Har Homa and Palestinian Constructionin East Jerusalem

Background

On February 26, the Israeli Government approved the construction of 2465 residential units for Israelis in Har Homa,the first stage of a 6500 units project to be built on expropriated land in Southeast Jerusalem. Along with this decision, the Prime Minister and government spokes people announced the intention to"build 3015 homes for Palestinians in East Jerusalem".

The experience of the past thirty years indicatesthe necessity of treating the later announcement with skepticism. During this time, theoretical plans for Palestinian construction were revived each time Israel found itself embroiled in an international uproar resulting from Jewish construction in East Jerusalem. Oneach occasion, when the storm died down, the plans died a naturalor unnatural death.

In 1980, for example, the expropriation of landsfor the construction of the new Jewish neighborhood of PisgatZe'ev was made contingent on the approval of plans for Palestinian building in the adjacent Beit Hanina. Seventeen years later, PisgatZe'ev is a huge neighborhood with thousands of Jewish residents.However, the plans for Palestinian building have been whittleddown (from 18,000 potential permits to 7500 potential permits), and will require at least another several years before the plan becomes operative. In May 1995, in a desperate attempt to offset the international uproar that ensued from the government's intention to expropriate additional lands in Jerusalemthe Israeli Government adopted a resolution to "... expeditethe granting of building permits in East Jerusalem." During the two years that have elapsed since this announcement, not one additional available permit has been granted.

The need to scrutinize the Netanyahu Government "Plan"to build 3015 homes for Palestinians closely becomes most evidentwithin this over-all context.

The Government "Plan" for the Construction ofHomes for Palestinians

The Israeli Government Plan to "build" homes for Palestinians in East Jerusalem is based on a single page document prepared by the Jerusalem Municipality entitled "Planned Road Construction during 1997 and 1988." ThePlan details the 9.64 km of roads in East Jerusalem, the constructionof which is to commence in 1997.

Before examining the Plan's details, it is important to note:

a. The Plan does not entail the addition of any building permits to the Palestinian sector, beyond the very limited numberof permits already available.

b. The Plan includes no government constructions of housing for the Palestinian sector, nor does it involve any indirect government funding or participation in said construction.

Thus, one must ask, what is the connection between road building and the construction of 3015 homes for Palestinians? The response is little or none other than for public relations or misinformation purposes. The Netanyahu government arrived atthe arbitrary number of 3015 residential units to be built onthe basis of the Municipal Report, which states that there are3015 theoretical building permits available to the Palestinian population in the vicinity of the planned roads. It appears that construction of these roads is tantamount, by rules of logic apparentonly to government officials and spokespeople, to the actual buildingof homes for Palestinians.

Since 1967, more than one third of the lands of East Jerusalem have been expropriated, overwhelmingly from Palestinians. More than 40,000 residential units have been built on these expropriatedlands - all for Israelis Jews, none for Palestinians. Since 1967, less than 600 residential units have been built for Palestinians with any kind of government support, the last of which was almost twenty years ago.

47 sq. km. of East Jerusalem remain for building after expropriations which have been made already. Of this area, 60% is still unplanned, and no building permits are available exist. Almost half of that area planned has been defined as greenopen space, where no permits may be issued. Thus, of the 70.5sq. km. of East Jerusalem annexed after 1967, construction is allowed only on sq. km. But this too is theoretically, since legal, bureaucratic and economic obstacles render it virtually impossible to obtain a building permit.

This reality cannot be changed by government declarations.The plan to build 9.64 km. of roads will at best, improve thechances of tens, perhaps a few hundred, Palestinian residentsto obtain a building permit at some undetermined date in the future. It does not to address the systematic and multiple barriers created during the last thirty years. These barriers compel the 170,000 residents of East Jerusalem to confront the following tragic dilemma: live in miserable overcrowded conditions, build illegally, orleave the city. Nothing in the government scheme even pretendsto deal with the underlying causes, or to address these issuesother than cosmetically.

The "Plan" was copied almost verbatim, from a prior Municipal Report of April 1994, and appears to havebeen haphazardly together for the purposes of counterbalancing the Har Homa Plan. The data included in the Plan pertaining tothe number of available building permits include several hundrednon-existent permits.

These are part of town plans which have yet to be approved, such as Ras-el-Amud. Others will require years of additional planning before being implemented, such Beth Tzafafa. In the present "Plan" non-existent building permits are cited-in Silwanand A Tur--despite the fact that the latest available permit underexiting plans issued years ago.

In an ironic and indicative twist, the purported number of 3015 units for Palestinians also includes the 132 dwelling units planned by Dr. Moskowitz a settler compound in Ras el Amud-andthis under the guise of "government building for Palestiniansin East Jerusalem." In Arab a Sawara, the documents calculatesan additional 500 units to be built as a result of the new roads to be constructed. Yet, there is no plan to construct even an Additional meter of road in this neighborhood.

In short, the document is a curious mix of "Wonderlandlogic," dubious data and recycled ideas, all aimed at substantiating the claim that Israel is an "equal opportunity expropriator.These blunders are so blatant that they might cause one to forget that the "Plan" does contain certain positive steps (such as road construction) that may in some way ameliorate the light of a limited number of people.

The Politics of Allocation

An examination of the financial aspects of the government "Plan" is also in order. The implementation of the "Plan"is based on a prior government decision, made several weeks ago,to allocate in 1997 130,000,00 NIS ($42,000,000) for infrastructures in the Palestinian quarters in East Jerusalem. This decision, as well, was made in anticipation of the decision to proceed with Har Homa. The sources of much of this funding have yet to be located,and require a "re-ordering of priorities" within various government Ministers. Given the Ministry's of Finance's intentionto cut another 2 billion NIS from the budget, one may ask how likely it is that these sums will remain available for a sector of the population bearing no electoral clout.

Under the albeit unlikely assumption that the allocation will be implemented in full, the following information should be taken into account.

a. Approximately 7% of Jerusalem's Municipal budgetonly is allocated to the Palestinian sector, which comprises29,1% of the population. The per capita municipal allocation in West Jerusalem is six times greater than the percapita allocation in East Jerusalem.

b. The picture at the government level is no diiferent.Of the 175,000,000 NIS allocated by the Ministry of Constructionand Housing for the development of Jerusalem in 1995, only, 1,500,000NIS were allocated to the Palestinian sector.

c. Even if the full allocation of 130,000,000NIS is needed expended, as a "one time massive infusion of government fun"the per capita Municipal and Governmental allacation wil still be more than three times greater in West Jerusalem than in the East, by a conservative estimate.

d. Even in the limited area of raod construction(which is at the hear of the "Plan"), the allocationfor road construction for the benefit of the yet non-existing Jewish residents of Har Homa will greater in 1997 than the total allocation under the Paln for road building in the ten existing Palestinian neighborhoods.

The picture is clear. The "Plan" is a hastily composed document designed, predominantly, as a weapon in the government's polemical arsenal rather than as a serious efforts to deal with the housing needs of the Palestinian population. As such, and assuming that it will be implemented, the Plan will be a minor, albeit locally significant step, in redressing the stark and cumulative discrimination in the allocation of resourcesin East Jerusalem. Its representation as more than this is a blantant misrepresentation.

Har Homa vs. Government Construction for Palestinians

In an attempt to deflect the criticism raised against the Har Homa project and purported construction in East Jerusalem Mayor Olmert has claimed that the Government will not fund the construction of homes for Palestinians in East Jerusalem. He hasstated, however that the Government will also not fund building for the Jewish population in Har Homa, but the project will becarried out by the private sector. The facts are otherwise, as demonstrated by the following points:

a. The lands of Har Homa are government owned,having been acquired through expropriation, at total cost to the Israeli tax payers of hundreds of million dollars. The projectitself was planned by the government, at the taxpayer's expense, and will be implemented under government auspices.

b. The construction at Har Homa will be carriedout by contractors selected by the government under a tender offeredby the government. The apartments will be constructed and marketed by the private sector, but the government will remain owner ofthe property, leasing the apartments through long term leasesto the Israeli purchasers.

c. The potential residents of Har Homa are entitled to government subsidized mortgages. The Palestinians residents of East Jerusalem, with rare exception, have no such entitlement.

d. In spite of the fact that the lands of Har Homaare to be owned by the government, Palestinian residents willnot be entitled to buy a home there. This right is reserved for Israeli citizens and to those entitled to immigrate to Israel under the Law of Return-that is Jews or their immediate families.The Palestinians of East Jerusalem are Permanent Residents, butnot citizens of Israel. Consequently, a Jewish resident of theUnited States will be entitled to purchase a home at Har Homa for his use at some undetermined point the in the future. The Palestinian resident of Um Tuba, adjacent to Har Homa, may notbuy a home on land that was once his property even though currently owned by a government purporting to abide by an obligation to equality before the law.

Har Homa is a major Government project, to be carriedout at the total expense of one sector of the population, the Palestinian, for the exclusive benefit of the other. The project would not be possible without massive government intervention and support. On the other hand, the construction of Palestinian infrastructures is a hesitant, long overdue attempt to redress the gross discrimination which has been the plight of the Palestinian population for the last thirty years.

The Palestinians are being offered the following transaction: if you acquiesce to a new and massive discriminatory housing project which will undermine your presence in the cityand threaten to cut you off from your hinterland in the West Bank, we will reward you by beginning to redress some of the aspects of the historic discrimination and deprivation. Is it any wonderthat the Palestinians are less than entusiastic?

One of the most telling elements of the Har Homa affair and the "Plan" for Palestinian construction isthe impunity with which the government felt it could promote such misinformation that flies directly in the face of the personal experience and knowledge of the 170,000 Palestinian residents of Jerusalem. Like the masters of the house in a Victorian novel who speak of their servants in their presence, as if they were not there, the decision makers see them selves as so unaccountable to the Palestinian residents of Jerusalem as to be at liberty to grossly misrepresent their plight, at no risk to themselves. If the detailed above does not offer ample evidence of the mannerin which Mr. Netanyahu and Mr. Olmert have related to a third of Jerusalem's population, the misinformation campaign surrounding Har Homa certainly does.

Courtesy: The Jerusalem Center For Women.

Irshalem - Jerusalem

8 Smuts St., P.O. Box. 4313, Jerusalem91042,

Telephone: 02-5661277 Fax: 02-5661439