) would add some 20% to the overall GDP of Palestine.

EDUCATION

In the PA’s Jerusalem Governorate, thee are 182 schools (incl. 54 kindergartens); private bodies, 9 by UNRWA and 65 runs 108 of them by the PA. These serve a total of 49,165 pupils (incl. 5,437 pupils in kindergartens), who are taught by total of 2,257 teachers. (PCBS, Education Statistics, 1998/99.)

The education system in East Jerusalem itself is divided into the 35 ‘government schools’ maintained by the WJM, and 34 non-municipal schools, which are owned and run by either churches, the Waqf, or private bodies, and serve approx. the same number of students in East Jerusalem schools study according to the Jordanian curriculum

In Aug. 1999, the results of a secret Israeli report compiled in 1998 by a committee, headed by then-Education Min. Dir.-Gen. Ben ZionDell, appointed by the Ministerial Committee for Jerusalem Affairs, to submit recommendations for investments in the Arab educational system in East Jerusalem, were revealed. According to the report, schools in East Jerusalem are below acceptable pedagogic standards, with outdated teaching methods and a considerable lack of resources and assistance services, which have resulted in 30% of all elementary school students being illiterate and 40%of high school students dropping out of school. It was estimated that some NIS 38 million would be needed to improve the situation. (Ha’aretz, 19 Aug.1999).

Other evidence of the extent to which the East Jerusalem educational and cultural system have been neglected, deprived and discriminated against is the fact that while there are 26 municipal libraries in West Jerusalem, the WJM only operates two in the eastern part of the city. There is not a single cinema in the east.

HEALTH

The health facilities in East Jerusalem are better developed than those in the West Bank. With seven hospitals, including one ophthalmic, and over 40 primary health care clinics, rehabilitation centers, facilities for the handicapped and blind, and houses for the elderly. The hospitals also provide services for WBGS patients from outside the east Jerusalem Theater.

PALESTINIAN INSTITUTIOINS

Since Oslo, the WJM has reinforced its policy of institutional control within East Jerusalem in two different ways. First, it has drafted the Gaza-Jericho Agreement Implementation Law (Limiting of Activities), passed by the Knesset by a vote of 56-6 and 32 abstentions on Dec. 1994, which prohibits Palestinian political activities in Jerusalem. As a result, many Palestinian institutions have been threatened, raided and closed down for various periods of time, including organizations such as the Orient House, Al-Quds University, Maqassed Hospital and the National Theater.

In addition, the WJM has made several attempts to increase the presence of Israeli government offices and officials in East Jerusalem. In Oct. 1997 a new ‘Committee to Reinforce Israeli Sovereignty in East Jerusalem’ was set up under Avi Blustein to further this purpose. In Nov. 1997, Israeli Public Security Min. Avigdor Kahalni announced that work had begun to relocate the Israeli police headquarters and to move other police departments to East Jerusalem. In Dec. 1997, the Israeli government ratified a new plan aimed at tightening control over East Jerusalem, and included, amongst other things, the installation of some 200 hidden cameras throughout the Old City.

Source: Palestinian Acadimic Society for the Studies of Interntional Affairs. (PASSIA )