July 11, 2005
The views expressed here are those of the editors and do not necessarily reflect the views of Jewish Voice for Peace.
Today's Contents:
EU's Solana slams J'lem fence; PA: It makes pullout useless (Ha'aretz) MK says it will make Jerusalem "more Jewish"
55,000 J'lem Arabs to remain outside fence (Ha'aretz) Government presents dubious plans to continue municipal services
More Important Articles Links to other important news articles for today
[JPN
Commentary: Once again, Israel?s announcement of a new portion of their
wall to be built has stirred intense controversy. It could have been
expected that building the Jerusalem part of the wall would not go
quietly, and indeed, the route that has been decided on continues
Israel?s defiance of international law and offers further proof that
there is more to the wall than a security measure.
Last
week, Israeli officials confirmed that considerations other than
security were factors in deciding the route of the wall. The wall?s
opponents were stating this even before construction began, of course.
While last week?s admission focused on cost, MK Haim Ramon of the Labor
Party let slip that demographic concerns also play a role. The
newly-mapped section of the wall will cut off part of East Jerusalem,
leaving 55,000 Arabs, according to Israel, to some 100,000 according to
the PA cut off from the rest of Jerusalem. Ramon does us the favor of
making it explicit that this will mean that Jerusalem is ?more Jewish.?
It
is crucial to note that the Palestinians being cut off are residents of
Israel, although most have refused actual citizenship. Israel is
responsible for these people under their civil governance. These folks
rely on Israel for their municipal services, as well as relying on
Jerusalem for their employment, school and health services. Israel has
presented a plan for delivering services to those Arabs, and to
facilitate travel through the wall. Past experience, however, does not
bode well. Checkpoints are routinely difficult and movement through
them can easily be halted at the whim of the officer in charge. And
delivery of services to Arab East Jerusalem was already sub-par?it is
hard to believe it will not suffer much further with the neighborhoods
being on the ?other side? of the wall. In essence, this is a step
toward cutting these residents off from Israel?or, at the very least,
that is surely how the Palestinians will see it.
Palestinian
President, Mahmoud Abbas says that this moots any positive effects from
the Gaza withdrawal. It certainly does deliver a major blow to
international efforts to foster an atmosphere more conducive to
negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians. Once again, the wall
is not separating Palestinians from Israelis, but from other
Palestinians. The wall is being built on land beyond the Green Line, in
contravention of international law. It delivers yet another strike
against any Palestinian hopes for a better future, and increases the
siege mentality of innocent Israelis, making a negotiated settlement
even less realistic. In this case, the wall does even more, because it
is creating facts on the ground intended to prejudice the final status
of Jerusalem, an obvious hot button issue.
The
Jerusalem Wall betrays the intentions of the Sharon government. It
displays a lack of desire for an agreement with the Palestinians on any
but the most draconian and one-sided terms. The lack, thus far, of any
serious response from the United States further demonstrates the US?
inability to deal squarely with moving the two parties along toward
peace. As long as the US tolerates such blatantly anti-peace moves, by
either side, there is no way out of the quagmire, for Palestinians or
for Israelis. ?MP]
EU's Solana slams J'lem fence; PA: It makes pullout useless
European
Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana criticized Israel on Monday
for the fence it is building around Jerusalem, and Palestinian Prime
Minister Ahmed Qureia said it made a farce of efforts to restart the
peace process.
Israel faced new pressure over the fence a day after the cabinet approved
final details of the 60-kilometer fence, which is halfway built and
will eventually cut off some 55,000 Arab residents in four
neighborhoods from their city, while including some 30,000 Jewish West
Bank settlers on the Jerusalem side.
Meanwhile, Minister Haim
Ramon (Labor) said Monday the Jerusalem fence is meant to ensure a
Jewish majority in the capital as well as keep out terrorists,
contradicting government statements that it is solely a temporary
security measure.
"I want to point out that in Jerusalem alone
close to 250 people have been murdered during the intifada, most of
them in suicide attacks. The fence was born, first and foremost, to
prevent them from continuing to murder us," Ramon told Israel Radio. He
added that the fence "also makes [Jerusalem] more Jewish."
Solana,
arriving for talks with Israeli and Palestinian leaders, said the EU
was against the Jerusalem segment for the same reason it opposed the
larger West Bank separation fence - because it cuts into the West Bank.
"We
think that Israel has the right to defend itself, but we think that the
fence which will stand outside the territory of Israel is not legally
proper and it creates also humanitarian problems," he told reporters in
Jerusalem.
He said the Jerusalem fence would also have a symbolic effect, as the city is holy to Jews, Christians and Muslims.
Qureia
responded harshly to Sunday's cabinet decision, calling the Jerusalem
fence "theft in broad daylight" of land Palestinians seek for the
capital of their future state.
"This decision makes a farce of
any talk about peace and turns the Gaza withdrawal into a useless
initiative," he said in a statement, referring to Israel's planned
evacuation of all 21 Jewish settlements in the Gaza Strip starting in
mid-August.
Palestinian Foreign Minister Nasser al-Kidwa called for stepped-up protests against construction of the barrier.
Israeli
officials said the Jerusalem segment would separate one-fifth of
Jerusalem's Palestinian residents but that crossing points would be set
up to ease their movement.
Palestinian officials put the actual
number of Palestinians to be cut off from jobs, schools and hospitals
in Jerusalem and surrounding areas at about 100,000.
Some
55,000 residents of East Jerusalem with Israeli identity cards will
remain outside the "Jerusalem envelope," and will in effect be cut off
from the city's municipal core, it was revealed in yesterday's cabinet
meeting. The cabinet approved a plan for arranging services for the
Arab citizens who will remain on the other side of the separation
fence.
The government decided that by September 1, when
construction of the fence around Jerusalem is to be completed, the
Jerusalem Municipality and all government ministries must complete
preparations for provision of these services. A sum of NIS 25 million
has been allocated for this purpose.
Deputy Prime Minister Ehud
Olmert has been authorized to monitor the process. Security forces are
to complete the separation fence in Jerusalem only after he reports
that the administrative arrangements are in place.
Olmert noted
that, according to his plan, some 3,600 schoolchildren will have to be
bused to their schools on a daily basis, to the other side of the
barrier. He said regular transportation timetables will be instituted
to allow those residing outside the fence to continue their daily
routines without being compromised.
The following tasks will be undertaken by various bodies:
*Jerusalem's
municipality will set up a Jerusalem envelope community administration,
to deal with residents of Arab neighborhoods outside the fence. This
unit will be responsible for supervising the 12 entryways in the fence,
for maintaining order and for setting up municipal service centers
nearby.
*The municipality, together with the Education Ministry,
will be responsible for busing Arab students back and forth. In the
long term, educational facilities will be built on the other side of
the separation fence to save costs.
*The Defense Ministry and
the Ministry of Public Security will oversee the timely movement of
residents on foot, in vehicles and on public transportation through the
crossings.
*The Ministry of Health will draw up regulations to
allow speedy and humane handling of medical emergencies at the
entryways, and to ease passage of physicians and medical equipment. The
ministry will be expected to encourage East Jerusalem hospitals to
develop "branches" on the other side of the fence.
*The Ministry of Communications and the Israel Postal Authority will set up post offices near the crossings.
*The
Welfare Ministry and the National Insurance Institute will be required
to provide various services through the postal authority, including
phone and Internet services.
*The Ministry of Transportation will arrange special lanes to give public transportation priority at the crossings.
*The
Employment Service will open bureaus near the entryways, and allow
unemployment recipients living outside the fence to report only once a
month.
Minister Without Portfolio Haim Ramon commented that "the
gates and openings along the `Jerusalem envelope' fence should remain
open and only be closed during emergencies." Ramon said that the
services should be of the same level of quality on both sides.
Minister
of Construction and Housing Isaac Herzog said that the regulations at
the crossings must ensure "humane and fair treatment of the Arab
citizens who pass through them."
MK Yossi Sarid (Meretz-Yahad)
said that "the government decision proves again that the occupation
can't be swallowed, but nor can it be spit out. The occupation is stuck
like a bone in Israel's throat and is strangling it."
MK Azmi
Bishara (Balad) said that the government decision slices through
neighborhoods and communities in Jerusalem as if no people were
involved, only paper and a ruler. He said that talk of gates and
openings and services on the other side of the fence was hypocrisy,
which made no impression on the communities who are being riven -
besides deep revulsion.
PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas harshly
attacked the plan and said the PA would not accept it. Abbas, who
returned to Ramallah from a visit to Syria and Lebanon, said that
"approving the fence route in Jerusalem could bring about the end of
relations between the two sides. Such steps will not serve peace, nor
will they serve Israel's security."
Jewish Peace News Editors: Judith Norman Alistair Welchman Mitchell Plitnick Lincoln Shlensky Ami Kronfeld Rela Mazali Sarah Anne Minkin Joel Beinin Racheli Gai
