Occupied Jerusalem- When Al-Maqdisi (H.W.) decided to get married in 2019, he lived for a short period in the city of Bethlehem in the south of the West Bank with his Jerusalemite wife, and before they welcomed their first child, they were forced to move to live in the Kafr Aqab neighborhood outside the separation wall surrounding the city, but within the borders of the Israeli municipality of Jerusalem. For fear that the Occupation Ministry of Interior would request evidence proving that the center of their lives is located in Jerusalem, which they would not be able to present, which is a condition for recognizing them as residents there.
It was not easy to adapt to a densely populated neighborhood that suffers from chaos and a lack of law enforcement due to its neglect by that municipality, as well as all the neighborhoods behind the wall. This young man said that his economic situation does not allow him to rent a house in the neighborhoods inside the wall because the monthly cost is high.
“I have been married for more than five years, and so far I have moved between 6 houses in the same neighborhood to escape their disadvantages at times, and from the high arnona (roofing tax) tax at other times, and my wife and two children never feel stable,” the same spokesman added.
The situation of this young man and his wife is like the situation of most young couples in Jerusalem, from which the occupation was keen to create a repellent environment to push them to live behind the separation wall, or outside the boundaries of the Jerusalem municipality in order to deprive them of the right to reside in the city, claiming that the center of their lives is not located within it.
Silent expulsion
Tel Aviv Tribune Net asked Rami Saleh, director of the Jerusalem Center for Legal Aid, about the most prominent occupation policies that create a repellent environment for the people of the city and place them between the worst choices.
Saleh calls these policies “silent eviction,” and says that there are several data that prove this, including the rise in the demolition index in the Holy City, where statistics indicate that 144 facilities were demolished in 2022, 229 facilities were demolished in 2023, and 88 from the beginning of the year until the end of the month. This October.
According to Saleh, 1,447 Jerusalemite men and women were displaced and lost their shelter due to these demolitions, and most of them were forced to live in the Jerusalemite neighborhoods located behind the wall, especially in Kafr Aqab and Shuafat camp.
According to the Right to Access to Information Law, the Center requested data from the occupation municipality related to granting building permits in the city, and the latter disclosed that it had agreed in 2019 to build 21,228 housing units in the eastern and western parts of the city.
Based on its data, the share of Jerusalemites was 1,470 housing units, a percentage that does not exceed 7.5% of the permits that were granted, even though Palestinians constitute 39% of the population of Jerusalem.
“It must be noted that municipal reports confirm that there is a need for two thousand housing units for Jerusalemites every year in order to keep pace with population growth… This undoubtedly reflects a policy of racial discrimination against the people of the city,” according to the Palestinian human rights activist.
Referring to the arbitrary measures that increased in frequency after the outbreak of the current war on October 7, 2023, Saleh confirmed that the center observed significant tightening during the follow-up of beneficiaries’ cases in the Ministry of Interior.
“Citizens’ files are rejected for the most trivial reasons, and thus the procedures for family reunification, registration of children, and confirmation of the status of life for many Jerusalemites are hindered, and some of them were exposed to the risk of having their residency rights withdrawn because the Interior Ministry employee was not convinced of the amount of his consumption of electricity service in the house in which he lives.. Everyone lives under the supervision of Israeli institutions and must Al-Maqdisi must always prove to the occupation that he lives inside the city,” Rami Saleh added.
Demographic resolution
Director of the Community Action Center at Al-Quds University, Munir Nusseibeh, began his talk to Tel Aviv Tribune Net by saying that the Israeli occupation took control of western Jerusalem during the Nakba in 1948 and expelled the Palestinians from all its neighborhoods and villages, and as soon as it occupied its eastern part in 1967, it began to follow policies aimed at creating an environment that repels Palestinians and attracts Israeli colonizers to live in East of the city until they change the demographic situation there.
An example of a coercive, repulsive environment is that Nusseibeh, an expert in international law, pointed out that the restrictions imposed on Jerusalemites aim to make them lose the ability to live in Jerusalem and obtain the right to reside there because the occupation treats them as residents, not citizens, and this residency is fragile and the person may lose it at any moment.
According to Nusseibeh, the living space is further narrowed if Jerusalemites choose their life partner from a holder of a green Palestinian West Bank ID, which makes the possibility of the couple living under one roof in Jerusalem impossible unless they obtain “unification” approval, which is rare.
Human rights activist Nusseibeh stressed the importance of always talking about the housing crisis in Jerusalem and its dangerous repercussions, saying that when the occupation works on urban planning for the city, it designs it in a way that prevents the licensing of new buildings for Palestinians.
“Consequently, Jerusalemites are forced to build their homes without obtaining permits because obtaining them is rare, and this exposes their homes to demolition, forcing some of them to leave Jerusalem in search of suitable housing for their families.”
The exaggerated militarization of the city also creates a repellent environment, according to Nusseibeh. For example, the Old City lacks the movement of passers-by, shoppers, and tourists and is almost empty due to the exaggerated inspection policy and the humiliation to which the city’s residents are exposed, which prompts some of them to avoid reaching it.
Another repellent reason is the theft of Palestinian property in Jerusalem through an integrated system of laws. “We saw the expulsion of Jerusalemites from their homes after the settlement associations seized them, especially with the start of work on the project to settle and register lands in the Israeli real estate registry (Taboo). With the passage of time, more properties will be taken away, and we will witness a greater danger because of This project.
These policies are part of the Israeli legal, judicial and administrative system that has been applied in East Jerusalem for 57 years after its annexation and the application of Israeli law to it, even though international law recognizes that it is occupied territory and considers the application of Israeli law to it to be an illegitimate step.