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Presskommuniké

Mer än trettio judiska och palestinska organisationer trotsar EU:s hemlighållande

Judiska fredsgrupper, palestinska solidaritetsorganisationer och andra fredsgrupper i Europa mottog med bestörtning EUs vägran att publicera rapporten från ledningen för dess egna diplomatiska sändebud i Ramalla och Östra Jerusalem, gällande Israeliska statens handlande gentemot den icke-judiska befolkningen i Östra Jerusalem. Därför har dessa organisationer beslutat att ta saken i egna händer.
Varje organisation i listan nedanför kommer att publicera Rapporten på sin web-site. En kopia av rapporten är också bifogad denna presskommuniké.
Dagen efter det att rapporten lades på hyllan av EUs utrikesminstrar på mötet med GAERC (=”General Affairs and External Relations Council”, den s.k. rådskonstellationen för ”Allmänna frågor och yttre förbindelser”) i Bryssel den 12 december - av rädsla för att fjärma sig från Israel och minska EUs inflytande, - tillkännagav Israel, i strid med dess förpliktelser enligt [den s.k.] Vägkartan byggandet av 300 nya hem i Maale Adumim, den största bosättningen på de ockuperade områdena.
Pierre Galand, senator i Belgiens parlament och ordförande i ECCP (=European Co-ordinating Committee of NGOs on the question of Palestine)* sade: ”Europeiska diplomater i Östra Jerusalem och Ramallah hade modet att understryka den alarmerande situationen i Östra Jerusalem. Deras rapport styrker den Internationella brottmålsdomstolens (ICJ) rådgivande utslag angående muren och de olagliga bosättningarna, vilket föranledde ECCP att initiera "Europeiska kampanjen för sanktioner mot den israeliska ockupationen." Med syftet att tvinga EUs medlemsstater att respektera sina egna åtaganden gällande internationell lag och mänskliga rättigheter, publicerar vi nu denna rapport på våra hemsidor, i trots mot EUs vägran att offentliggöra rapporten.
Dan Judelson, förbundssekreterare för European Jews for a Just Peace (EJJP, ”Europeiska judar för en rättvis fred”), sade: ”EU:s ledare gömmer huvudet i sanden och är därmed medansvariga till att palestinier boende i Östra Jerusalem möter upprepade överträdelser av internationell lag och av grundläggande mänskliga normer, allt under den israeliska statens maktutövning. Nu i dag får vi inte sitta passiva och rulla tummarna; om EU hemlighåller denna rapport, så är det vår uppgift att göra den så vida tillgänglig som möjligt."
Betty Hunter, generalsekrterare för den brittiska solidaritetskampanjen för Palestian ( UK Palestinian Solidarity Campaign), sade: ”Det är 17 månader sedan den Internationella domstolen [i Haag] förklarade apartheid muren utgöra en olaglig handling av en ockupationsmakt och att byggandet av bosättningar måste upphöra. Medan Israel trotsar detta beslut förlorar palestinier sina hem, sin mark och sin utkomst på Västbanken och i Östra Jerusalem. Om Europas länder fortsätter att acceptera detta så är de också medskyldiga till förtrycket av det palestinska folket.

SLUT på presskommunikén
* ECCP är på svenska uttytt som Europeiska samordningskommittén för Palestinafrågan. ECCP utgör således de fristående, icke regeringsanknutna, europeiska solidaritetsgruppernas samråd. Fristående, icke regeringsanknutna organisationer brukar betecknas NGOs, vilket i brist på goda alternativ även används i svenska sammanhang.

RAPPORT OM ÖSTRA JERUSALEM FRÅN LEDNINGEN FÖR EU:s DIPLOMATISKA SÄNDEBUD I JERUSALEM OCH RAMALLAH

SAMMANFATTNING

1. Östra Jerusalem är av central politisk, ekonomisk, social och religiös betydelse för palestinierna. Flera sammanlänkade israeliska politiska åtgärder minskar möjligheten att nå fram till en slutgiltig överenskommelse om Jerusalems status, och de uttrycker en tydlig israelisk avsikt att göra annekteringen av Östra Jerusalem till ett konkret faktum.

* den nästan fullbordade barriären runt östra Jerusalem, på långt avstånd från Gröna Linjen;
* raserandet av Palestinska hem byggda utan tillstånd (vilka är näst intill omöjliga att få);
* striktare tillämpning av reglerna som skiljer mellan palestinska invånare i Östra Jerusalem
från dem som bor på Västbanken, innebärande också en minskning av antalet arbetstillstånd;
* och diskriminerande policy hos Jerusalems kommunala myndigheter gällande beskattning, avgifter och byggnadstillstånd.

2. Planen att låta bosättningen Ma’aleh Adumim expandera in i det s.k. E1-området, öster om Jerusalem, hotar att fullständigt omringa staden med judiska bosättningar och därigenom dela Västbanken i två separata geografiska områden. Den föreslagna utvidgningen av barriären från Östra Jerusalem till att bilda en bubbla runt bosättningen Ma’aleh Adumim skulle få saamma effekt. Under år 2004 tredubblades antalet palestisnka byggnader som raserades i Östra Jerusalem. Vi förväntar oss ett ungefär lika stort antal raserade byggnader under 2005. I juni [2005] väckte redan givna order om rasering av 88 hem i Silwan-kvarteren stor uppmärksamhet.

3. När barriären är färdigbyggd kommer Israel att kontrollera resandeströmmen från och till Östra Jerusalem, och därmed avskära det från de palestinska grannstäderna Betlehem och Ramallah, liksom från resten av Västbanken. Detta kommer att få allvarliga ekonomiska, sociala och humanitära följder för palestinierna. Genom att med kraft tillämpa sina regler om bostadsort kopplat till föreskrivna ID-handlingar kommer Israel att ha makt att fullständigt isolera Östra Jerusalem, staden som är centrum för palestinsk politik, handel, infrastruktur och socialt liv.

4. Staten Israels aktiviteter i Jerusalem utgör en kränkning både av dess förpliktelser enligt Vägkartan /Färdplanen och av internationell lag. Vi och andra i det internationella samfundet har med varierande effekt tydliggjort vår oro härvidlag vid flertaliga tillfällen.

Palestinierna är utan undantag djupt oroade över [utvecklingen i] Östra Jerusalem. De fruktar att Israel skall ”slippa undan sitt ansvar” i skyddet av ensidigt tillbakadragande [från Gaza och delar av Västbanken]. Israels handlande riskerar också att radikalisera den hittills relativt fridsamma befolkningen i Östra Jerusalem. Klara uttalanden från Europeiska unionen och från Kvartetten att Jerusalem kvarstår som en olöst fråga som skall lösas genom förhandlingar och att Israel måste avstå från alla åtgärder som föregriper sådana förhandlingar är på sin plats. Vi borde också understödja palestinska aktiviteter inom kultur, politik och näringsliv i Östra Jerusalem.
Övers. Nils Andreasson / Joakim Philipson

REKOMMENDATIONER
På politisk nivå

 Klara uttalanden från Europeiska unionen och Kvartetten att Jerusalem kvarstår som ett ärende för förhandlingar mellan de två parterna och att Israel måste avstå från alla åtgärder ägnade att föregripa sådana förhandlingar.

 Vi kan lämpligen överväga att formulera ett uttalande om Jerusalem vid sammanträdet för GAERC* (”utrikesministerrådet”) i november. Vi kunde också agera för ett liknande uttalande att utfärdas gemensamt av Kvartetten.

 Färdplanens Första Fas uppmanar till ett återöppnande av palestinska institutioner i Östra Jerusalem och specifikt dess handelskammare.
Återöppnandet av dessa institutioner skulle sända en signal till palestinierna att det internationella samfundet tar deras angelägna frågor på allvar och handlar därefter.
Vi skulle kunna innefatta ett krav på återöppnande av dessa institutioner i uttalandena som föreslagits ovan och tillsammans med de två parterna utreda hur och när detta återöppnande kan genomföras.

 Begära av den israeliska regeringen att upphöra med diskriminerande behandling av palestinier i Östra Jerusalem, särskilt när det gäller arbetstillstånd, byggnadstillstånd, tvångsrivande av hus, beskattning och fördelning av budgetmedel.

 EU skulle kunna överväga och tillkännage följderna och genomförandekraften av ett exkluderande av Östra Jerusalem från vissa samarbetsåtaganden mellan EU och israel.
* GAERC uttyds: General Affairs & External Relations Council [=Ministerrådets konstellation för ”Allmänna frågor och utrikes relationer”, som utgörs av medlemsländernas utrikesminstrar]

På operationell nivå
 Organisera politiska möten med Palestinska myndigheten i Östra Jerusalem, inklusive möten på ministernivå.

 Initiatives Initiativ (uttalanden i brevform, kontakter, m möten osv.) fokuserade på frågor som tillträde (dvs. rätt till passage in till och ut från Jerusalem), byggnadstillstånd, barriärens intrång på äganderätt m.m.

 I perspektivet av de palestinska parlamentsvalen planerade till 25 januari 2006 bör parterna uppmuntras till samförstånd angående villkor och innehåll i deras samordning för att ge utrymme för ett tillfredsställande valförfarande i Östra Jerusalem. Detta under hänvisning till parternas förpliktelser enligt Interimsavtalen och Färdplanen och med beaktande av rekommendationerna som formulerats i Rocard-rapporten, känd under akronymen EUEOM (samordningens mål är Palestinska myndighetens åtagande att hålla valen och Israels ansvar att underlätta desamma). Häri ingår även att erbjuda teknisk assistans från tredje part liksom att erbjuda kapacitet att övervaka valprocessens förlopp, såvida detta efterfrågas och är passligt.

 Jerusalem Generalplanen för Jerusalem som för närvarande befinner sig i en godkännandeprocedur bör undergå en teknisk granskning och revision, följt av ett beslut om hur planen skall utvärderas utifrån laglighet, medborgerligt ansvarstagande m.m. Planen föreligger f.n. enbart på hebreiska (planen bör översättas till arabiska och engelska).

 Öka medlemsstaternas och Gemenskapens* projektaktivitet i Östra Jerusalem med balans mellan leverans av service-utrustning, humanitärt bistånd, infrastrukturutveckling och politiska projekt (med beaktande av multisektoranalys). Strukturellt stöd till det civila samhället är betydelsefullt. En inventering av pågående aktiviteter i regi av medlemsstaterna och Gemenskapen i Östra Jerusalem skulle vara ett framkomligt första steg.

 Avseende tvångsrivningar av hus i Östra Jerusalem föranledda av att byggnadstillstånd saknas, kan EU följa varierande handlingsalternativ:
1. understödja juridiska rättighetsprojekt avsedda att stödja palestinier som hotas av tvångsrivningar liksom att stödja dem som redan drabbats.
2. främja initiativ till legalisering “illegala” hus och hem (exempelvis genom att introducera retroaktivt verkande alternativa stadsplaner)
3. underlätta beslutsvägar som berättigar till byggnadstillstånd
4. inrätta EU-projekt i samarbete med palestinsk fristående (NGO) organ för juridisk rådgivning beträffande byggnadstillstånd och rättsliga aktioner mot
5. EU inrätta EU-projekt för förberedande och utvecklande av stadsplaner, inbegripet rättsligt korrekta och godtagbara bostadsbyggnadsprojekt för palestinska stadsdelar i Östra Jerusalem.

 Underlätta finnandet av en lösning till frågan om palestinsk rörelsefrihet beträffande resor ut från och in i Östra Jerusalem. Detta måste innefatta ett batteri av politiska och operationella åtgärder, både på kort och på lång sikt.

 Support Understödja lokala och internationella organisationer (NGO:s) i deras ansträngningar att att informera om förhållandena i Östra Jerusalem.

 Förstärka EU-stödet till palestinska institutioner i Östra Jerusalem, inklusive kulturarrangemang och uppbyggnad av fristående sammanslutningar (NGO).

FÖRTYDLIGANDEN
1. Jerusalem är redan en av de mest komplicerade ärendena i processen att uppnå en slutlig statsrättsligt bindande överenskommelse mellan Israel och palestinierna. I denna process föreligger ett flertal sammanlänkade israeliska åtgärder som inskränker möjligheten att uppnå en sådan överenskommelse som kan accepteras av palestinierna. Vi bedömer att detta är en avsiktlig israelisk politik – fullbordande av en annektering av Östra Jerusalem. Dessa israeliska åtgärder riskerar även att radikalisera den relativt fridsamma palestinska befolkningen i Östra Jerusalem.

2. EU POLICY ON EAST JERUSALEM
EU:s hållning i fråga om Jerusalem grundar sig på de principer som formulerats i Förenta nationernas säkerhetsråds resolution 242, vari poängteras det otillåtliga i att tilltvinga sig territorier med våldsmedel. I konsekvens med detta har EU aldrig erkänt den annektering av Östra Jerusalem, som skedde 1980 under den israeliska under den speciallag ”Basic Law Jerusalem Capital of Israel” som förklarade Jerusalem vara Israels huvudstad “complete and united” (ungefär: fullständig och förenad). EU:s medlemsstater har därför placerat sina ackrediterade ambassader i Tel Aviv. EU motsätter sig sådana åtgärder vars syfte är att förändra Östra Jerusalems status och därmed kan komma att föregripa resultatet av de förhandlingar som skall leda till att Jerusalems slutliga status fastläggs. Dessa förhandlingar är enligt Färdplanen utpekade att ske under Färdplanens tredje fas.

Övers. Nils Andreasson

Press release
(No embargo)

30+ Jewish and Palestinian organisations defy EU secrecy

Dismayed by the refusal of EU to publish their own Ramallah and East Jerusalem Heads of Mission findings regarding Israeli state actions towards non Jewish residents of East Jerusalem, Jewish and other peace groups and Palestinian Solidarity campaigns around Europe have decided they must take matters into their own hands.

Every organisation listed below will publish the Report on their websites. A copy of the report is also attached to this press release.

The day after the report was shelved by EU foreign ministers at their GAERC meeting in Brussels on December 12th - for fear of alienating Israel and reducing the EU's influence - Israel announced, in violation of its Road Map obligations, the building of 300 new homes in the Maale Adumim settlement, the largest in the occupied territories.

Pierre Galand, Senator in the Belgian Parliament and Chairman of the European Co-ordinating Committee of NGOs on the question of Palestine (ECCP) said: “European diplomats in East Jerusalem and Ramallah had the courage to stress the alarming situation in East Jerusalem. Their report corroborates the ICJ advisory opinion ruling on the Wall and the illegal settlements, which led the ECCP to initiate the “European Campaign for Sanctions against the Israeli Occupation”. In order to force the EU member states to respect their own commitment to International Law and Human Rights, we will publish the report on East Jerusalem on our websites, despite the EU refusal to do so.”

Dan Judelson, Secretary of European Jews for a Just Peace said "The EU are burying their heads in the sand and are thus co-responsible while East Jerusalem residents face repeated violations of international law and of simple standards of humanity, all at the hands of the Israeli state. This is not a time for thumb twiddling or inaction; if the EU sits on this report, we see it as our duty to make it as widely available as we can."

Betty Hunter, General Secretary of the UK Palestinian Solidarity Campaign said: "It is 17 months since the International Court of Justice declared the apartheid Wall to be an illegal act by an occupying force and that settlement building should end.  While Israel defies this decision, Palestinians are losing their homes, land and livelihood in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.  If European countries continue to collude with this, they are also guilty of oppressing the Palestinian people."

ENDS

Pierre Galand, + 32 2 223 07 56 eccp@skynet.be
Chairman, European Co-ordinating Committee of NGOs on the question of Palestine
Dan Judelson, + 44 (0) 779 339 2820
Secretary, European Jews for a Just Peace www.ejjp.org

Plus:
Alternative Information Centre, Bethlehem & Jerusalem www.alternativenews.org
Arab Media Watch, UK
www.arabmediawatch.blogspot.com
Association Belgo-Palestinienne
www.association-belgo-palestinienne
AIPPP Strasbourg
www.protection-palestine.org
BADIL Resource Center for Palestinian Residency and Refugee Rights, Bethlehem
www.badil.org
Civimed Initiatives, Strasbourg
www.protection-palestine.org
Collectif judéo-arabe et citoyen pour la paix, Strasbourg
www.protection-palestine.org
Committee for a Just Peace in the Middle East, Luxembourg
www.cercle.lu
Coordination de l'Appel de Strasbourg
www.protection-palestine.org
Een Ander Joods Geluid, Netherlands
www.eajg.nl
Farrah France
www.protection-palestine.org
Friends of Sabeel-UK
www.sabeel.org/old/friends.html
Humanistic Peace Council, Netherlands
agpolak@freeler.nl
ISM London
www.ism-london.org.uk
Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions-UK
www.icahduk.org
Jews for Israeli Palestinian Peace, Sweden
www.jipf.nu
Jews for Justice for Palestinians, UK
www.jfjfp.org
Judische Stimme für gerechten Frieden in Nahost, Berlin
www.juedische-stimme.de
Just Peace UK
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/justpeaceuk
Netherlands Palestine Committee
www.xs4all.nl/~npk
Network of Jews against theOccupation, Italy http://paceinmedioriente.iobloggo.com
NUS Black Students’ Campaign, UK www.nusonline.co.uk/campaigns/blackstudentscampaign
Palestine Forum in Britain
www.pfb.org.uk
Palestine Solidarity Campaign, UK
www.palestinecampaign.org
Society for Austrian Arab Relations, Austria
www.saar.at
Stop the Occupation, Netherlands.
www.stopdebezetting.nl
Union Juive Francaise pour la Paix
www.ujfp.org
Union des Progresssite Juifs de Belgiques
www.upjb.be
War on Want, UK
www.waronwant.org
Women in Black, The Netherlands
www.vrouweninhetzwart.nl

JERUSALEM AND RAMALLAH HEADS OF MISSION

REPORT ON EAST JERUSALEM

SUMMARY

1.   East Jerusalem is of central importance to the Palestinians in political, economic, social and religious terms.  Several inter-linked Israeli policies are reducing the possibility of reaching a final status agreement on Jerusalem, and demonstrate a clear Israeli intention to turn the annexation of East Jerusalem into a concrete fact

• the near-completion of the barrier around east Jerusalem, far from the Green Line;
• the construction and expansion of illegal settlements, by private entities and the Israeli government, in and around East Jerusalem;
• the demolition of Palestinian homes built without permits (which are all but unobtainable);
• stricter enforcement of rules separating Palestinians resident in East Jerusalem from those resident in the West Bank, including a reduction of working permits;
• and discriminatory taxation, expenditure and building permit policy by the Jerusalem municipality.

2.   The plan to expand the settlement of Ma’aleh Adumim into the so-called “E1” area, east of Jerusalem, threatens to complete the encircling of the city by Jewish settlements, dividing the West Bank into two separate geographical areas.  The proposed extension of the barrier from East Jerusalem to form a bubble around the settlement of Ma’aleh Adumim would have the same effect.  2004 saw a near tripling of the number of Palestinian buildings demolished in East Jerusalem.  We expect a similar number of demolitions in 2005.  88 homes in the Silwan neighbourhood with demolition orders outstanding against them attracted much attention in June.

3.   When the barrier has been completed, Israel will control access to and from East Jerusalem, cutting off its Palestinian satellite cities of Bethlehem and Ramallah, and the rest of the West Bank beyond.  This will have serious economic, social and humanitarian consequences for the Palestinians.  By vigorously applying policies on residency and ID status, Israel will be able finally to complete the isolation of East Jerusalem – the political, social, commercial and infrastructural centre of Palestinian life.

4.   Israel’s activities in Jerusalem are in violation of both its Roadmap obligations and international law.  We and others in the international community have made our concerns clear on numerous occasions, to varying effect.

Palestinians are, without exception, deeply alarmed about East Jerusalem.  They fear that Israel will “get away with it”, under the cover of disengagement.  Israeli actions also risk radicalising the hitherto relatively quiescent Palestinian population in East Jerusalem.  Clear statements by the European Union and the Quartet that Jerusalem remains an issue for negotiation by the two sides, and that Israel should desist from all measures designed to pre-empt such negotiations, would be timely.  We should also support Palestinian cultural, political and economic activities in East Jerusalem.

RECOMMENDATIONS

On the political level

• Clear statements by the European Union and the Quartet that Jerusalem remains an issue for negotiation by the two sides, and that Israel should desist from all measures designed to pre-empt such negotiations.

• We might consider issuing a statement focused on the issue of Jerusalem at the GAERC in November.  We could also press for a similar statement to issue from the Quartet.

• Phase One of the Roadmap calls for the re-opening of Palestinian institutions in East Jerusalem, and in particular the Chamber of Commerce.  The re-opening of these institutions would send a signal to the Palestinians that the international community takes their concerns seriously, and is taking action.  We might include a call for their re-opening in the statements referred to above, and explore with the two parties how and when their re-opening might be accomplished.

• Request the Israeli Government to halt discriminatory treatment of Palestinians in East Jerusalem, especially concerning working permits, building permits, house demolitions, taxation and expenditure.

• The EU might consider and assess the implications and feasibility of excluding East Jerusalem from certain EU/Israel co-operation activities.

On an operational level

• Organise political meetings with the PA in East Jerusalem, including meetings at ministerial level.

• Initiatives (statement letters, contacts, meetings etc.) focused on issues like access, building permits, the consequences of the barrier etc.

• In view of the Palestinian legislative elections scheduled for 25 January 2006, encourage the parties to agree on the terms and substance of their co-ordination to allow for satisfactory elections to take place in East Jerusalem, referring to the parties’ obligations under the interim agreements and the Roadmap (PA to hold elections and Israel to facilitate them) and taking into account the recommendations formulated in the Rocard EUEOM report.  Offer 3rd party technical assistance and monitoring capacity if required and adequate.

• The Jerusalem Masterplan that is currently in the approval process should undergo a technical assessment followed by a decision as to how to evaluate the plan in terms of legal implications, public awareness etc.  The plan currently exists only in Hebrew (the plan should be translated into Arabic and English).

• All MS and EC to increase project activity in East Jerusalem with a balance between service provision, relief, development and political projects (taking into consideration the Multi Sector Review).  Support for civil society is important.  An inventory of current EC and MS activity in East Jerusalem would be a useful first step.

• Regarding house demolitions for lack of building permits in East Jerusalem, the EU could pursue various options:

1. support legal projects designed to support Palestinians threatened by house demolitions and those who have been victims thereof
2. promote initiatives to legalise “illegal” houses (e.g. through introducing retroactively alternative town planning schemes)
3. facilitate a solution for obtaining building permits
4. EU projects with a Palestinian NGO on legal counselling concerning building permits and house demolitions
5. EU project on the development of a master plan for urban planning and legal housing for Palestinian neighbourhoods in East Jerusalem.

• Facilitate a solution of the access issue. This would comprise a range of political and operational measures, both short and long term
  
  
• Support local and international organisations in their information efforts on East Jerusalem.
  
  
• Enhance EU assistance to Palestinian institutions in East Jerusalem, including cultural activities and community empowerment.

JERUSALEM AND RAMALLAH HEADS OF MISSION

REPORT ON EAST JERUSALEM

DETAIL

1. Jerusalem is already one of the trickiest issues on the road to reaching a final status agreement between Israel and the Palestinians.  But several inter-linked Israeli policies are reducing the possibility of reaching a final status agreement on Jerusalem that any Palestinian could accept.  We judge that this is a deliberate Israeli policy – the completion of the annexation of East Jerusalem.  Israeli measures also risk radicalising the hitherto relatively quiescent Palestinian population of East Jerusalem.

EU POLICY ON EAST JERUSALEM


2. The EU policy on Jerusalem is based on the principles set out in UN Security Council Resolution 242, notably the impossibility of acquisition of territory by force.  In consequence the EU has never recognised the annexation of East Jerusalem under the Israeli 1980 Basic Law (Basic Law Jerusalem Capital of Israel) which made Jerusalem the “complete and united” capital of Israel.  EU Member States have therefore placed their accredited missions in Tel Aviv.  The EU opposes measures that would prejudge the outcome of Permanent Status Negotiations, consigned to the third phase of the Road Map, such as actions aimed at changing the status of East Jerusalem.
   
   
3. In conferences held in 1999 and 2001, the High Contracting Parties reaffirmed the applicability of the Fourth Geneva Convention to the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and reiterated the need for full respect for the provisions of the said Convention in that territory.
   
   
4. In July 2004 the EU acknowledged the Advisory Opinion of the International Court of Justice on the “legal consequences of the construction of a Wall in the occupied Palestinian territories including in and around East Jerusalem” and voted in favour of the General Assembly Resolution that recognised it.  While the EU recognises Israel’s security concerns and its right to act in self-defence, the EU position on the legality of the separation barrier largely coincides with the ICJ Advisory Opinion
   
   SETTLEMENTS
   
   
5. Israel is increasing settlement activity in three east-facing horseshoe shaped bands in and around East Jerusalem, linked by new roads:


• first through new settlements in the old city itself and in the Palestinian neighbourhoods immediately surrounding the old city (Silwan, Ras al Amud, At Tur, Wadi al Joz, Sheikh Jarrah);
  
  
• then in the existing major East Jerusalem settlement blocs (running clockwise from Ramot, Rekhes Shu’afat, French Hill, through the new settlements in the first band, above, to East Talpiot, Har Homa and Gilo);
  
  
• and finally in “Greater Jerusalem” – linking the city of Jerusalem to the settlement blocs of Givat Ze’ev to the north, Ma’aleh Adumim to the east (including the E1 area, see below), and the Etzion bloc to the south.

Settlement activity and construction is ongoing in each of these three bands, contrary to Israel’s obligations under international law and the Roadmap.

“E1” and Ma’aleh Adumim


6. E1 (derived from ‘East 1’) is the term applied by the Israeli Ministry of Housing to a planned new neighbourhood within the municipal borders of the large Israeli settlement of Ma’aleh Adumim (30,000+ residents), linking it to the municipal boundary of Jerusalem (a unilateral Israeli line well east of the Green Line).  E1, along with a maximalist barrier around Ma’ale Adumim, would complete the encircling of East Jerusalem and cut the West Bank into two parts, and further restrict access into and out of Jerusalem.  The economic prospects of the Wset Bank (where GDP is under $1000 a year) are highly dependent on access to East Jerusalem (where GDP is around $3500 a year).  Estimates of the contribution made by East Jerusalem to the Palestinian economy as a whole vary between a quarter and a third.  From an economic perspective, the viability of a Palestinian state depends to a great extent on the preservation of organic links between East Jerusalem, Ramallah and Bethlehem.
   
   
7. E1 is an old plan which was drawn up by Rabin’s government in 1994 but never implemented.  The plan was revived by the housing Ministry in 2003, and preliminary construction in the E1 area began in 2004.  Since his resignation from the Cabinet Netanyahu has tried to make E1 a campaign issue.
   
   The development plans for E1 include:
   • the erection of at least 3,500 housing units (for approx. 15,000 residents);
   • an economic development zone;
   • construction of the police headquarters for the West Bank that shall be relocated from Raz el-Amud;
   • commercial areas, hotels and “special housing”, universities and “special projects”, a cemetery and a waste disposal site.
   • About 75% of the plan’s total area is earmarked for a park that will surround all these components.
   • So far only the plans for the economic development zone have received the necessary authorisations for building to commence.  The plans related to residential areas and the building of the Police Headquarters have been approved by the Ma’aleh Adumim Municipality but not yet by the Civil Administration’s Planning Council.
   
   
8. The current built-up area of Ma’aleh Adumim covers only 15% of the planned area.  The overall plan for Ma’aleh Adumim, including E1, covers an area of at least 53 square kilometres (larger than Tel Aviv) stretching from Jerusalem to Jericho (comment:  Israel’s defence of settlement expansion “within existing settlement boundaries” therefore covers a potentially huge area).  In August 2005 Israel published land requisition orders for construction of the barrier around the southern edge of the Adumim bloc, following the route approved by the Israeli cabinet on 20 February 2005 (including most of the municipal area of Ma’aleh Adumim).
   
   
9. The E1 project would cut across the main central traffic route for Palestinians travelling from Bethlehem to Ramallah.  This route is actually an alternative to route 60, which until 2001 was the main north-south highway connecting the major Palestinian cities (Jenin, Nablus, Ramallah, Jerusalem, Bethlehem and Hebron) on the ridge of mountains in the West Bank.  And Palestinians currently have only restricted access to route 60 (either permits are required for certain segments or roads are blocked), especially from/to the Jerusalem area.
   
   
10. Since 2003, some preparatory work has taken place.  In the northern sector of E-1, where residential housing is planned, the top of a hill has been levelled in order to allow construction.  In the southern section, where a police station and hotels are planned, an unpaved road has been constructed.  But no further work has been carried out for over a year.  On 25 August 2005 Israel announced plans to build the new police headquarters for the West Bank in E1, transferring it from its present location in East Jerusalem.  Many previous settlements have started with a police station, and we are aware from Israeli NGOs that Israel has plans to convert the existing West Bank police headquarters, in Ras Al-Amud, into further settlement housing.
    
    Settlement building inside East Jerusalem
    
    
11. Settlement building inside East Jerusalem continues at a rapid pace.  There are currently around 190,000 Israeli settlers in East Jerusalem, the majority in large settlement blocks such as Pisgat Ze’ev.  The mainstream Israeli view is that the so-called Israeli “neighbourhoods” of East Jerusalem are not settlements because they are within the borders of the Jerusalem Municipality.  The EU, along with the most of the rest of the international community, does not recognise Israel’s unilateral annexation of East Jerusalem and regards the East Jerusalem “neighbourhoods” as illegal settlements like any others – but this does not deter Israel from expanding them.  Some of these settlements are now expanding beyond even the Israeli-defined municipal boundary of Jerusalem, further into the West Bank.  The Jerusalem municipality has also been active around Rachel’s Tomb, outside the municipal boundaries.
    
    
12. Smaller in number but of equal concern are settlements being implanted in the heart of existing Palestinian neighbourhoods, with covert and overt government assistance.  Extremist Jewish settler groups, often with foreign funding, use a variety of means to take over Palestinian properties and land.  They either prey on Palestinians suffering financial hardship or simply occupy properties by force and rely on the occasional tardiness and/or connivance of the Israeli courts.  Such groups have told us that they also press the Israeli authorities to demolish Palestinian homes built without permits.  Israel has previously used the “Absentee Property Law”1 (generally applied only inside Green Line Israel) to seize property and land.  The Attorney General declared that this was “legally indefensible” in the Bethlehem area earlier this year and the practise has stopped, but the law remains applicable to East Jerusalem and can be resurrected any time the Israeli Government sees fit.
    
    
13. Some of the Jewish settlements lack building permits, but not one has been demolished – in marked contrast to the situation for Palestinians.  There are also plans to build a large new Jewish settlement within the Muslim Quarter of the Old City, a step that would be particularly inflammatory and could lead to the further “Hebronisation” of Jerusalem.  The aim of these settlers, and settlements, is to extent the Jewish Israeli presence into new areas.  As a result, President Clinton’s formula for Jerusalem (“what’s Jewish becomes Israel and what’s Palestinian becomes Palestine”) either cannot be applied – or Israel gets more.
    
    SEPARATION BARRIER/WALL
    
    
14. Israel has largely ignored the Advisory Opinion of 9 July 2004 of the International Court of Justice regarding the barrier.  On 20 February 2005, the Israeli Government approved the revised route of the separation barrier2.  This route seals off most of East Jerusalem, with its 230,000 Palestinian residents, from the West Bank (i.e. it divides Palestinians from Palestinians, rather than Palestinians from Israelis).  The Barrier is not only motivated by security considerations.  On 21 June 2005, the Israeli High Court ruled that it was legal to take into account political considerations, in addition to security considerations, for the routing of the barrier in East Jerusalem because East Jerusalem had been Israeli territory since its annexation in 1967 (i.e. political considerations are not legal in the West Bank, which has not been annexed to Israel).  On 10 July the Israeli Cabinet decided to route the Jerusalem barrier so as to keep around 55,000 East Jerusalemite Palestinians, mainly in the Shu’afat refugee camp, outside the barrier.  The fact that the Cabinet decision not only included short-term but also long-term measures designed to accommodate the new situation created by the Barrier – e.g. constructing new educational institutions and encouraging hospitals to open branches “beyond the fence” – appears to contradict the notion of the Barrier being a temporary rather than a permanent structure.  And if Israel were to provide adequate municipal services to the areas excluded (as it is promising to do) this would be in contrast to hitherto poor service provision in the rest of East Jerusalem.  Israeli NGOs working on the Jerusalem issue have looked at Israeli proposals to ensure that the people affected are not “cut off” from the city, and judged them deficient.
    
    
15. The barrier extends like a cloverleaf to the northwest, southwest and east, beyond even the (Israeli defined) municipal boundary of Jerusalem, leaving 164 square kilometres of West Bank land on the “Israeli” (western) side.  Combined with settlement activity in these areas this de-facto annexation of Palestinian land will be irreversible without very large scale forced evacuations of settlers and the re-routing of the barrier – which reportedly cost 800,000 euros per kilometre.  It will also block the alternative Bethlehem-Ramallah route for Palestinians, forcing them to travel via tunnels or Jericho.
    
    
16. We should ensure that any support we provide to East Jerusalem is not simply an attempt to reduce the negative consequences of the construction of the separation barrier.  The ICJ ruling on the barrier, accepted by the EU with limited reservations, states:  “all States are under an obligation not to recognise the illegal situation resulting from the construction of the wall in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including in and around East Jerusalem.  They are also under an obligation not to render aid or assistance in maintaining the situation created by such construction”.
    
    RESTRICTIONS ON/DEMOLITIONS OF PALESTINIAN HOUSING
    
    
17. The Israeli authorities place severe restrictions on the building of Palestinian housing in East Jerusalem.  The Israeli authorities will only issue building permits for areas that have zoned “master plans”.  The municipality produces such plans for areas marked for settlement development, but not for Palestinian areas – only Palsetinians are expected to draw up their own plans, at great (generally unaffordable) expense.  So each year Palestinians receive less than 100 building permits, and even these require a wait of several years.  At the same time, rules requiring Palestinians with Jerusalem residency status either to reside in the city or risk forfeiting that status have forced thousands of Palestinians in this situation to move from other areas of the West Bank back to Jerusalem, adding to the severe pressure on housing.  As a result, most new Palestinian housing is built without permits and is therefore considered “illegal” by the Israeli authorities (although under the 4th Geneva Convention occupying powers may not extend their jurisdiction to occupied territory).  The restrictions and demolitions also leave undeveloped (but Palestinian-owned) land available for new settlements or the expansion of existing settlements.
    
    
18. In 2004, at least 152 buildings (most of them residential) were demolished in East Jerusalem, a sharp increase over previous years (66 in 2003, 36 in 2002, 32 in 2001 and 9 in 2000).  In May 2005 the Jerusalem municipality’s intention to destroy 88 houses in the Silwan neighbourhood became public.  Following media scrutiny and international pressure, they have put these demolitions on hold, but the future of Silwan remains uncertain, with demolition orders remaining in place.  In the meantime, elsewhere in Palestinian neighbourhoods, homes continue to be demolished on a regular basis.  According to the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions 52 buildings (including a seven-storey building and eight petrol stations) have been demolished in East Jerusalem so far this year.  The municipality’s budget for house demolitions (approved late, in March) stands at NIS 4m (approximately 800k euros), a figure slightly higher than last year.  Our contacts estimate that this will allow the municipality to demolish 150-170 buildings.  In cases where the municipality is deemed not to be carrying out its duty to demolish illegal buildings (whether through lack of will or budget constraints), the Ministry of Interior can and does demolish buildings (fourteen in 2004, six so far in 2005).  House demolitions are illegal under international law (see above), serve no obvious security purpose (but rather relate to settlement expansion), have a catastrophic humanitarian effect, and fuel bitterness and extremism.  Palestinians continue to build illegally because they have no alternative, and because the municipality and Interior Ministry together can only demolish a fraction of the approximately 12,000 “illegal” homes in existence.  Palestinians describe it to us as “a lottery”.
    
    ID CARDS AND RESIDENCY STATUS
    
    
19. Some Palestinians have blue Israeli ID cards, that give them the “right” to live in Israel (in practice, in East Jerusalem), but not to vote in Israeli national elections or take an Israeli passport.  The renewal of these Blue ID cards is a lengthy, cumbersome and at times humiliating process to be carried out every year at the East Jerusalem office of the Israeli Ministry of Interior.  The remainder have green West Bank ID cards or orange Gaza ID cards, and must apply for a permit to enter East Jerusalem.  Eevn for those West Bankers and Gazans regularly employed in East Jerusalem, these entry permits have to be renewed every three months.  Between 1996-1999 Israel implemented a “centre of life” policy meaning that those with blue ID found living or working outside East Jerusalem, for example in Ramallah, would lose their ID.  A wave of blue ID cardholders therefore quickly moved back to East Jerusalem.  The residency of hundreds of Palestinians that lived for a prolonged period outside of Israel and the OTs was revoked, a policy that continues.  Renewed application of this rule and the construction of the barrier around Jerusalem has led to a second wave of “immigration” of blue ID card-holders to the city.  Israel has also announced that it plans to introduce biometric, machine-readable ID cards.  This is of great concern to Palestinians because it would enable Israel to check if blue ID cardholders really do live and work in the city, and if not, to expel more of them.
    
    
20. Israel’s main motivation is almost certainly demographic – to reduce the Palestinian population of Jerusalem, while exerting efforts to boost the number of Jewish Israelis living in the city – East and West.  The Jerusalem master plan has an explicit goal to keep the proportion of Palestinian Jerusalemites at no more than 30% of the total.  But the policy has severe humanitarian consequences – couples in which one spouse has a Blue ID and the other a Green ID will be forced to leave Jerusalem (Israel permits the transfer of blue ID status to spouses and children in theory but very rarely in practice).  Palestinians with Israeli IDs already live in something of an identity limbo – neither Israeli Arabs, nor linked to the Palestinian Authority – and these measures can only worsen their situation.  The separation of East Jerusalem from the rest of the West Bank is crippling both areas economically, and the influx of returning blue ID card-holders is exacerbating the housing crisis – property prices and rents are soaring.
    
    MUNICIPALITY POLICIES
    
    
21. The Jerusalem municipality is responsible for the majority of the house demolitions carried out in East Jerusalem (see above).  It also contributes to the economic and social stagnation of East Jerusalem through other policies.  The Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions claims that while Palestinians contribute 33% of the municipality’s taxes, in return it spends only 8% of its budget in Palestinian areas.  The exact figures are hard to assess, but discrimination in expenditure is obvious.  Palestinian areas of the city are characterised by poor roads, little or no street cleaning, and an absence of well-maintained public spaces, in sharp contrast to areas where Israelis live (in both West Jerusalem and East Jerusalem settlements).  Even Jewish ultra-orthodox neighbourhoods (which contribute very little in taxes, for various reasons) are far better provided for by the municipality.  The provision of services in what is, according to Israeli definitions, a single municipality, is therefore subject to discriminatory practices.  Palestinians regard municipal taxes as a tax on their residency rights, rather than a quid pro quo for municipal services.  The high level of taxation (given that Palestinian incomes are typically much lower) and discriminatory law enforcement that appears to target Palestinians for fines for a variety of offences (traffic violations, parking offences, no TV licence etc) further worsen the economic situation of Palestinians.  This makes it harder for them to maintain their residency in the city, and more vulnerable to settler groups or Palestinian collaborators offering them good money for their property or land.
    
    HUMANITARIAN AND POLITICAL CONSEQUENCES
    
    
22. Cutting the link between East Jerusalem and the West Bank: Palestinian East Jerusalem has traditionally been the centre of political, commercial, religious and cultural activities for the West Bank, with Palestinians operating as one cohesive social and economic unit.  Separation from the rest of the West Bank is affecting the economy and weakening the social fabric.  Since Israel’s occupation of the eastern part of Jerusalem in 1967, Palestinian access to Jerusalem from the West Bank has been increasingly restricted.  During the Oslo Process, in 1993, the Israeli government banned entry for all Palestinians from the West Bank and Gaza without a permit.  Settlements together with by-pass roads have further restricted access in Jerusalem.  And the Barrier has further aggravated the situation.
    
    
23. Threats to Residency Status: Palestinian Blue ID holders outside the barrier are increasingly unable to access East Jerusalem, forcing them to access educational, medical and religious services in the rest of the West Bank.  This jeopardises their Jerusalem residency rights, according to the Israeli “centre of life” policy.
    
    
24. Impact on the Education and Health Care Sector:  West Bankers also face increasing difficulties in accessing the major Palestinian centres of health care and education in East Jerusalem.  Schools in East Jerusalem that depend on West Bank staff are at urgent risk of closure.  The same applies to hospitals:  in addition to the dwindling numbers of patients from the West Bank due to access problems, some Israeli insurance companies are demanding that staff must have Israeli professional qualifications and registration.  According to the PA Ministry for Jerusalem Affairs, approximately 68% of medical staff working at hospitals in East Jerusalem reside outside its municipal boundaries.  The lack of patients and staff will cause a decline of the number and range of services, which often are not available in the West Bank.
    
    
25. Restriction of religious freedom:  Christians and Muslims living east of the Barrier already have restricted access to their holy sites.  West Bankers are finding it increasingly difficult to get to the Haram al Sharif/Temple Mount compound – because of the wider system of permits to enter Jerusalem, and the barrier.  No males under 45 are allowed onto the compound.  The Director of the Awqaf, which controls the mosques, has complained particularly about increasing Israeli measures to dominate and control the compound.  Police have been regularly patrolling the compound for a year.  The Israelis say this is to ensure good settler behaviour, but the effect is that it intimidates worshippers.  The Israelis have also introduced new measures over the past few weeks – cameras have been placed at every gate, outside the Haram but pointing in.  Thus every entrance is tightly controlled.  The Israelis have also begun erecting fences on the buildings surrounding the Haram.  Muslim concerns regarding access to (and threats to) the Haram al-Sharif mosques have both security and political implications.  Perceived “threats” to the mosques by Jewish groups and the denial of access to Muslims regularly spark confrontations, and motivate Palestinian extremists.
    
    
26. The wider political consequences of the above measures are of even greater concern.  As outlined above, prospects for a two-state solution with east Jerusalem as the capital of Palestine are receding.  The greater the level of settlement activity in and around East Jerusalem the harder it will be to say what is Palestinian, and to link this up with the rest of the West Bank.  Israeli activity in E1 and the fencing off of a broad area around Ma’ale Adumim are of particular concern in this regard.  Israeli policies in East Jerusalem are making proposals for a resolution of the conflict along the one developed by the Geneva Initiative in 2003, a civil society initiative which was welcomed by the EU, harder to achieve.
    
    
27. Arrangements to facilitate the PA Presidential Election in East Jerusalem in January 2005 were unsatisfactory – Israel closed down voter registration centres, candidates could not campaign freely in the city, and restrictions on the number of polling stations led to chaos on election day.  The report of former Prime Minister Rocard’s Elections Observation Mission sets out the problems clearly, along with recommendations for improvements ahead of the PLC elections, scheduled for 25 January 2006.