Muhammad Idrees Ahmad

Ilan Pappe recently wrote an article stating that Israeli policy is implementing ethnic cleansing in the West Bank and genocide in Gaza. It was always thought that Palestinian residents of Jerusalem were better off, but this article by Lubna Masarwa demonstrates that Palestinians are subject to a Kafkaesque regime: arbitrary searches and blockades, confiscation of identity papers (thus losing residency rights), blockade of entire sections of the city, intrusive video surveillance, etc. The relentless drive to Judaize entire neighborhoods in Jerusalem requires the constant screwing of the Palestinians — no matter how long they have lived there. Israelis refer to this as “ethnic thinning”, the oh-so-genteel form of ethnic cleansing. Masarwa writes:

I will present a partial picture of the life of East Jerusalem residents. I will attempt to touch on the heavy price paid by Palestinian society in al-Quds due to Israeli defined “security considerations,” a designation trotted out by Israeli authorities on almost every possible occasion with intent to win battles in the demographic war over it sees itself engaged in against the Palestinians of East Jerusalem. In fact, a central and publicized objective of Israel concerning everything related to East Jerusalem is the creation of a demographic and geographic reality that will bring about an increase in the number of Jews living in the city and the largest possible decrease in the number of Palestinians living there. In order to reach this objective, the state enlists all of its institutions. For instance, the National Insurance Institute (NII), intended to serve the welfare of residents, also acts as a supplementary political appendage, serving the Zionist vision of Israel and harming residents through the non-provision of social services that it is obligated to provide. Almost every day, we receive complaints from tens of East Jerusalem residents whose national security allowances have been terminated. From conversations I conduct with the NII clerks, it appears that residents of East Jerusalem, in order to receive their national insurance benefits as mandated by law, must meet near impossible conditions. They must provide receipts proving payment of city taxes and electricity for up to the past seven years, photographs of their house, and proof they have no property in the Occupied Palestinian Territories. The waiting periods for these residents can last years, and, in the meantime, they remain without the ability to receive medical attention or their legally mandated benefits-in numerous instances, the sole family income.

And the security cameras:

Thus, for example, the streets of East Jerusalem’s Old City are covered by cameras. My friend Hanna, from whom a wallet was stolen, told me not long ago how the police brought her to a room full of screens, documenting everything occuring in East Jerusalem. She succeeded in identifying her bag in the hands of a Palestinian minor, and, via the screens, the police managed to follow him home where he was subsequently arrested. Another parent asked me for help, after being arrested when a camera in the Old City caught him slapping his child for returning home late. Another friend with connections in the police, via these cameras, managed to identify someone who entered his store and stole a mobile phone. These cameras penetrate into the private lives of Palestinians in Jerusalem in order to instill fear, but they do not catch drug deals, home demolitions and the violence of settlers against Palestinians. The security cameras prefer not to see these things, selectively passing over the larger crimes being perpetrated against the Palestinian residents of East Jeruslaem. What is amazing is that, to date, no organization or human rights group has objected or even touched upon this topic, as if it is obvious that everything is security-yet, security for whom? Certainly not for us.

And a clear demonstration of Israeli mean-spiritedness:

In the case of Sheikh Saed, one of the villages in East Jerusalem, the Israeli High Court ruled in 2005 that the Wall should not be built around the village and that a change in the Wall’s route should be contemplated. This same week, perhaps out of respect for the High Court decision, the security forces built a high barbed wire fence around Sheikh Saed, in addition to a checkpoint manned 24 hours a day. Whoever enters or exists must do so through two revolving doors, where, with the switch of a button, soldiers can jam shut while you are in them. Moreover, Sheikh Saed cannot be separated from the neighboring village of Jabar al Mukhabar. Residents of the former rely on the health and education services provided in the latter. The practical meaning of this is that every child and pupil, aged one or aged 18, must be checked and have her/his school bag examined. As a result, children arrive late to school. Numerous parents prefer to give up on their children’s right to education, particularly preventing girls from going out.