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The five-year plan for East Jerusalem: a plan to strengthen the occupation, control, annexation, of Jerusalem
On 20/08/2023, the Israeli government launched the Five-year plan (2024-2028) to enhance its presence control and penetration in Jerusalem, under the pretexts of development and services under the so-called “reducing social and economic disparities and economic development in East Jerusalem”, with a budget estimated at “3.2 billion shekels,” that is, Equivalent to $864 million.
This plan constitutes the update of the previous five-year plan 2018/2023 that had a budget of 2 billion shekels, with the aim of strengthening the policy of annexation and integration of Jerusalemites into Israeli society.
The new plan was presented with the participation of the Israeli Minister of Finance, the Minister of Jerusalem, and the Jerusalem municipality, in addition to other ministries.
It was decided to form a committee to “monitor the transfer of funds” composed of representatives of the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Jerusalem, “Israel Heritage” and the occupation municipality in Jerusalem, in order to develop a “plan to grant the required qualifications to integrate the Palestinians in Jerusalem into employment.”
Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich stated, “I am pleased to lead the largest five-year plan for East Jerusalem as someone who believes in strengthening (Israeli) sovereignty over Jerusalem as a whole.” He added, “Jerusalem united is not a slogan, it is the responsibility of every inhabitant, and the responsibility of developing the prosperity of Jerusalem, our eternal capital.”
The mayor of Jerusalem, Moshe Lion, also stated, “The decision that was taken is a sovereign decision.” “We are here today to practically prove that East Jerusalem is an integral part of Jerusalem,” he added.
As for the Israeli Minister of National Security, Itamar Ben Gvir, he states, “We have allocated 120 million shekels (31.5 million dollars) for what he called “strengthening security sovereignty in East Jerusalem.” “Another important step in our relentless struggle to restore personal security in Jerusalem, our capital,” he added.
The Israeli Broadcasting Corporation announced the number of surveillance cameras and the increase in the number of police personnel in the city, and it added, “The Palestinians insist that East Jerusalem is the capital of the future Palestinian state, and that it is an integral part of the occupied Palestinian territories, while Israel says that Jerusalem, with its eastern and western parts, is its capital.”
Background
General
The Israeli government elaborates plans with budgets of 3.2 billion of shekels with the pretext of supporting the “eastern part of Jerusalem” with the aim of strengthening the so-called Israeli sovereignty over the city, Judaizing it, Israelization all aspects of life, especially the integration of youth, and obliterating the Palestinian-Arab identity of the city of Jerusalem.
The new plan represents the biggest plan that the Israeli authorities came up with for occupied East Jerusalem, in order to strengthen their presence into occupied East Jerusalem, tighten its grip on it, increase its Judaization, shape its educational programs in this regard; increase economic and development projects, with the aim of achieving the goals of the Israeli settler-colonial projects on Jerusalem and ultimately to “unify the two parts of Jerusalem”.
There has always been a clear difference between East and West Jerusalem for the 56 years of occupation of East Jerusalem. Budgets, programs and services have been regularly dedicated to West Jerusalem and to the Israeli settlements for their development and to attract more settlers and resettle them. On the other hand, the
Palestinian neighborhoods have been deliberately neglected over the decades of the occupation of the city since 1967.
Despite the fact that Palestinian residents of occupied East Jerusalem pay taxes to the Municipality, the quality of the services they receive is much lower than those in West Jerusalem, and in many cases Palestinians residents are forcibly excluded from them. This represents racial discrimination towards them, and leads many to be left neglected, marginalized and vulnerable. The Israeli authorities regularly pursue forced evictions of Palestinians residents, seizing their lands under different pretexts, including “public interest” and “development of the city” and law organization, construction, absentee property law and other laws.
Education
Education is a key factor in the annexation of the city of Jerusalem, as one third of the budget of the new five plan, nearly more than 800 million is dedicated in reality to the Israelization of the Education system in occupied East Jerusalem, by enforcing the Israeli education system and Israeli curriculum on Palestinian schools in East Jerusalem.
The Israel authorities exploits the financial situation of the schools and living conditions, as we witness the escalation of the attack on schools, as education is considered the main entrance to obliterating the Palestinian narrative, history and national identity, and the Israel government began to intensify support for education by building dozens of schools in various neighborhoods that follow the Israeli educational system and the Israeli educational curricula.
In this context, the new five-year plan on education represents a key tool to achieve more linkage, Judaization and discipline under the title of “Reducing the gap“.
With a budget of more than a billion shekels on education, the implementation of the Israeli education system will be pursued by increasing the number of schools that use the “Bagrut system” and teach the Israeli curriculum and increasing the number of students studying within the Israeli curriculum and focusing on the Hebrew language as the main language, rather than Arabic language.
Security and safety
Likewise, security and safety constitute an important aspect of the new plan with a budget of 120 million shekels, aiming at increasing surveillance, militarization, police stations and security personnel, together with more isolation and racial segregation.
Infrastructure
Part of the budget in the plan will go to “develop roads and infrastructure,” roads that link the Israeli settlements to each other, through a network of roads, trains, tunnels, bridges, and an air train that facilitates the movement of settlers and enhances settlement in the city.
This plan aims, in fact, above all to satisfy the interests and protect the settlers and to increase the isolation and segregation of Arab neighbourhoods.
Plan by sectors and budgets:
A total of 3.2 billion, of which 2.450 billion shekels for the budgets of the Ministries and about 750 million shekels for the Jerusalem Municipality, the Innovations Authority, the Electricity Company and others. This is an indication that the municipality aims to control the Jerusalem Electricity Company, which is now under Palestinian administration.
According to the government’s decision, the five-year plan includes investments infrastructure, education, encouragement of employment, well-being and environmental quality and government commitment.
In this plan the government claims that it will build 2,000 apartments for Palestinians.
From the total amount, specific budget will be used as follows:
- (increasing the number of cameras, establishing police stations, increasing the number of police personnel, and municipal inspectors).
- including 200 million shekels under the item of promoting higher education for young Jerusalemites (the plan includes programs to ensure a decent academic atmosphere and to hold a decent and
respectful meeting between Jewish and Arab students within the framework of campus life, thus strengthening the idea of “one unified Jerusalem” under Israeli control).
- (developing roads, transportation, energy, electricity and sanitation).
- (health, welfare, public space, environment, public buildings, culture and society. 98 million under health, claiming it will finance support for hospitals in occupied East Jerusalem and strengthening clinics of mother and children, and mental health.
- the Innovations Authority, the Electricity Company and others (which are not clear).
Conclusion
Certainly, development is inevitably coming, but in favour of increasing and strengthening Israeli presence in East Jerusalem, and settlements, and thus increasing the number of settlers, and all the services for their needs.
The plan will not be in the interest of Palestinian residents of occupied East Jerusalem, but on the contrary it will weaken their presence in the city, increasing their segregation in small areas; it will weaken their cultural, religious and national identity (de-Palestinization) in the name of Judaization of them; it will ultimately affect their human rights, compressing them on a multilevel dimension, such as housing, education, health and all the public services.
The ultimate aim of the plan will be to increase the annexation and the so-called “unification” of Jerusalem, completely annihilating its Arab element.
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For more information, you can contact
Civic Coalition for Palestinian Rights in Jerusalem Email: civiccoaltion@gmail.com
