JERUSALEM-OLD CITY/ISRAELI RESTRICTIONS Jerusalem's Arabs concerned over Israeli restrictions in old city

Record ID: 398717

  • Title: JERUSALEM-OLD CITY/ISRAELI RESTRICTIONS Jerusalem's Arabs concerned over Israeli restrictions in old city
  • Date: 1st October 2014
  • Summary: JERUSALEM (SEPTEMBER 27, 2014) (REUTERS) JERUSALEM'S OLD CITY AS SEEN FROM MOUNT OF OLIVES JERUSALEM'S HOLY SITES CHURCH OF HOLY SEPULCHRE VARIOUS OF GOLDEN CROSS OVER CHURCH TOUR GUIDE, MAHMOUD ABU EID, WITH TOURISTS IN OLD MARKET SOUVENIRS MADE FROM OLIVE WOOD (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) TOUR GUIDE, MAHMOUD ABU EID, SAYING: "When we talk about the communities, we can say that t
  • Embargoed: 16th October 2014 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Jerusalem
  • City:
  • Country: Israel
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVA9YGHOFBBF8IRQUKAUCDJB8ECI
  • Story Text: Arab residents of Jerusalem's Old City say they are worried about the effect Israeli restrictions are having on their lives in the ancient city, with complaints about the level of municipal services provided by the authority and restrictions on building renovations.
    The Old City is home to many different communities and religions living side-by-side within the stone walls under Israeli rule. The al-Aqsa mosque, Islam's third holiest site, Christianity's Church of the Holy Sepulchre and Judaism's Western Wall attract the faithfull and visitors from across the globe .
    Tour guide, Mahmoud Abu Eid, says Jerusalem is a microcosm of the world's societies.
    "When we talk about the communities, we can say that there are more than 40 communities in (Jerusalem's Old) City, they have their own culture and their own way of living, which they keep to preserve their existence," said Abu Eid.
    More than 500,000 Israelis have settled among 2.5 million Palestinians in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, areas captured by Israel, along with the Gaza Strip, in the 1967 Middle East war.
    Most countries regard the settlements as illegal. Israel cites historical and biblical links to the West Bank and East Jerusalem and has said it intends to retain major settlement blocs in any future peace deal.
    "The main obstacles that may affect the social fabric in the city are the settlement spots that are growing day after the other creating tension between the residents of the city," abu Eid said.
    In June 2013, the city planning commission approved 69 housing units in Har Homa, an East Jerusalem settlement built more than a decade ago which now houses 12,000 Israelis.
    Settlement expansion has been a key sticking point in the broken down Israeli-Palestinian peace talks. Israel froze construction temporarily in 2010, but it always insisted the moratorium exclude East Jerusalem, which it views as an integral part of the country.
    According to Abu Eid, Jerusalem's Old City is a home to around 45,000 people, 25,000 of whom are Arabs.
    Syrian Orthodox leader, Sami Barsoum, says there is discrimination between Jews and non Jews when it comes to municipal services.
    "I will give you one small example, the municipality cleans the street here once every two or three months. But there, which is only 10 meters away from us, the street is cleaned every Friday," said Barsoum.
    But in a statement sent to Reuters TV, Jerusalem's Municipality rejected the report that different communities received different services.
    'The claims made regarding disparate cleaning services in different parts of Jerusalem's Old City are not accurate. Garbage removal and cleaning services are carried out by the Municipality in all parts of Jerusalem's Old City on a regular basis.
    The Jerusalem Municipality treats all sectors equally and there is no discrimination or difference between the different quarters in the Old City, or between different populations,' the statement said.
    Jerusalem's Old City is part of East Jerusalem, which Palestinians hope it will be the capital for their future state. Barsoum says Israel allows large Jewish construction projects but makes it difficult for Arabs to build even the smallest extension.
    Palestinians says building permits are almost impossible to obtain.
    "Israel is trying to decrease the number of the Arab Palestinian and this is clear because it hardly gives permits for constructions. They (the Jewish) build big buildings in a short time but for us if we build a balcony they issue us a warning for it," said Barsoum.
    Peace Now, which monitors and opposes Israeli settlement of land Palestinians seek for a state, said in April that Israel finalised 4,868 home construction tenders in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem since peace talks began in July 2013 - effectively a four-fold increase compared with recent years.
    In a new report that coincided with the passing of the April 29 target date for a peace accord, the group also said Israeli authorities had processed plans, in various stages of approval, for another 8,983 settler homes while the negotiations were under way.
    One member of the African community living in Jerusalem's Old City, Mahmoud Jiddah, said that although they live in unhealthy homes, they will never leave Jerusalem.
    "The Africans often consider themselves part of the Palestinian social fabric and will never let go of this. We had many opportunities to travel abroad but we rejected," he said.
    According to Al-Quds University Centre for Jerusalem Studies, the Old City communities include Syrian Orthodox, African, Moroccan, Coptic, Armenian, Indian and Gipsy.


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