From: hernlem@chess.ncsu.EDU (Brad Hernlem)
Newsgroups: talk.politics.mideast
Subject: How Occupied Is Jerusalem?
Date: 10 Apr 92 15:11:07 GMT
Reply-To: hernlem@chess.ncsu.EDU (Brad Hernlem)
Organization: North Carolina State University

(For those of you who think that the use of "occupied" when describing
Jerusalem is merely political:)

TO TURN JEWS INTO A MAJORITY IN EAST JERUSALEM

ISRAEL STEPS UP SETTLEMENT ACTIVITY

OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, April 4 (R) -- The Palestinian mechanics glare at
new Jewish neighborhoods towering over their valley in Arab East Jerusalem.

Ali Hamadi, surrounded by other grease-stained men nodding agreement
warns there will be trouble if Israel tries to demolish their garages in
Wadi Joz for more such building.

"There will be strong demonstrations. Thousands of people eat from the
work here," he said.

Israel, defying world opposition, has built more than 1,000 Jewish homes
for every one for Arabs in East Jerusalem since capturing it in the 1967
Middles East war.

The 150,000 Palestinians, virtually barred from building for themselves,
are already hemmed in by 140,000 Jews in the new settlements. Housing
Minister Ariel Sharon has now begun a drive to break up established Arab
neighborhoods.

"Israeli policy has been working on this since 1967 -- to expel the
Arabs," said Ziad Darwish, a member of a Palestinian urban development
organization in East Jerusalem.

Jerusalem Mayor Teddy Kollek went to court in March against Sharon's
attempt to rezone to housing a partially-built school for handicapped
Palestinian children next to the Wadi Joz garages, north of the walled
old city.

The high court issued a temporary restraining order on Sharon until it
ruled on Kollek's petition. A date for a hearing has yet to be set.

City Councilor Moshe Amirav says Sharon wants to build 200 apartments
for Jews in Wadi Joz. It is part of a plan to put about 3,000 flats in
the middle of the Arab East Jerusalem -- 200 of them in the Muslim
quarter of the old city.

The peace of Jerusalem, not Palestinian rights, is what has driven
Kollek to confront Sharon.

Kollek, like most Israelis, opposes Palestinian demands that East
Jerusalem should be the capital of a future independent state. He wants
the entire city to remain Israel's undivided capital, despite
international refusal to recognize it.

City spokeswoman Bonnie Boxer said of Kollek's policy: "The intent is to
see that it remains a Jewish city with a Jewish majority and the capital
of Israel."

She added: "Teddy does not believe Jews and Arabs should live side by
side, maybe someday, but not now."

Kollek fears simmering Palestinian resentment will explode into violence
under Sharon's tactics.

The Palestinians have been discriminated against in services as well as
building. Amirav says only one governemnt shekel is spent on Arab sector
services for every 10 spent on the Jewish sector.

Amirav is pessimistic Kollek can stop Sharon. "He knows the bitter truth
is when the government wants to do something in Jerusalem, it does it."

The government has the final say on master building plans. Both Labor
and Likud governments have used it in the last 25 years to surround the
Arab neighborhoods with Jewish settlements.

Darwish's organization exists to develop northern East Jerusalem, the
main reservoir of land available for Arab building. A zoning plan for
the area has yet to be approved.

His figures show the government has built or is constructing 62,330
units for Jews in East Jerusalem. Less than 60 have been built for
Arabs. Darwish says the settlements sit on 5,713 acres (2,312 hectares)
of open land confiscated from Arabs.

Sharon is trying to use an expediting committee set up by the government
two years ago to speed construction of homes in Arab neighborhoods for
Jewish immigrants from the former Soviet Union.

If successful, his ploy will powerfully boost the land grab in
established Arab neighborhoods he begun a few years ago.

Extremists backed by Sharon took over 53 houses in the old city's Muslim
quarter. Sharon himself owns one. Last October settlers took over eight
houses in Silwan, just outside the old city walls to the south.

Jerusalem's Palestinians feel abandoned by the international community
and the United States. Jerusalem, by agreement, has been left to a later
stage of the Middle East peace talks begun last October.

[Arab News, April 5, 1992]
Newsgroups: talk.politics.mideast