Israel

EAST JERUSALEMS
SIMMERING SUMMER

THE ORIGINAL research for this story was

conducted in the middle of June as the second
installment of a series of articles I had been
planning about simmering tensions between
Arabs and Jews in East Jerusalem and clashes over holy sites around Israel.
In early May, I wrote about the Temple
Mount and had moved on from that story to
focus on the next hill to the east the ancient
Jewish cemetery on the Mount of Olives.
When I toured the cemetery, the Arab-majority Ras al-Amud neighborhood located on the

western slope of the Mount of Olives and the

Israeli Maaleh Zeitim enclave there on June
25, Arab attacks on Jews on the Mount had
been on the increase and were bad enough
to warrant an article about the future of the
holy site and the adjacent residential neighborhoods.
The rest of the city, however, was calm.
Following a meeting in Ramallah the previous week, I had stopped at a grocery in the
Shuafat neighborhood on my way home and
thought nothing of it. The day after visiting

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THE JERUSALEM REPORT NOVEMBER 3, 2014

the Mount of Olives I had arranged to borrow

a DVD from a Palestinian acquaintance in
Sheikh Jarrah and thought little of walking
the streets there with my 12-year-old son as I
kept the appointment.
In recent years, I have noted the appearance
of Arab shoppers and pedestrians around
West Jerusalem at the Malha and Mamilla malls, Ben Yehuda Street and Jaffa Road
and taken pride at the non-noteworthiness
of it all as two groups of Jerusalemites, if
not exactly sharing the same space, at least

A Palestinian man confronts Israeli

policemen during clashes that broke out
after the funeral of Mohammed Sinokrot
outside Jerusalems Old City, September
8. Sinokrot died of wounds sustained in a
clash with police the previous week

Despite ongoing violence in the Arab quarters

of the capital, observers do not believe this
indicates the start of an intifada-like uprising

AMMAR AWAD / REUTERS

By Andrew Friedman

co-exist not too badly.

What a difference a week makes.
Four days after walking around Shuafat unafraid, East Jerusalem exploded in a round of
popular violence unseen in the city since the
dark days of the original intifada a quarter of
a century ago.
On June 30, the bodies of Eyal Yifrah,
Gil-Ad Shaer and Naftali Fraenkel were discovered in a pit near Hebron, an event that
sparked gangs of extreme right-wing Jews to
prowl the streets of Jerusalem shouting slo-

gans including Death to Arabs and harass

Arab pedestrians and workers at places like
the Mahane Yehuda market. Two days later,
the body of 16-year-old Mohammed Abu
Khdeir, a resident of Shuafat, was found in
the Jerusalem Forest in West Jerusalem.
Young extremist Jews have been arrested for
the murder.
The murder of Abu Khdeir provided the
match that set off a conflagration that the
Israeli authorities have not managed to
extinguish.

Whereas in the Galilee and central Israel,

police and community leaders managed to
calm tempers relatively quickly perhaps
aided by Ramadan, the Muslim month of
fasting that began June 28 in Jerusalem,
police had no such luck. From Shuafat to Ras
al-Amud to Armon Hanatziv, violence flared
all summer and into September, with no signs
of abating.
On Rosh Hashana, 23-year-old yeshiva
student Chanan Kupietzky was set upon by a
mob in the City of David (Silwan) as he made

THE JERUSALEM REPORT NOVEMBER 3, 2014

21

Israel
his way back to the Old City after performing
the tashlikh holiday ritual at the neighborhoods ancient Shiloah Pool. A week earlier,
a family was nearly lynched after mistakenly
entering Wadi Joz. Attacks on school buses,
gunshots at Maaleh Zeitim and other attacks
have continued with little response from police or Border Police units, according to residents. In Shuafat, rioters damaged several
Jerusalem Light Rail stations and repeatedly
stoned trains.

THE EVENTS OF THE LAST

THREE MONTHS HAVE
SHOWED THAT THE CALM
THAT PERVADED THE CITY
WAS AN ILLUSION
Significantly, however, activists and observers say the violence in the capital appears
to be little more than locals blowing off
steam and does not indicate the start of an
intifada-like uprising in Jerusalem. Despite
the fact that Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat has
asked Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu
to deploy additional security resources to the
capital to prevent the round of violence from
becoming a silent intifada, voices on the
Arab streets of the city do not believe the protests will reach that level.
I SEE it as a phase, one activist close to the
protests tells The Jerusalem Report. Speaking on condition of anonymity, the activist
says the violence is intended largely to highlight the Palestinian identity of East Jerusalem Arabs, but adds that, unlike the second
intifada of 2000-2004, there is no central
body coordinating the riots nor are they defined by a clear goal.
For a long time, people assumed that East
Jerusalemites were largely integrated into the
fabric of the city we may have been passive-aggressive politically by refusing to take
part in Israels administration of the city, but
we very much participated in the day-to-day
life of the city by shopping in West Jerusalem malls, eating in restaurants there, watching movies at the Cinema City complex, and
more.
But the events of the last three months
have showed that the calm that pervaded the
city was an illusion. Of course, people were
furious about the kidnapping and murder of
Abu Khdeir and that got even worse because

of the war in Gaza. Anger grew as images

from the war emerged, but there is a deeper
explanation for the deep frustration felt by so
many young people a lack of identity.
This has been a serious issue for us in East
Jerusalem for many years. On one hand, we
are Palestinians, occupied by Israel and governed by Israeli law. On the other hand, we
enjoy access to Israeli society things like
social security and healthcare. Overall, this
dichotomy creates a sharp sense of identity
confusion for many young Palestinians, so
the riots have been a way a terribly unhelpful way, Im afraid for many young people
to assert their sense of national identification
by supporting and identifying with the suffering of their nation in Gaza and the West
Bank, the activist says.

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THE JERUSALEM REPORT NOVEMBER 3, 2014

For Arab and Jewish Jerusalemites, the cost

of the current phase continues to rise. In the
Arab sector, Jerusalem police say more than
760 people have been arrested since the riots
broke out. Of these, at least 260 detainees are
under the age of 18, according to a report in
the Haaretz Hebrew daily.
No estimates have been released yet regarding the monetary damage to local infrastructure and the economy caused by the
violence, but news reports ahead of the Rosh
Hashana holiday indicated that hoteliers in
the city were concerned about empty rooms
during the peak holiday season as tourists
chose to stay away from Jerusalem because
of the violence.
Two days before Yom Kippur, which coincided with the Muslim Eid al-Adha fes-

Palestinian youths hurl stones during

clashes with Israeli police in the East
Jerusalem neighborhood of Wadi Joz,
September 7

quisition one wing of a larger family home

with a pretty courtyard, complete with lemon tree and grape vines. Whatever the legal
details of the purchase and takeover of the
property, the reality appeared to be simple
and bitter a group of unwanted Jews have
moved into the part of a Palestinian building,
very much against the wishes of the residents.

THE JERUSALEM REPORT NOVEMBER 3, 2014

23

AMMAR AWAD / REUTERS

ethics. They say the move was just the latest

incident aimed at Judaizing the neighborhood, prior to erasing the Arab presence in
Jerusalem completely.
In either case, there is no question that the
Jewish homes serve as a poke in the eye to the
local Arabs.
Walking around the neighborhood, locals
are only too willing to point out the homes
that have been taken over by Jews apartment buildings clearly identifiable by Israeli
flags, glistening white Jerusalem stone (in
contrast to the rough stone characteristic of
older, Arab-owned buildings) and especially
by the barbed wire and private security forces
financed by the Housing Ministry.
One resident, Khaled Ziyyam, eagerly
pointed out to The Report the most recent ac-

ASKED HOW he felt about the new neighbors, Ziyyam spat on the ground and called
them filthy thieves. He says Jews would
never be welcome in Silwan, or any other
Arab neighborhood, and added his hope for
a new intifada, or even full-scale war, to evict
the usurpers.
Let them live in Tel Aviv or Haifa. We
dont want to live with them, he says.
Others disagreed, saying that while they
agreed with Ziyyams view of the current
crop of Jews in Silwan, in theory they would
not object to Jews purchasing property in the
neighborhood, provided they came in peace
rather than violence. As in other communities
where Jews and Arabs live in close proximity, both sides here say they are the victims of
regular attacks by the opposite ethnic group.
All presence of settlers is provocative,
says Yehudit Oppenheimer, executive director of Ir Amim, a left-wing NGO that stumps
for Palestinian rights in the city. According
to international law this area does not belong
to Israel, but the settlers organization, ElAd, has virtually unlimited funding, which
allows them to terrorize the neighborhood,
forcibly taking control of the area house by
house, dunam by dunam.
According to Oppenheimer, the fight in
Silwan is essentially a fight over the narrative of Jerusalem. She cites Economy Minister Naftali Bennetts bizarre claim in early
October that the arrival of the latest group of
Jewish residents created a Jewish majority in
Silwan (when in fact it brought the number of
Jewish residents of Silwan to no more than
several dozen) as evidence that the settlers
are trying to erase Jerusalems Palestinian
identity.
In addition, she calls the adjoining City of
David excavation project nothing more than
a cynical use of archeology and tourism to
tell people that what you think you are seeing here an Arab neighborhood with a few

tival, there can be no mistaking the tension

in Silwan, adjacent to the Old Citys Dung
Gate. Although the neighborhood has largely
steered clear of the violence that has rocked
other parts of the city, clashes did erupt on
September 30 when a group of Jews moved
into a home in the dead of night.
Right-wing groups and representatives for
the new Jewish residents asserted the right of
Jews to purchase property anywhere in Jerusalem and say the home had been purchased
legally.
Left-wingers and Palestinians countered
that the home was forcibly wrested from
the rightful Palestinian owners and that the
transaction was intended only to provoke
violence from local residents by a combination of pressure and questionable real estate

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Real Estate
October 2014

THE JERUSALEM REPORT NOVEMBER 3, 2014

Israel
militant, heavily armed Jews is not really
what you are seeing.
Oppenheimer continues, Yes, Silwan is
the site of ancient Jerusalem but the history here is not exclusive to Jews. Every nation that has lived here throughout history
left its mark on this place. As such, the archeological finds here belong to the public,
not to one narrow group, and the finds represent the cultural and historic heritage of
many peoples and cultures, not just Jews.
In contrast to the Palestinian activist
mentioned above who cited Palestinian nationalist feeling as the main source for the
current flare up, Oppenheimers group focuses on discrimination in Jerusalem as the
source of Palestinian anger.
It isnt a difficult claim to back up.
ACCORDING TO the Central Bureau of
Statistics, more than 75 percent of Arab Jerusalemites, including 82.2 percent of the
citys Arab children live below the official
poverty line, defined by the CBS as an individual with a monthly income of less than
NIS 2,820 or a couple earning less than NIS
4,513 per month. For a family of five, the
household income must surpass NIS 8,500
to be considered above the poverty line. In
contrast, 23.5 percent of Jerusalems Jewish population and 33.7 percent of the citys
Jewish children live below the poverty line.
Anecdotally, too, the discrepancy between East and West Jerusalem is apparent
to the naked, untrained eye. One foreign
journalist who lived in Sheikh Jarrah told
this journalist he never paid for parking in
Israel and simply threw the parking tickets
he received in the garbage. The mail service is so irregular and infrequent in East
Jerusalem that I am confident Ill never
get contacted to actually pay the fines, he
claims.
One need only look at the difference between the public infrastructure in the two
areas to understand the different levels of
investment that the Israeli authorities make
in each sector.
In West Jerusalem, the Train Track and
Sacher Parks are well-maintained urban
recreation spaces, while residents of Silwan
and Wadi Joz are lucky if the playgrounds
in their neighborhoods are more than small,
bare dirt lots with a rusty swing and seesaw. Whereas roads that climb and descend
the hilly terrain of the Talbieh, Gilo and
Malha neighborhoods have been properly
planned and constructed, the roads leading
through the deep wadis east of the Old City

are harsh, steep and poorly maintained.

And, while few people would argue that
Israeli schools are adequately funded, there
are simply no high school campuses for
Arab students in Jerusalem that can match
the buildings and facilities at the top high
schools in West Jerusalem. Both Jews and
Arabs say it is virtually impossible to obtain building permits in East Jerusalem, but
Oppenheimer and other left-wing groups
say it is only Arab illegal construction that
the city takes care to demolish on a regular
basis.

To Israel, the Palestinian population of

Jerusalem is nothing more than a huge collection of individuals, not a group with joint
interests and certainly not a nation with political aspirations. Discriminating against
Arabs is in the Israeli DNA, Oppenheimer
contends.
At the end of the day, questions remain
regarding what Arab residents of Jerusalem
want. When speaking about the challenges
that face the Palestinian community in Jerusalem, all make an obligatory reference
to the occupation, but when delving into
the issues it is not clear that the Israeli is
perceived as entirely negative.
Palestinians and left-wing Israelis refer
to a wave of racism sweeping Israeli society, citing both attacks on Arabs in the
Zion Square area of West Jerusalem and
discriminatory statements by senior politicians such as Foreign Minister Avigdor
Liberman. But one Palestinian, who would
identify himself only by his first name,
Ibrahim, says the Jerusalem Municipality
could do much to repair anger in the Arab
sector by allowing Palestinian institutions back into the city to address cultural
matters.
In the past, leaders such as Faisal Husseini and institutions such as Orient House
provided cultural and identity activities and
services for the community, in Arabic. Today, events such as the 2013 Childrens Festival, scheduled for the El Hakawati Palestinian national theater, are often cancelled

by Israel. Furthermore, the lack of viable

Palestinian national bodies in the city and
the lack of strong tourism infrastructure
means there are not enough jobs for East
Jerusalem residents, all of which leads to
frustration. If people dont find those outlets where they can express themselves,
they will express themselves in the street
by throwing rocks, Ibrahim says.
Although violence against Jews and
against symbols of the Israeli state have
long been commonplace, it is far from clear
that residents want to exchange Israels
occupation for a Palestinian government.
Polls consistently show that only a minority of East Jerusalemites would willingly
accept Palestinian citizenship. One 2011
poll showed that fully 35 percent would
relocate into Israel rather than live under
Palestinian sovereignty.
On the one hand, we have no choice
but to be part of the Israeli system labor
laws, national insurance, entertainment,
shopping, Ibrahim says in a moment
of honesty. We cannot escape it. At the
same time, however, we seek the cultural norms of our Arab heritage, Arabic
music things like that. East Jerusalem
Palestinians miss that and want to experience it, but there is no question that we
dont want to give up the benefits of living under Israeli administration.
In practice, then, the situation for Palestinians in Jerusalem appears to be a
zero-sum game, one that essentially reverses the values of the American revolution. Whereas Americans bristled against
the rule of King George III in the 1770s
under the banner no taxation without
representation, Jerusalem Palestinians
today appear to have taken the opposite approach. Despite their presence in
Jerusalem under Israeli control and the
fact that they pay municipal taxes, they
refuse to take part in the administration
of Jerusalem because they feel it would
conflict with their values and identities as
Palestinians.
I know of one municipal office that approached an NGO with a plan to develop
the tourism sector in East Jerusalem no
politics, just a program that would benefit
the residents and the city, says the activist
mentioned at the beginning of this article.
But there is a high level of suspicion of
anything having to do with the municipality, which would be seen as legitimizing the
occupation. And, in our culture, there is
nothing more taboo than that.


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25

HAVING ANYTHING
TO DO WITH THE
MUNICIPALITY WOULD
BE SEEN AS LEGITIMIZING
THE OCCUPATION