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07 July 2010 By Stephen Lendman
The Middle East Monitor (MEM)
covers significant regional issues and events through
its weekly newspaper and reports like Samira
Quraishy's September 2009 Briefing Paper titled, "The
Judaization of Jerusalem," discussing Israel's
"escalating campaign of land seizures, house
demolitions and eviction(s) of Palestinians."
Israeli scholars agree, including
Ben-Gurion University of the Negev Professor Oren
Yiftachel, in a 1999 paper titled "Ethnocracy: the
Politics of Judaizing Israel/Palestine," saying Israel
is an ethnocratic regime "enhanc(ing) a rule by, and
for, a specific ethnos, and a dominance of ethnicity
over citizenship (by) facilitat(ing) the expansion of
one ethnic group over contested territory or polity."
It evolved around "the central Zionist (uni-ethnic)
project of Judaizing and de-Arabising
Israel/Palestine, (and as a consequence undermining)
equal citizenship and popular sovereignty," reserving
it solely for Jews, exposing the myth of a democratic
nation.
Hebrew University Professor Moshe
Ma'oz, Ankara's Bilkent University Professor Jeremy
Salt, Professor Norman Finkelstein, Professor James
Petras, and many other scholars agree that Israel
pursued this policy since 1967, planning it decades
earlier, based on the Zionist notion of dispossessing
Arabs to make greater Israel an exclusive Jewish
state.
Jerusalem is its epicenter, a
religiously important city for Christians, Muslims and
Jews, today the scene of epic injustice and
discrimination of its Palestinian residents.
For Zionists, the city is
politically important, as its historic capital,
national and religious center, as well as the symbol
of Judaism's revival and prominence. For Christians,
it's where Jesus lived and died, and for Muslims it's
their third holiest site (the Dome of the Rock on the
Temple Mount and Al-Aqsa Mosque) after Mecca's Sacred
Mosque and the Mosque of the Prophet in Madina.
After its 1967 annexation, East
Jerusalem underwent legal and bureaucratic changes to
its physical, cultural and spiritual character under
Israel's Judaization plan. Settlements were
established and expanded, at the expense of land
expropriations, dispossessions, home demolitions, the
Separation Wall, and other draconian measures to
transform the city to an entirely Jewish one. As a
result, Palestinian culture and religious heritage are
threatened by the establishment of "facts on the
ground," a process begun after the city's annexation
that continues relentlessly to this day.
At the time, official annexation
would have caused rupture or confrontation with the
international community, because of the city's
symbolic, religious and historic importance. In
addition, international laws would have been hard to
get around besides ideological differences among
Israeli officials. Further, direct annexation would
have forced the government to make all city
inhabitants citizens, contrary to the plan to Judaize
the entire city.
On the Six Day War's final day,
Israeli leaders ordered the demolition of the Old
City's Moroccan Quarter, allowing for easier access to
the Western Wall. It left 650 residents homeless, many
others killed, two mosques destroyed along with other
religious and cultural sites, and set the tone for
what continued.
Under military occupation, Israel
transformed Jerusalem from a multi-cultural,
multi-religious city into a predominantly Jewish one
under exclusive Israeli control toward the final goal
of making the entire city exclusively Jewish - meaning
Arabs had to go, voluntarily, by dispossessions, or
other means.
Thereafter, Israel manipulated
city demographics in its favor toward establishing a
Greater Jerusalem by reinforced municipal boundaries -
separating Jerusalem from the West Bank by land
seizures, dispossessions, home demolitions, the
Separation Wall, and a matrix of restrictions over
Palestinian residents in the Old City as well as 64
additional square kilometers from surrounding West
Bank areas, affecting 28 villages inside the new
municipal boundary. As a result, the demographic
balance shifted markedly to one predominantly Jewish.
On July 30, 1980, the Knesset
introduced the Jerusalem Law, officially annexing the
city as Israel's unified capital - a ceremonial move
as East Jerusalem residents were already under
military occupation rule.
Yet on March 1, 1980, UN Security
Council Resolution 465 declared that:
"all measures taken by Israel to
change the physical character, demographic
composition, institutional structure or status of the
Palestinian and other Arab territories occupied since
1967, including Jerusalem, or any part thereof, have
no legal validity and that Israel's policy and
practices of settling parts of its population and new
immigrants in those territories constitute a flagrant
(Fourth Geneva) violation....and also constitute a
serious obstruction to achieving a comprehensive, just
and lasting peace in the Middle East."
On July 9, 2004, the
International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruled that
"Israeli settlements in the Occupied Territory,
including East Jerusalem, are illegal and an obstacle
to peace and to economic and social development (and)
have been established in breach of international
law."
Throughout its history, Israel
routinely defied all UN resolutions and court rulings
against its interests, knowing it can get away with
it, always with Washington's backing. Instead, it's
intensified efforts to annex East Jerusalem through
continued settlement expansions on expropriated land.
For the West Bank, E. Jerusalem and Golan combined,
they're home for a 500,000 Jewish population, growing
at around 4 - 6% yearly.
Extremist groups spearhead it,
supported generously by Washington, the Jewish
diaspora, and others, contributing billions of dollars
annually for Israeli occupation, militarism, and
settlement expansions.
Through 2009, settlements covered
over one-third of East Jerusalem land, and another 30%
is designated as "unplanned area" where little or no
development is allowed.
In 2009, OCHA reported that
Palestinian construction is allowed only in 13% of
East Jerusalem, provided required permits are issued.
Because of the bureaucratic nightmare getting them, a
huge housing shortage exists, exacerbated by regular
home demolitions to provide more space for Jews.
Religious, cultural and
archeological sites aren't spared either to
accommodate them, Silwan a notable example. Occupied
in 1967, Judaizing followed to change its religious
and demographic character, an initiative promoted by
ELAD (the Hebrew acronym for the City of David), a
Jewish organization wanting full control of the area,
using extremist measures to achieve it, including
excavations destroying priceless antiquities.
Ones below the Al-Aqsa Mosque
continue. Others also to control the town through more
land ownership, Palestinian dispossessions, and
destruction of Islamic and Christian heritage sites.
In 2004, 88 Al Bustan
neighborhood homes were demolished to create King's
Garden, an archeological park located where King David
established his kingdom.
Islamic cemetery excavations also
aroused anger, including converting Bab al-Rahmad into
recreational biblical gardens. So far, the cemetery
has lost 1,800 square meters on which new burials are
prohibited, a portion already converted into a park.
Ma'man Allah Cemetery is
Jerusalem's largest, reputed to hold the remains of
important Islamic figures, including Companions of
Prophet Muhammad and Muslim intellects and soldiers
who fought the Crusaders.
Yet Israel intends a Museum of
Tolerance there, turning it into a large excavation
site, over 300 skeletons removed, contrary to
international law. According to the Palestinian Centre
for Human Rights, they were desecrated - dumped into a
single mass grave.
Worse still may await the Al-Aqsa
Mosque because of excavations under and around it,
weakening its foundation, threatening its existence.
In 2007, Israel began excavating a pathway from the
Western Wall to the compound, sparking Muslim
outrage.
The Al-Aqsa Mosque and Dome of
the Rock Restoration Committee, established in 1956 to
restore it and other Jerusalem holy sites, warned that
further excavations would imperil the structural
integrity, most seriously by the western tunnel (one
of 60) near the Mosque.
Deputy Committee head, Ra'if Najm
also said chemicals used to break up rocks are causing
more damage. As a result, the Security Council and
UNESCO demanded that Israel comply with international
law, halting further excavations and related
operations. Israel didn't respond.
Other excavations in the Old City
and Silwan have also been damaging, Adnan Al-Hussaini,
special PA adviser on Jerusalem Affairs warning that
Israel is destroying Islamic antiquities, "replacing
them with other ones."
PA legislator Hatem Abdul Qader
threatened an International Court of Justice (ICJ)
lawsuit to stop the looting. In early 2009, an
Umayyad-era artifact was stolen, an ancient stone,
transferred to the Knesset's courtyard, Israel
blocking demands to return it.
The Separation Wall, checkpoints,
and other restrictions have also been devastating,
impeding Palestinian access to, in and around
Jerusalem. Yet prohibiting them from worshipping at
Al-Aqsa and nearby mosques violates Fourth Geneva,
Christians wanting access to the Church of the Holy
Sepulchre and other religious sites also affected.
The extremist Netanyahu
government exacerbates the problem, Palestine's Chief
Justice, Sheikh Tayseer Rajab Al-Tamimi, expressing
deep concern about outlandish racist policies
threatening "to cancel Arab identity."
On March 28, 2010, the Kuwait
News Agency (KUNA) reported that he urged Palestinians
"to exert more efforts and unite in order to protect
the holy Al-Aqsa Mosque (by) defy(ing Jewish
extremists) attempts to storm the holy shrine," adding
that Judaizing has been ongoing since 1967, in calling
for efforts to stop it.
PA Authority
under Fatah
Shortly after assuming office,
Abdul Qader, PA Minister for Jerusalem, resigned in
protest, saying inadequate funding defends Palestinian
interests in the city - for law suits, against land
confiscations, home demolitions, Israeli security
force and settler violence, and the destruction of the
city's religious, historical, cultural and demographic
character.
Final Comments
Throughout 43 years of
colonization, displacement, land seizures, and East
Jerusalem annexation, Judaization continues
relentlessly to establish irreversible "facts on the
ground (to) cancel Arab identity" by making the entire
city exclusively Jewish along with the West Bank's
most valued areas.
MEM supports efforts to stop it
and demands accountability. "The Israeli authorities
and settlers who impede the civil liberties of the
rightful Palestinian owners should be brought (before)
an open and fair court of law," to halt Israeli
lawlessness, ensure holy, historic Muslim sites are
protected, preserved and restored, and to defend their
right to a sovereign state, East Jerusalem its
capital, or a one-state solution for all.
Israel will react violently,
viciously, and illegally against it, its customary
behavior as a rapacious occupier, defying the rule of
law in pursuit of a Greater Israel and regional
dominance, partnered with Washington in its global
imperial agenda, threatening all humanity unless
stopped.
Stephen Lendman lives in
Chicago and can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net.
Also visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com and
listen to cutting-edge discussions with distinguished
guests on the Progressive Radio News Hour on the
Progressive Radio Network Thursdays at 10AM US Central
time and Saturdays and Sundays at noon. All programs
are archived for easy listening.
http://www.progressiveradionetwork.com/the-progressive-news-hour/.
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