EAST JERUSALEM

'East Jerusalem' refers to the part of Jerusalem that was captured by Jordan in the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, and by Israel in the 1967 Six-Day War. It includes Jerusalem's Old City and some of the holiest sites of Judaism, Christianity and Islam, such as the Temple Mount, Western Wall, Al-Aqsa Mosque and the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.
Following the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, Jerusalem was divided into two parts - the western portion, populated mainly by Jews, came under Israeli sovereignty, while the eastern portion, populated mainly by Arabs, came under Jordanian rule. Arabs living in such western Jerusalem neighbourhoods as Katamon or Malha were forced to leave; the same fate befell Jews in the eastern areas, such as the Old City and the City of David. The only eastern area that had remained in Israeli hands throughout the 19 years of Jordanian rule was Mt. Scopus, where the Hebrew University is located. Following the 1967 Six-Day War, the eastern part of Jerusalem came under Israeli rule and was merged with the western municipality, together with several neighboring Palestinian villages. Since then Israel has attempted to incorporate the area into the rest of Jerusalem, establishing settlements and restricting Arab activities. United Nations Resolution 242 calls for Israeli withdrawal from territories occupied in 1967, including, it has been argued, East Jerusalem.
The term "East Jerusalem" usually refers to the entire area that had been under Jordanian rule and came under the administration of the Jerusalem municipality in 1967, covering some 70 km², or it may sometimes refer just to the territory of the pre-1967 Jordanian municipality, covering 6.4 km². Mount Scopus, which was an Israeli enclave inside Jordanian territory before 1967, is not considered part of East Jerusalem.

Contents

History

Jordanian Rule

Israeli Rule

Demographics

Status

Sovereignty

Residency

Mayors of East Jerusalem

Footnotes

References

See also

External links

History

Jordanian Rule

Main articles: Rule of the West Bank and East Jerusalem by Jordan

According to the 1947 UN Partition Plan, Jerusalem was supposed to be an international city, not part of either the proposed Jewish or Arab state. During the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, West Jerusalem was captured by Israel, while East Jerusalem (including the Old City) was captured by Jordan. Upon its capture, the Jordanians immediately expelled all the Jewish residents of the Jewish Quarter. All the main synagogues were destroyed, and the Jewish Quarter was bulldozed. The ancient Jewish cemetery on Mount of Olives was desecrated, and the tombstones there were used for construction and paving roads. Jordan also destroyed the Jewish villages of Atarot and Neve Yaakov just north of Jerusalem (their sites became Jerusalem neighborhoods after 1967). In 1950 East Jerusalem, along with the rest of the West Bank, was annexed by Jordan. However, the annexation of the West Bank was recognized only by the United Kingdom, which did not recognize the annexation of East Jerusalem. East Jerusalem absorbed some of the refugees from West Jerusalem's Arab neighborhoods that came under Israeli rule. Thousands of Arabs were settled in the previously Jewish areas of Jerusalem.Israeli, Raphael. ''Jerusalem Divided: the armistice regime, 1947-1967'', Routledge, 2002, p. 118.
During the period of Jordanian rule, East Jerusalem lost much of its importance, as it was no longer a capital, and losing its link to the coast diminished its role as a commercial hub. It even saw a population decrease, with merchants and administrators moving to Amman. On the other hand, it maintained its religious importance, as well as its role as a regional center.
During the 1960s Jerusalem saw economic improvement and its tourism industry developed significantly, and its holy sites attracted growing numbers of pilgrims (but Israelis of all religions were not allowed into East Jerusalem ^[1]. Jews were not allowed access to the Mount of Olives, Western Wall and other holy sites, in contravention of Article VIII of the 1949 Armistice Agreements. Kendall Town Scheme was commissioned by the Jordanian government in 1966 with the purpose of linking the city with the surrounding towns and villages, integrating them into a metropolitan area. This plan was not implemented, as East Jerusalem came under Israeli rule the following year.

Israeli Rule

During the Six-Day War of 1967 Israel captured the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and eventually incorporated 6.4 km² of Jordanian Jerusalem and 64 km² of the nearby West Bank into the municipality of Jerusalem, including several villages and lands from neighboring villages and towns. Israel & the Palestinians: Key Maps This move excluded many of East Jerusalem's suburbs and divided several villages.
Under Israeli rule, members of all religions were largely granted access to their holy sites, with the Muslim Waqf maintaining control of the Temple Mount and Muslim holy sites there. The old Mughrabi Quarter (Morrocan) neighborhood in front of the Western Wall was demolished and replaced with a large open air plaza. The Jewish Quarter, destroyed in 1948, was rebuilt and settled.
With the stated purpose of preventing infiltration during the Second Intifada, Israel has decided to surround Jerusalem's eastern perimeter with a security barrier. The planned structure has separated East Jerusalem from its West Bank suburbs, some of which are under the jurisdiction of the Palestinian Authority. The separation barrier has raised much criticism, and the Israeli Supreme Court has ruled that the alignment of sections of the barrier (including East Jerusalem sections) must be amended.
In the January 25, 2006 Palestinian Legislative Elections, 6,300 East Jerusalem Arabs were registered and permitted to vote locally. All other residents had to travel to West Bank polling stations. Hamas won four seats and Fatah two, even though Hamas was barred by Israel from campaigning in the city. Fewer than 6,000 residents were permitted to vote locally in the prior 1996 elections.

Demographics

The population of East Jerusalem as of 2006 was 428,304, comprising 59.5% of Jerusalem's residents. Of these, 181,457 (42%) are Jews, (comprising 39% of the Jewish population of Jerusalem), 229,004 (53%) are Muslim (comprising 99% of the Muslim population of Jerusalem and 13,638 (3%) are Christian (comprising 92% of the Christian population of Jerusalem).^[2]
East Jerusalem's main Arab neighborhoods include Shuafat (34,700), Beit Hanina (24,745), a-Sawana (22,127), Jabal Mukabar (16,030), Ras al-'Amud (14,841) and Abu Tor (14,614). East Jerusalem's main Jewish neighborhoods include Pisgat Ze'ev (41,208), Gilo (27,258), Ramot Alon (22,460), Neve Yaakov (20,156), and East Talpiyot (12,158). The Old City has an Arab population of 32,635 and a Jewish population of 3,942.^[3]

Status

Sovereignty

Since June 28 1967, East Jerusalem has been under the law, jurisdiction, and administration of the State of Israel.^[4] This ''de facto'' annexation is not recognized by the international community,^[5] and was deemed invalid in a subsequent non-binding United Nations General Assembly resolution.^[6] In a reply to the resolution, Israel denied that her measures constitute annexation.^[7]
In the 1980 "Jerusalem Law" Israel formally declared Jerusalem "whole and united", to be "the eternal capital of Israel". However, as the boundaries were intentionally not specified in the law, whether annexation has ever taken place is still debated.^[8] In response, the UN Security Council unanimously adopted the non-binding Resolution 478 (the U.S. abstained), declaring the law to be "null and void" and a violation of international law. In 1988, Jordan, while rejecting Israeli sovereignty over East Jerusalem, withdrew all its claims to the West Bank (including East Jerusalem).
The Israeli-Palestinian Declaration of Principles, signed September 13, 1993, deferred the settlement of the permanent status of Jerusalem to the final stages of negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians. The Palestinian National Authority view the future permanent status of East Jerusalem as the capital of the Palestinian state.^[9] The possibility of a Palestinian capital in East Jerusalem was considered by Israel for the first time in the Taba Summit in 2001,^[10] though these negotiations ended without an agreement and this possibility has not been considered by Israel since.
In a 1991 letter, United States Secretary of State James Baker stated that the United States is "opposed to the Israeli annexation of East Jerusalem and the extension of Israeli law on it and the extension of Jerusalem’s municipal boundaries".^[11]. However, the U.S. Senate in 1990 had adopted a resolution "acknowledging Jerusalem as Israel's capital" and stating that it "strongly believes that Jerusalem must remain an undivided city."^[12] Congress passed the Jerusalem Embassy Act on October 23, 1995, which declared that Jerusalem should remain undivided and that it should be recognized as Israel's capital.
Some international law experts, such as Julius Stone and Sir Elihu Lauterpacht, have argued that Israel has sovereignty over East Jerusalem, since Jordan did not have legal sovereignty over the territory, and thus Israel was entitled in an act of self-defense during the Six Day War to "fill the vacuum"."Lauterpacht has offered a cogent legal analysis leading to the conclusion that sovereignty over Jerusalem has already vested in Israel. His view is that when the partition proposals were immediately rejected and aborted by Arab armed aggression, those proposals could not, both because of their inherent nature and because of the terms in which they were framed, operate as an effective legal re-disposition of the sovereign title. They might (he thinks) have been transformed by agreement of the parties concerned into a consensual root of title, but this never happened. And he points out that the idea that some kind of title remained in the United Nations is quite at odds, both with the absence of any evidence of vesting, and with complete United Nations silence on this aspect of the matter from 1950 to 1967?…
In these circumstances, that writer is led to the view that there was, following the British withdrawal and the abortion of the partition proposals, a lapse or vacancy or vacuum of sovereignty. In this situation of sovereignty vacuum, he thinks, sovereignty could be forthwith acquired by any state that was in a position to assert effective and stable control without resort to unlawful means." Lacey, Ian, ed. International Law and the Arab-Israeli Conflict (pdf) - Extracts from ''Israel and Palestine - Assault on the Law of Nations'' by Julius Stone, Second Edition with additional material and commentary updated to 2003, AIJAC website. Retrieved June 28, 2007. See also Yehuda Z. Blum, ''The Juridical status of Jerusalem'' (Jerusalem, The Leonard Davis Institute for International Relations, 1974); id., "The missing Reversioner: Reflections on the Status of Judea and Samaria", 3 Israel Law Review (1968), pp. 279-301.

Residency

Following the 1967 annexation, Israel conducted a census in the annexed territory and granted permanent Israeli residency to those present at the time of the census (those not present lost the right to reside in Jerusalem). They were permitted to apply for Israeli citizenship, provided they met the requirements for naturalization (such as swearing allegiance to Israel and renouncing all other citizenships) which most of them refused to do. Those rejecting Israeli citizenship can still vote in municipal elections and play a role in the administration of the city. At the end of 2005, 93% of the Arab population of East Jerusalem had permanent residency and 5% had Israeli citizenship.^[13] Since a 1988 Israeli Supreme Court ruling, residents of East Jerusalem enjoy the Israel Social Security benefits and state-provided health care.
Israel has been accused of infringing the rights of East Jerusalem residents. This includes revocation of permanent residency and social rights on numerous occasions, restrictions on development and neglect of infrastructure and services East Jerusalem . Since the 1990s, policies that made construction permits harder to obtain for Palestinian residents have caused a housing shortage which force many of them to seek housing elsewhere, leading to loss of permanent residency status.^[14] These policies have also had harmful effects on conditions, housing availability and economic activity for Palestinians in East Jerusalem.^[15] According to the American Friends Service Committee and Marshall J. Breger, such restrictions and discrimination on their planning and development in East Jerusalem are part of Israel's policy of promoting a Jewish majority in the city.^[16][17] Furthermore, East Jerusalem residents that are married to residents of the Palestinian territories face difficulties due to family unification policies. In the aftermath of the Second Intifada East Jerusalem has increasingly been cut off from the West Bank, which thereby has lost its main economic hub.
In 1995, Israel began revoking permanent residency status from Palestinians who could not prove their "center of life" was in Jerusalem. This policy was ended four years later after it was discovered that more Palestinians were moving back in order to retain their status. The current policy is that those who live abroad for more than seven years or get residency or citizenship in another country are liable to lose their residency status. Arabs may still regain their status if they can prove that they have visited Israel at least once every three years. However, the loss of status is automatic and sometimes occurs without their knowledge. In 2006, the number of former Arab Jerusalemites to lose their residency status was 1,363, a sixfold increase on the year before.^[18]
On May 13, 2007, the Israeli Cabinet began discussion regarding a proposition to expand Israel's presence in East Jerusalem's and boost its economy. The Cabinet is now considering a plan, whose cost is estimated at NIS 5.75 billion, to reduce taxes in the area, move many governmental offices there, construct new courthouses in the city and build a new center of Jerusalem studies. Cabinet discusses measures to financially strengthen Jerusalem Additionally, plans to construct 20,000 Jewish homes in East Jerusalem are being considered by the Israeli government. This proposition has received much criticism, due to questions regarding its legality and moral standing. New Jerusalem settlement planned Israel's Olmert says seeks to expand Jerusalem

Mayors of East Jerusalem

★ Anwar Al-Khatib (1948-1950)

★ Aref al-Aref (1950-1951)

★ Hanna Atallah (1951-1952)

★ Omar Wa'ari (1952-1955)

★ Ruhi al-Khatib (1957-1967)

★ Amin al-Majaj (1967-1999; titular)

Footnotes

1. Martin Gilbert, ''Jerusalem in the Twentieth Century'' (Pilmico 1996), p254.
2. Table III/10 - Population of Jerusalem, By age, Population Group and Geographical Spreading, 2005
3. Table III/14 - Population of Jerusalem, by Age, Quarter, Sub-Quarter and Statistical Area, 2005
4. ''Law and Administration Ordinance (Amendment No. 11) Law, 1967'' and ''Law and Administration Order (No. 1)'' of 28 June 1967.
5. Jerusalem: The Legal and Political Background Ruth Lapidoth
6. General Assembly Resolution 2253, July 4, 1967 [1]
7. The letter, delivered to the U.N. Secretary General on July 10, stated: "The term 'annexation' is out of place. The measures adopted related to the integration of Jerusalem in the administrative and municipal spheres and furnish a legal basis for the protection of the Holy Places" [2].
8. Ian Lustick, Has Israel Annexed East Jerusalem? [3]
9. Palestinian National Authority 2002 non paper
10. The Moratinos' "Non-Paper" on Taba negotiations
11. James Baker's Letter of Assurance to the Palestinians, 18 October 1991
12. S.Con.Res.106 for the 101st Congress
13. Selected Statistics on Jerusalem Day 2007 (Hebrew)
14. Interior Min. increasingly revoking E. J'lem Arabs' residency permits
15. [4]
16. East Jerusalem and the Politics of Occupation
17. Understanding Jerusalem Marshall J. Breger
18. A capital question

References

★ Bregman, Ahron (2002). ''Israel's Wars: A History Since 1947''. London: Routledge. ISBN 0-415-28716-2

★ Cohen, Shaul Ephraim (1993). ''The Politics of Planting: Israeli-Palestinian Competition for Control of Land in the Jerusalem Periphery''. University of Chicago Press. ISBN 0226112764

★ Ghanem, As'ad (2001). ''The Palestinian-Arab Minority in Israel, 1948-2000: A Political Study''. SUNY Press. ISBN 0791449971

★ Israeli, Raphael. ''Jerusalem Divided: the armistice regime, 1947-1967'', Routledge, 2002, ISBN 0714652660, p. 118.

★ Rubenberg, Cheryl A. (2003). ''The Palestinians: In Search of a Just Peace''. Lynne Rienner Publishers. ISBN 1588262251

See also

★ List of East Jerusalem locations

★ Jerusalem Governorate

★ Rule of the West Bank and East Jerusalem by Jordan

External links

★ Legal status of East Jerusalem and its residents (from B'Tselem)

★ History of Jerusalem (from Jewish Virtual Library)

★ Jordan to reject any Israeli sovereignty over East Jerusalem, King tells Arafat (from Jordanian Embassy in Washington)

★ The Novel Catalyst for the Jerusalem Solution A website explaining why one school for the children of the Israeli and Palestinian governments might be the missing piece needed to achieve a lasting solution

★ One Jerusalem - supportive of Israel's unification of the city

★ "The Hell of Israel Is Better than the Paradise of Arafat" by Daniel Pipes

★ East Jerusalem and the Politics of Occupation AFSC Middle East Resource Series