Population

Immediately after the occupation of Jerusalem in 1967, the Israeli government conducted a census that counted 66,000 Palestinians living in East Jerusalem within the new municipal borders (44,000 in pre-1967 East Jerusalem and 22,000 in the area newly annexed by Israel). While these Palestinians were classified as permanent residents of Jerusalem due to absence- whether studying abroad, visiting relatives elsewhere, etc.- had later to apply for family reunification to the Ministry of the Interior (see Residency Rights).

Ever since 1967, the Israeli government has encouraged Jews to settle in East Jerusalem and has provided numerous incentives such as favorable apartment purchase terms, subsides, and exemption from municipal taxes for five years followed by a reduced tax rate. As a result, the settlers in East Jerusalem comprise an estimated 76% of the total increase in Jerusalem’s Jewish population since 1967. In June 1993, the West Jerusalem Municipality’s (WJM) deputy mayor Abraham Kehila reported an Israeli majority in East Jerusalem with the number of Jewish settler having reached 160,000, surpassing the city’s then- 155,000 Palestinians.

The 1998 Israeli Statistical Yearbook of Jerusalem puts the number of Arab inhabitants of Jerusalem at 200, 100 (comprising 31.6% of the city’s total population); Palestinian figures suggest that over 210,000 Palestinians hold Jerusalem ID cards, although it is estimated that least 70,000 of these are actually residing outside the city limits in nearby West Bank towns. The Dec. 1997 census of the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS) estimated that some 210,209 Palestinians lived in Israeli-annexed Jerusalem, while there were 328,601 in the Jerusalem district.

There are clear indications that the non-Jewish population in Jerusalem is growing faster than the Jewish population: in 1998 tha annual growth rate of the Arab population was approx. 3.5% (2.7) in 1997, while that of the Jewish population was less than 1% (0.7% in 1997), which is even lower than the country’s overall growth rate for the Jewish population (1.9%). In 1997, about 15,000 Jews left the capital with about 7,700 moving in (= net loss of 7,300 Jewish residents; the previous years’ average was 5,000) (Statistical Yearbook of Jerusalem, 1998). Some 20% of those who left were from the Haredi community. The main reason for leaving is the high housing prices in the city.

The seriousness of the matter is reflected in WJM mayor Ehud Olmert’s call (Sept. 1999) for an increase in the number of Jews in Jerusalem as the future of the Jewish majority was in danger with the current trend. There were also reports that the city of Jerusalem intends to expand its jurisdiction westward and construct some 75,000 new housing units (“National Master Plan No. 35”) in order to create a stretch of “unbroken city” (from the Jerusalem-Tel Aviv highway in the north to Tzur Hadassah in the south) to secure a Jewish majority in the city. The plan calls for the Jewish population to be raised to 758,000 by 2020 (Ha’aretz, 21 Jan. 1999). Correspondingly, the Israeli Cabinet approved on 24 March a $68 million development plan for Jerusalem as well as annexation of 8,750 acres for westward expansion, mainly to construct 120,000 housing units until 2020.Measures to improve services in East Jerusalem were also included.

Demographic Features 

It is also against the background of these demographic trends that the Israeli government has drafted various plans to expand the municipal boundaries, the last of which was publicized in 1998 and focused in the realization of the ‘Greater Jerusalem’ concept- comprised of 440 km2 - via an umbrella municipality of local councils. The plan included the incorporation of the settlements of Givat Ze’ev and Ma’ale Adumim, as well as other areas inside the ‘Green Line’ and the inclusion of another 30,000 Jews and construction of 142,000 apartments in the Jewish sector in order to consolidate the Jewish majority in Jerusalem.

Source: Palestinian Academic Society for the Studies of International Affairs. (PASSIA )