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| Young Israelis march into Damascus Gate waving Israeli flags and chanting nationalist slogans on Jerusalem Day. (MaanImages/Charlie Hoyle) |
BETHLEHEM (Ma'an) -- As thousands of Israelis march through East Jerusalem on Wednesday to celebrate its capture in 1967, the Palestinian community continues its struggle to survive in a city marked by systematic political, economic, and social divides.
Every year, thousands of right-wing Israelis march through East Jerusalem neighbourhoods and the Old City in a national holiday described by Israel's Ministry of Tourism as marking the "liberation" and "reunification" of the city.
But for Palestinians, who make up 40 percent of the population, the day is a reminder of their historic dispossession and compounds their ongoing marginalization from a city which was once the political, economic, and cultural centre of Palestinian life.
Over 75 percent of Palestinians, and 82 percent of children, live below the poverty line in East Jerusalem, according to the Association for Civil Rights in Israel.
There are huge discrepancies between East and West Jerusalem in terms of education, health, water access, and planning, while Israel has also revoked the residency of 14,309 Palestinians since occupying the city in 1967, with 106 in 2013 alone.
Palestinians in Jerusalem are granted "permanent resident" status, similar to foreign, non-Jewish citizens who choose to live in Israel, and are not Israeli citizens.
Despite forming nearly half of the city's population, Palestinians receive only 10 percent of Jerusalem's municipal budget.
"It's increasingly obvious that Israel is doing anything it can within its own legal structures to push young Palestinian families and couples out of town," Micha Kurz from Grassroots Jerusalem, an NGO in East Jerusalem, told Ma'an.
"Not only are living conditions very poor, but healthcare is inaccessible. People can't find jobs, and no new Palestinian neighbourhoods have been built (since 1967) while Israel has been building 'settlements' on Palestinian land."
Only 14 percent of East Jerusalem is zoned for Palestinian residential construction, ACRI says, while one-third of Palestinian land has been confiscated since 1967 to build illegal Jewish-only settlements.
The construction of the separation wall has also cut off East Jerusalem from the West Bank and forced nearly 100,000 Palestinians in areas such as Ras Khamis, Ras Shahada, and the Shuafat refugee camp to live in "abject neglect" on the outskirts of the city.
Between 60,000-80,000 Palestinians in those neighbourhoods have been cut off from a regular water supply for over three months.
Jerusalem Day is a celebration of the Zionist narrative, Kurz says, and is designed in such a way that Israelis ignore the fact that Palestinians have no right to vote nationally, have few economic prospects, and enjoy none of the public services afforded to Jewish residents.
"Thousands of Israelis will be marching through Palestinian neighbourhoods shouting: 'It's time you leave this town.' This is what the celebration is about; it's systematic.
"Within the next 10 or 20 years Palestinians will be cleansed out of Jerusalem, politically and economically, but also culturally and religiously. Give it another generation or two."
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=700344
Every year, thousands of right-wing Israelis march through East Jerusalem neighbourhoods and the Old City in a national holiday described by Israel's Ministry of Tourism as marking the "liberation" and "reunification" of the city.
But for Palestinians, who make up 40 percent of the population, the day is a reminder of their historic dispossession and compounds their ongoing marginalization from a city which was once the political, economic, and cultural centre of Palestinian life.
Over 75 percent of Palestinians, and 82 percent of children, live below the poverty line in East Jerusalem, according to the Association for Civil Rights in Israel.
There are huge discrepancies between East and West Jerusalem in terms of education, health, water access, and planning, while Israel has also revoked the residency of 14,309 Palestinians since occupying the city in 1967, with 106 in 2013 alone.
Palestinians in Jerusalem are granted "permanent resident" status, similar to foreign, non-Jewish citizens who choose to live in Israel, and are not Israeli citizens.
Despite forming nearly half of the city's population, Palestinians receive only 10 percent of Jerusalem's municipal budget.
"It's increasingly obvious that Israel is doing anything it can within its own legal structures to push young Palestinian families and couples out of town," Micha Kurz from Grassroots Jerusalem, an NGO in East Jerusalem, told Ma'an.
"Not only are living conditions very poor, but healthcare is inaccessible. People can't find jobs, and no new Palestinian neighbourhoods have been built (since 1967) while Israel has been building 'settlements' on Palestinian land."
Only 14 percent of East Jerusalem is zoned for Palestinian residential construction, ACRI says, while one-third of Palestinian land has been confiscated since 1967 to build illegal Jewish-only settlements.
The construction of the separation wall has also cut off East Jerusalem from the West Bank and forced nearly 100,000 Palestinians in areas such as Ras Khamis, Ras Shahada, and the Shuafat refugee camp to live in "abject neglect" on the outskirts of the city.
Between 60,000-80,000 Palestinians in those neighbourhoods have been cut off from a regular water supply for over three months.
Jerusalem Day is a celebration of the Zionist narrative, Kurz says, and is designed in such a way that Israelis ignore the fact that Palestinians have no right to vote nationally, have few economic prospects, and enjoy none of the public services afforded to Jewish residents.
"Thousands of Israelis will be marching through Palestinian neighbourhoods shouting: 'It's time you leave this town.' This is what the celebration is about; it's systematic.
"Within the next 10 or 20 years Palestinians will be cleansed out of Jerusalem, politically and economically, but also culturally and religiously. Give it another generation or two."
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=700344
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