V. Annexation of East Jerusalem |
In the UN General Assembly Partition Resolution 181 of 1947, the UN had declared Jerusalem a corpus separatum; meaning a separate body to be governed by the UN. This was reaffirmed in the UN General Assembly Resolution 303 of 1949, but rejected by both Arabs and Jews, and was never implemented. Thus, Jerusalem was divided into a western part under Israeli rule and an eastern part under Jordanian rule.
However, in 1967 after its occupation, East Jerusalem was immediately accorded a status different than that of the rest of the Occupied Territories. The Labor government headed by Levi Eshkol set the guidelines to attain complete Israeli sovereignty over a 'united Jerusalem'. On June 27, 1967, the Israeli Knesset amended the Law and Administration Ordinance of 1948. This amendment added to section 11 the declaration that the "law, jurisdiction and administration of the State of Israel government shall extend to any area of 'Eretz Israel' it so orders."74 Therefore, Israeli law extended to cover all parts of Jerusalem; the Western as well as the Eastern parts, which gave Jerusalem a different status than the rest of the Occupied Territories, since Israel did not consider itself an occupying power in East Jerusalem. On June 28, 1967 the Knesset amended the law of 1950, which proclaimed Jerusalem as Israel's capital, to reflect the newly defined municipal boundaries.
In addition, the Israeli authorities dissolved the Palestinian Municipal Council already in existence in East Jerusalem, and discharged Mayor Rawhi Al-Khatib on June 29, 1967. Less than a year later, in March 1968, the Israeli authorities took him out of his house at 3 am in the morning claiming that he was wanted for interrogation. However, instead of being taken to interrogation, he was deported to Jordan, claiming that his presence in Jerusalem constituted a danger to the security of Israel. He was not allowed to take anything with him, and his family learned of his expulsion from the radio.75
The Palestinians protested against the annexation policy through different measures and reactions. The Palestinian population of the city firmly rejected and resisted this policy and when the Israeli military regime asked the Palestinian members to join the Municipal Council of Jerusalem, the members of the Arab Municipality refused to join. Their response to the Israeli Authorities, from an Arab point of view, was the following: 76
Joining the Municipal Council of Jerusalem that Israel was asking for would be considered an official recognition of the Palestinian approval of the Law of Annexation of East Jerusalem under the Israeli sovereignty, at a time the Palestinians never agreed nor acknowledged this law as a reality. They considered it as a breach of the United Nations' conventions and resolutions, and affirmed that it contradicted the international law. They requested to return back to the situation as it was before June 5, 1967. Accordingly, they did not accept the Israeli's call to meet and talk together in this respect.77
Further to their rejection and condemnation, the Palestinian population of the city, leaders, men of religion, and notables of Jerusalem and Palestine dispatched a memorandum to the Israeli Military Governor in the West Bank rejecting the annexation measures and the Israeli practices. They declared the formation of an Islamic board to look after the Palestinian affairs in the West Bank and Jerusalem until the end of the occupation.78
On July 30, 1980, the Israeli Knesset ratified the Basic Law on Jerusalem, officially annexing the pre-1967 eastern parts of the city of Jerusalem, and illegally declaring Jerusalem the eternal undivided capital of Israel, over which Israel exercised exclusive sovereignty. Besides legalizing the physical annexation of the lands occupied in 1967, the Basic Law also compels the Israeli government to give the city preferential treatment in the allocation of resources and funds.
International Response to the Israeli Basic Law on Jerusalem
UN Security Council Resolution 476
On the same day Israel declared the Law of 'Unified Jerusalem, the Capital of Israel', the United Nation Security Council adopted Resolution number 476, which declared the New Israeli Basic Law on Jerusalem to be null and void. It, furthermore, considered Israel's annexation of Jerusalem as a violation of international law, and an action which did not affect the application of the Fourth Geneva Convention of 12 August 1949 in the Palestinian and other Arab territories occupied since June 1967, including Jerusalem.
UNSC Resolution 476 (1980)
The Security Council,
1. Reaffirms the overriding necessity to end the prolonged occupation of Arab territories occupied by Israel since 1967, including Jerusalem;
2. Strongly deplores the continued refusal of Israel, the occupying Power, to comply with the relevant resolutions of the Security Council and the General Assembly;
3. Reconfirms that all legislative and administrative measures and actions taken by Israel, the occupying Power, which purport to alter the character and status of the Holy City of Jerusalem have no legal validity and constitute a flagrant violation of the Fourth Geneva Convention relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War and also constitute a serious obstruction to achieving a comprehensive, just and lasting peace in the Middle East;
4. Reiterates that all such measures which have altered the geographic, demographic and historical character and status of the Holy City of Jerusalem are null and void and must be rescinded in compliance with the relevant resolutions of the Security Council;
5. Urgently calls on Israel, the occupying Power, to abide by this and previous Security Council resolutions and to desist forthwith from persisting in the policy and measures affecting the character and status of the Holy city of Jerusalem;
6. Reaffirms its determination in the event of non-compliance by Israel with this resolution, to examine practical ways and means in accordance with relevant provisions of the Charter of the United Nations to secure the full implementation of this resolution. |
However, as with many other UN resolutions, Israel did not comply with UNSC Resolution 476. Therefore, another UNSC Resolution numbered 478 was adopted on August 20, 1980, noting Israel's defiance of applying Resolution 476, and reaffirming that the Israeli Basic Law constitutes a violation of International Law.
Jerusalem Municipal Boundaries
One of the first acts undertaken by the Israeli government after the city's occupation was to amend the Basic Law of 1950 to justify the redefinition of the new municipal boundaries of Jerusalem.
Before 1967, Jerusalem was divided into two parts; West Jerusalem, which covered an area of about 38 km², was under Israeli control, and East Jerusalem, which contained an area of some 6.5 km², was ruled by Jordan. Following the 1967-War, Israel annexed about 70 km² to the municipal boundaries of West Jerusalem, and imposed Israeli law there, unlike the rest of the West Bank. These annexed territories included not only the part of Jerusalem that had been under Jordanian rule, but also an additional 64 km², most of which had belonged to 28 villages in the West Bank, and part of which belonged to the Municipalities of Bethlehem and Beit Jala.79 Following their annexation, the area of West Jerusalem tripled, and Jerusalem became the largest city in Israel [see map].
Land Confiscation
Since day one of the occupation, Israel started its campaign to confiscate the Arab land covering thousands of dunums. Most of this confiscated land was and still being used for the construction of settlements for the Jewish population of Jerusalem and for constructing roads leading to these settlements. Between 1967 and 1994, a total of 24.8 km² of land (35%) was annexed in East Jerusalem out of the 70 km² annexed in 1967. Around 80% of this land was taken from the Palestinians.80 Table (2.2) shows the amount of land expropriated from the Palestinians in East Jerusalem and the Jewish settlements built on it.
Table (2.2): Statistics on Land Expropriation and Israeli Settlements in East Jerusalem 81
Israeli Settlements in Jerusalem |
Israeli Settlement |
Year of Establishment |
Area-2005 (dunum) |
Population 2003 82 |
Settlements inside the municipal boundary |
|
|
|
1 |
Jewish Quarter |
1968 |
136 |
2348 |
2 |
Givat Shappira (the French Hill) |
1968 |
688 |
6631 |
3 |
Hebrew University (Har HaTzofim) |
1968 |
957 |
Educational |
4 |
Ramat Eshkol |
1968 |
1118 |
5994 |
5 |
Atarot |
1970 |
1378 |
Industrial zone |
6 |
Gilo* |
1971 |
2738 |
27569 |
7 |
Neve Yaacov |
1972 |
1241 |
20250 |
8 |
East Talpiyot |
1973 |
1829 |
12591 |
9 |
Ramot |
1973 |
3343 |
38992 |
10 |
Pisgat Amir |
1985 |
2516 |
39735 |
11 |
Pisgat Zeev |
1985 |
1546 |
|
12 |
Ramat Shlomo ( Rekhes Shuafat) |
1990 |
1625 |
12822 |
13 |
Giv’at Hamatos* |
1991 |
288 |
1215 |
14 |
Har Homa* |
1997 |
2205 |
1125 |
15 |
Ras al A'mud (Ma'ale Ha Zeitim) |
1998 |
11 |
Under Construction |
Giv'at Ze'ev Settlement Bloc |
|
|
|
1 |
Givon |
1978 |
118 |
1294 |
2 |
Giv'on Hadasha |
1980 |
313 |
1224 |
3 |
Giv'at Ze'ev |
1982 |
2856 |
10790 |
4 |
Har Adar (Givat HaRadar) |
1986 |
1193 |
1839 |
5 |
Har Shmuel |
1996 |
384 |
576 |
Ma'ale Adumin Settlement Bloc |
|
|
|
1 |
Mishor Adumim (Industrial Zone) |
1974 |
3378 |
Industrial zone |
2 |
Ma'ale Adumim |
1975 |
6205 |
27259 |
3 |
Kfar Adumim |
1979 |
751 |
1866 |
4 |
Mizpe Yeriho |
1980 |
259 |
1430 |
5 |
Almon (Anatot) |
1983 |
805 |
726 |
6 |
Kedar |
1984 |
54 |
624 |
7 |
Alon |
1990 |
295 |
375 |
8 |
Nofe Perat |
1992 |
871 |
420 |
Binyamin Settlements Bloc |
|
|
|
1 |
Adam (Geva Binyamin) |
1983 |
1195 |
1801 |
2 |
Kokhav Yaacov |
1984 |
2287 |
3819 |
3 |
Sha'ar Binyamin (industrial zone) |
1999 |
574 |
Industrial zone |
Other settlements in Jerusalem Governorate |
|
|
|
1 |
Kalya |
1968 |
868 |
260 |
* The settlements of Gilo, Giv’at Hamatos and Har Homa are within the unilaterally defined Jerusalem Municipal boundary but are located in Bethlehem Governorate
Revocation of Residency
Until 1995, the status of Palestinian Jerusalemites as permanent residents in Israel was not affected by moving outside the city limits as long as they returned to Jerusalem to renew their exit permits at the Ministry of the Interior, which regularly renewed the permits.
However, between December 1995 and March 1999, Israel introduced a new strategy in order to attain its demographic objective. The Ministry of the Interior, which deals with the residency status of East Jerusalem's Palestinian residents revoked residency from those who moved outside Jerusalem's municipal borders. As shown in Table (2.4), residency of 6396 Palestinian Jerusalemites have been revoked between 1967 and 2004.
Regulation 11 of the Law of Entry to Israel states that if, a permanent resident lives outside Israel for more than seven years, becomes a permanent resident of another country, or applies for citizenship in another country, he or she is liable to lose their status as permanent residents of Israel.
The Israeli authorities never announced this policy, and never warned the Palestinians that by leaving Jerusalem they would jeopardize their status and right to return to live in their homes in the city. The policy's details remain unknown, and the Ministry does not bother to inform persons leaving for abroad about the rules they must comply with to ensure continuation of their residency status. And so, according to this policy, Palestinians who could not prove that they had lived in Jerusalem in the past and continue to live there were forced to leave their homes forever. They could not live or work in Israel and they and their families lost their social benefits. 83
The Israeli law never explicitly defined the rest of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip as a 'Foreign Territory', this policy of 'Residency Revocation' was also enacted against Palestinians who move to the West Bank outside the city boundaries, and not only to the Palestinians who were residents in the other countries of the world. Moreover, Palestinians who moved to Jerusalem's suburbs or elsewhere in the West Bank did not require exit permits and could live there for years without it affecting their status. Nevertheless, Israel revoked their residency in Jerusalem.
Table (2.4): Statistics on Revocation of Residency Rights (1967-2004) 84
Year |
No. of Palestinians whose residency was revoked |
Year |
No. of Palestinians whose residency was revoked |
1967 |
105 |
1986 |
84 |
1968 |
395 |
1987 |
23 |
1969 |
178 |
1988 |
2 |
1970 |
327 |
1989 |
32 |
1971 |
126 |
1990 |
36 |
1972 |
93 |
1991 |
20 |
1973 |
77 |
1992 |
41 |
1974 |
45 |
1993 |
32 |
1975 |
54 |
1994 |
45 |
1976 |
42 |
1995 |
91 |
1977 |
35 |
1996 |
739 |
1978 |
36 |
1997 |
1,067 |
1979 |
91 |
1998 |
788 |
1980 |
158 |
1999 |
411 |
1981 |
51 |
2000 |
207 |
1982 |
74 |
End of April 2001 |
15 |
1983 |
616 |
2002 |
No Data |
1984 |
161 |
2003 |
272 |
1985 |
99 |
2004 |
16 |
|
|
Total |
6,396 |
Table (2.5): Rationale for Revocation According to the Israeli Ministry of Interior 85
Year |
Rationale for Revocation |
|
Relocation Abroad |
Relocation to the OPT |
1997 |
1,003 |
68 |
1998 |
618 |
170 |
1999 |
290 |
121 |
2000 |
204 |
3 |
2001 |
15 |
0 |
Note: In 2003, the Israeli Ministry of Interior reinstated the residency rights of 83 Palestinians whose residency had been revoked, and in 2004 it reinstated the rights of 16 of them.
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