Judaization of Jerusalem
Encyclopedia
The Judaization of Jerusalem refers to the actions that Israel
has sought to transform the physical and demographic landscape of Jerusalem to correspond with a vision of a united and fundamentally Jewish Jerusalem under Israeli sovereignty. Several UN officials have said that Israel's actions are tantamount to apartheid and ethnic cleansing.
The question of whether there is an Israeli government policy for the Judaization of Jerusalem is a matter of debate. Some scholars like Oren Yiftachel
, Moshe Ma'oz and Jeremy Salt write that it has been the policy of successive Israeli governments since 1967. Others, like Justus Weiner
and Dan Diker, have objected to the entire notion, claiming that the lack of any significant change to the demographic balance of the city undermines suggestions that it is government policy and renders any such discussions moot.
, Christianity
and Islam
, which hold the city in high esteem. Members of all three religions and others have made Jerusalem their home over the years.
Although the city came under Muslim rule in 638, it retained its Christian appearance for centuries afterward. During the Crusades
(1099–1291), many new Christian sites, including 60 churches, were constructed, and a number of Muslim holy sites in Jerusalem, like Al-Aqsa Mosque
and the Dome of the Rock
, were transformed into churches or palaces for the Crusader kings. After the Ayyubids liberated the city from the Crusaders in 1187, active measures were undertaken to restore Islamic sites and Islamise the city, a project motivated by the spirit of the counter-crusades which no longer viewed Christian sites as innocuous since they had made their way into sacred Muslim places. This project was completed by the Mamluk
s who wished to make Jerusalem look like a sacred Islamic domain, erecting dozens of religious buildings which altered the appearance of the city yet again, with many of the buildings appropriating Christian sites.
In modern times, Jerusalem was ruled by the Ottoman empire
, who ruled over much of Palestine
from the 16th century until the end of World War I
. Under their rule Jerusalem was home to Jews, Christians and Muslims. The Jewish community was the smallest of these three in the early 19th century, numbering some 2,000 out of a total population of 8,744 in 1806. At the time, Ashkenasic Jews were forbidden from residing in the city, having been banished by the Ottoman authorities shorty after 1720. Jerusalem became an important administrative capital in the 19th century after the Ottomans established a new Jerusalem district. Jewish immigration to the city was motivated by a number of factors, a main factor among them being the centrality of Jerusalem for Judaism
. Political factors also played a role; for example, one result of growing intervention by the British Empire
in the affairs of the Ottoman Empire at this time was that increased Jewish immigration to Jerusalem received British protection.
By the end of the period of the Ottoman Tanzimat
reforms, Jews had grown to represent the single largest religious community in Jerusalem. Weiner
writes that from the 1880s onward, all sources acknowledge that Jews constituted the majority within the city. Jewish building societies were established by the 1870s, and the Meah Shearim Quarter was constructed northwest of the Old City walls. Other building projects followed, and by the 1890s, leading Jerusalem Muslim families were protesting against Jewish immigration and land acquisitions.
After the partitioning of the Ottoman Empire
, Jerusalem was placed under the control of the British Mandate. According to the 1947 United Nations Partition Plan, Jerusalem was to form an international corpus separatum. After the 1948 Arab-Israeli War
, however, Jerusalem was divided, with Israel
taking control over West Jerusalem and Jordan
taking control over East Jerusalem
. Israel occupied East Jerusalem during the Six Day War
in 1967.
Today, Palestinian
Jerusalemites in East Jerusalem number some 250,000, comprising 30% of the total population of Jerusalem. Since the Six Day War and Israel's annexation of East Jerusalem, Israeli actions seeking to change the legal status of East Jerusalem have been condemned by the international community
. Moshe Ma'oz describes the policy of Israeli governments since 1967 as aimed at "maintain[ing] a unified Jerusalem; to Judaize or Israelize it, demographically and politically." According to the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre (IDMC), "Israel
i and Palestinian organisations have criticised Israeli policies that have sought to judaise East Jerusalem, expand the municipality of Jerusalem, and maintain a Jewish majority in Jerusalem at the expense of the Palestinian community, in violation of international humanitarian law
and human rights law (UNCHR, 12 July 1995; ICAHD, March 2007; B'tselem
, July 2006)."
" in territorial terms is characterized by Oren Yiftachel
as a form of "ethnicization", which he argues is "the main force in shaping ethnocratic regimes". Yiftachel identifies Judaization as a state strategy and project in Israel, not confined to Jerusalem alone. He also characterizes the goals of those pursuing a "Greater Israel
" or "Greater Palestine" as being driven by "ethnicization", in this case by "Judaization" and "Arabization
" respectively.
Valerie Zink writes that much was accomplished towards the Judaization of Jerusalem with the expulsion of Arab
residents in 1948
and 1967
, noting that the process has also relied in "peacetime" on "the strategic extension of Jerusalem's municipal boundaries, bureaucratic and legal restrictions on Palestinian land use, disenfranchisement of Jerusalem residents, the expansion of settlements in 'Greater Jerusalem', and the construction of the separation wall
." The attempts to Judaize Jerusalem, in the words of Jeremy Salt, "to obliterate its Palestinian identity" and thicken 'Greater Jerusalem' to encompass much of the West Bank
, have continued under successive Israeli governments.
Cheryl Rubenberg
writes that since 1967, Israel has employed processes of "Judaization and Israelization so as to transform Jerusalem into a Jewish metropolis," while simultaneously pursuing "a program of de-Arabization" so as to facilitate "its objective of permanent, unified, sovereign control over the city." These policies, which aim to change Jerusalem demographically, socially, culturally and politically, are said by Rubenberg to have intensified after the initiation of the Oslo peace process in 1993.
Drawing on the scholarship of Ian Lustick
, Cecilia Alban writes of how the Israeli government has succeeded in establishing "new powerful, concepts, images, and icons" to explain and legitimise its policies in Jerusalem. The government's use of the term "reunification" to describe its occupation of East Jerusalem in 1967 is cited as one such example, which in Alban's view, falsely implies that this area belonged to Israel in the past. Noting the reality of the fear among Israel
is that Jerusalem would become redivided under dual sovereignty or internationalization
proposals, Alban's writes that such fears were "exploited politically to justify the forced retention and Judaization of East Jerusalem." Steve Niva writes that Israeli policies calling for the Judaization of Jerusalem and the rest of historic Palestine
in the 1970s, augmented Muslim fears that Israel was an extension of Western
imperialism
in the region.
Yiftachel writes that by 2001, Judaization in Jerusalem had entailed the incorporation of 170 square kilometres (65.6 sq mi) of surrounding land into the city's boundaries and the construction of 8 settlements in East Jerusalem housing a total of 206,000 Jewish settlers. In an essay he co-authored with Haim Yaacobi, they write that, "Israel would like the Palestinian residents of Jerusalem to see Judaization as 'inevitable', a fact to be accepted passively as part of the modern development of the metropolis."
Plans are underway to construct a new Israeli settlement
in the last piece of open land linking Arab East Jerusalem to the West Bank that will house about 45,000 residents on a land area larger than Tel Aviv
, the second-largest Israeli city. According to Alghad
, a Jordan
ian newspaper, the Israeli government elected in 2009 is soliciting tenders for the biggest settlement plans in West Bank
. These plans have been described by the Palestinian Information Minister Mustafa Barghouti
as, "an announcement against peace and against the Palestinian state and it means the Israeli government is not a partner for peace." This settlement is considered to by Palestinians as one method by which to Judaize the city.
In 1981, the Supreme Court of Israel
ruled that non-Jews could not buy property in the Jewish Quarter in Jerusalem so as to "preserve the homogeneity" of the Jewish Quarter. On the other hand, no law prohibits Jews from buying property or living in East Jerusalem. Israel Shahak
, citing the ruling, wrote that: "only Jews have a right to permanent residence in Jerusalem as a natural right. The state of Israel does not recognize the right of an Arab or another non-Jew to live in Jerusalem even if he was born there." The efforts of fundamentalist Jewish groups who enjoyed government backing in attempts to take over Palestinian homes in the Muslim
and Christian
Quarters of the Old City between 1993 and 2000 are cited by Rubenberg as one example of the Judaization of Jerusalem. Meron Benvenisti
writes that these groups succeeding in taking over several buildings, "but only after receiving massive assistance from the government to, among other things, finance an extensive system of armed guards to protect them day and night, and hire armed guards for their children anytime they go out into the streets."
Rubenberg also cites settlement construction as an example of the Judaization of Jerusalem, citing in particular the construction of bypass roads that connect Israeli settlement
s in East Jerusalem with those in the West Bank so as to create a newly expanded Jerusalem metropolis integrally linked with Israel proper. Jeff Halper
, an anthropologist and director of the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions
(ICAHD), describes the Judaization of the city as one of the effects of settlement growth and house demolitions
in East Jerusalem
, describing it as being aimed at "eliminat[ing] the idea that there is an East Jerusalem, to create one unified, Jewish Jerusalem." In March 2009, defending its planned demolitions against Palestinian houses in the Bustan area of Silwan that would leave 1,500 people homeless, Jerusalem authorities said the houses were built illegally, without zoning and construction permits. Palestinians and human rights
organisations countered that "Israel makes it almost impossible for Palestinians to get the requisite permits, as a part of the policy to Judaise the eastern part of the city."
The E1 Plan
which includes the demolishing of some Palestinian homes and the building of a new Israeli settlement is described by the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights
(PCHR) as another method by which the Judaization of Jerusalem is being implemented.
names
of streets, quarters and historical sites with Hebrew
names. The Jordan
ian newspaper, al-Ra'i, published a list of such names and accused the Israeli government of changing the Arab names systematically to erase Arab heritage in Jerusalem and prevent the reassertion of Arab sovereignty over the city. The newspaper also claimed the new names had nothing to do with the old names and sometimes attributed a Jewish patrimony when in fact there was no such relation. One example it cited was the site named Solomon's Stables
by the Israeli government, which the newspaper claimed was not built in Solomon
's time, but at the time of the Roman emperor
Hadrian
. Solomon's Stables
were named as such by crusaders, who built the stables, because they were adjacent to the location of Solomon's temple. This name was used by the Israeli government.
Critiquing international news reporting on Jerusalem for centering on Arab and Palestinian claims regarding the Judaization of Jerusalem, Dan Diker writes that the underlying assumption of such reporting is that "eastern Jerusalem" has always been an Arab city, ignoring "the fact that Jerusalem has had an overwhelmingly Jewish majority as far back as the mid-nineteenth century, well before the arrival of the British." Drawing on a study of urban planning and demographic growth in Jerusalem conducted by Justus Reid Weiner
, Diker writes that between 1967 and 2000, "Jerusalem's Arab population increased from 26.6 percent to 31.7 percent of the city's total populace, while the city's Jewish population decreased accordingly." He also writes that Arab housing construction heavily outpaced Jewish building during the same period, attributing this in part to "the direct sponsorship of illegal construction by the Palestinian Authority."
In "Is Jerusalem being "Judaized"?, Weiner reviews demographic figures from the mid-19th century through to the present and concludes that the "demographic evidence does not support the allegations that Israel is 'Judaizing' the city." His view is that speculation as to whether or not a policy of Judaization exists is rather pointless when there is no "effective implementation of tangible measures to implement such a program."
, supports "exclusive Israeli sovereignty over the city and the Judaisation of Arab East Jerusalem." The ICEJ website notes that its embassy was founded "as an act of comfort and solidarity with Israel and the Jewish people in their claim to Jerusalem" It also notes that the ICEJ administers several aid projects, engages in advocacy for Israel, and assists "aliyah
to the Jewish homeland."
The Elad Association promotes the Judaization of East Jerusalem. Operating in the city for some 20 years to acquire properties belonging to Palestinians in Kfar Silwan
, Palestinians say it has "taken over" substantial sections of the village. Elad also funds the digs being conducted near the Temple Mount
. In 2008, Haaretz
reported that at least 100 skeletons dating to the Islamic era (c. 8th-9th centuries AD) found a few hundred meters from Al-Aqsa mosque
were removed and packed into crates before they could be examined by archaeological experts. The excavations at Al-Aqsa
are described in Arab media in the context of Israeli efforts to Judaise Jerusalem.
has criticised Israel's efforts to change the demographic makeup of Jerusalem in several resolutions. All legislative and administrative measures taken by Israel, which have altered or aimed to alter the character, legal status and demographic composition of Jerusalem, are described by the UN as "null and void" and having "no validity whatsoever".
According to David G. Singer, the magazine America
published four articles between 1969 and 1972 that "censured Israel for its policy of Judaizing Jerusalem: moving Jews into the former Jewish section of the Old City, building new housing projects around the Holy City, and permitting — even encouraging - Christian Arabs
to migrate from Israel."
In a six-point document drafted as a result of discussion between the leaders of Fateh
, Hamas
, and Islamic Jihad
, among other Palestinian groups in March 2005, three issues were listed as "liable to explode the calm" between Israeli and Palestinians, one of these being "the Judaization of East Jerusalem."
In a 2008 report, John Dugard
, independent investigator for the United Nations Human Rights Council
, cites the Judaization of Jerusalem among many examples of Israeli policies "of colonialism
, apartheid or occupation", that create a context in which Palestinian terrorism is "an inevitable consequence".
In a joint communiqué issued by King Abdullah
of Jordan
and King Mohammed VI of Morocco
in March 2009, both leaders stressed their determination "to continue defending Jerusalem and to protect it from attempts to Judaise the city and erase its Arab and Islamic identity." And in February 2010, Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Muallem
was quoted in Israeli Media as saying "halting the ongoing Judaization of Jerusalem” would be a significant topic at an upcoming Arab League Summit.
In 2011, EU envoys in the Middle East reported to Brussels that various Israeli policies amounted to "systematically undermining the Palestinian presence" in Jerusalem.
Richard Falk, Special Rapporteur for the UN on the occupied Palestinian territories, said that "the continued pattern of settlement expansion in East Jerusalem combined with forcible eviction of long residing Palestinians are creating an intolerable situation that can only be described, in its cumulative impact, as a form of ethnic cleansing
". Falk said that Israel's actions reveal systematic discrimination against Palestinian residents of the city, and recommended that the International Court of Justice
assess allegations that Israel's occupation of the West Bank and East Jerusalem possesses elements of apartheid and ethnic cleansing.
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
has sought to transform the physical and demographic landscape of Jerusalem to correspond with a vision of a united and fundamentally Jewish Jerusalem under Israeli sovereignty. Several UN officials have said that Israel's actions are tantamount to apartheid and ethnic cleansing.
The question of whether there is an Israeli government policy for the Judaization of Jerusalem is a matter of debate. Some scholars like Oren Yiftachel
Oren Yiftachel
Oren Yiftachel teaches political geography, urban planning and public policy at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev.Yiftachel studied during the 1980s in Australian and Israeli universities...
, Moshe Ma'oz and Jeremy Salt write that it has been the policy of successive Israeli governments since 1967. Others, like Justus Weiner
Justus Weiner
Justus Reid Weiner is an Israeli-American lawyer at the firm of Geraldson, Marks and Xeno in Jerusalem and scholar. He is a UC Berkeley law school graduate, a Boston native, and a member of the Israel and New York Bar Associations. According to an interview by Salon books, Weiner worked at the...
and Dan Diker, have objected to the entire notion, claiming that the lack of any significant change to the demographic balance of the city undermines suggestions that it is government policy and renders any such discussions moot.
Background
Jerusalem has a long history of settlement predating that of the three monotheistic faiths, JudaismJudaism
Judaism ) is the "religion, philosophy, and way of life" of the Jewish people...
, Christianity
Christianity
Christianity is a monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus as presented in canonical gospels and other New Testament writings...
and Islam
Islam
Islam . The most common are and . : Arabic pronunciation varies regionally. The first vowel ranges from ~~. The second vowel ranges from ~~~...
, which hold the city in high esteem. Members of all three religions and others have made Jerusalem their home over the years.
Although the city came under Muslim rule in 638, it retained its Christian appearance for centuries afterward. During the Crusades
Crusades
The Crusades were a series of religious wars, blessed by the Pope and the Catholic Church with the main goal of restoring Christian access to the holy places in and near Jerusalem...
(1099–1291), many new Christian sites, including 60 churches, were constructed, and a number of Muslim holy sites in Jerusalem, like Al-Aqsa Mosque
Al-Aqsa Mosque
Al-Aqsa Mosque also known as al-Aqsa, is the third holiest site in Sunni Islam and is located in the Old City of Jerusalem...
and the Dome of the Rock
Dome of the Rock
The Dome of the Rock is a shrine located on the Temple Mount in the Old City of Jerusalem. The structure has been refurbished many times since its initial completion in 691 CE at the order of Umayyad Caliph Abd al-Malik...
, were transformed into churches or palaces for the Crusader kings. After the Ayyubids liberated the city from the Crusaders in 1187, active measures were undertaken to restore Islamic sites and Islamise the city, a project motivated by the spirit of the counter-crusades which no longer viewed Christian sites as innocuous since they had made their way into sacred Muslim places. This project was completed by the Mamluk
Mamluk
A Mamluk was a soldier of slave origin, who were predominantly Cumans/Kipchaks The "mamluk phenomenon", as David Ayalon dubbed the creation of the specific warrior...
s who wished to make Jerusalem look like a sacred Islamic domain, erecting dozens of religious buildings which altered the appearance of the city yet again, with many of the buildings appropriating Christian sites.
In modern times, Jerusalem was ruled by the Ottoman empire
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...
, who ruled over much of Palestine
Palestine
Palestine is a conventional name, among others, used to describe the geographic region between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River, and various adjoining lands....
from the 16th century until the end of World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
. Under their rule Jerusalem was home to Jews, Christians and Muslims. The Jewish community was the smallest of these three in the early 19th century, numbering some 2,000 out of a total population of 8,744 in 1806. At the time, Ashkenasic Jews were forbidden from residing in the city, having been banished by the Ottoman authorities shorty after 1720. Jerusalem became an important administrative capital in the 19th century after the Ottomans established a new Jerusalem district. Jewish immigration to the city was motivated by a number of factors, a main factor among them being the centrality of Jerusalem for Judaism
Judaism
Judaism ) is the "religion, philosophy, and way of life" of the Jewish people...
. Political factors also played a role; for example, one result of growing intervention by the British Empire
British Empire
The British Empire comprised the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom. It originated with the overseas colonies and trading posts established by England in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. At its height, it was the...
in the affairs of the Ottoman Empire at this time was that increased Jewish immigration to Jerusalem received British protection.
By the end of the period of the Ottoman Tanzimat
Tanzimat
The Tanzimât , meaning reorganization of the Ottoman Empire, was a period of reformation that began in 1839 and ended with the First Constitutional Era in 1876. The Tanzimât reform era was characterized by various attempts to modernize the Ottoman Empire, to secure its territorial integrity against...
reforms, Jews had grown to represent the single largest religious community in Jerusalem. Weiner
Justus Weiner
Justus Reid Weiner is an Israeli-American lawyer at the firm of Geraldson, Marks and Xeno in Jerusalem and scholar. He is a UC Berkeley law school graduate, a Boston native, and a member of the Israel and New York Bar Associations. According to an interview by Salon books, Weiner worked at the...
writes that from the 1880s onward, all sources acknowledge that Jews constituted the majority within the city. Jewish building societies were established by the 1870s, and the Meah Shearim Quarter was constructed northwest of the Old City walls. Other building projects followed, and by the 1890s, leading Jerusalem Muslim families were protesting against Jewish immigration and land acquisitions.
After the partitioning of the Ottoman Empire
Partitioning of the Ottoman Empire
The Partitioning of the Ottoman Empire was a political event that occurred after World War I. The huge conglomeration of territories and peoples formerly ruled by the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire was divided into several new nations.The partitioning was planned from the early days of the war,...
, Jerusalem was placed under the control of the British Mandate. According to the 1947 United Nations Partition Plan, Jerusalem was to form an international corpus separatum. After the 1948 Arab-Israeli War
1948 Arab-Israeli War
The 1948 Arab–Israeli War, known to Israelis as the War of Independence or War of Liberation The war commenced after the termination of the British Mandate for Palestine and the creation of an independent Israel at midnight on 14 May 1948 when, following a period of civil war, Arab armies invaded...
, however, Jerusalem was divided, with Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
taking control over West Jerusalem and Jordan
Jordan
Jordan , officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan , Al-Mamlaka al-Urduniyya al-Hashemiyya) is a kingdom on the East Bank of the River Jordan. The country borders Saudi Arabia to the east and south-east, Iraq to the north-east, Syria to the north and the West Bank and Israel to the west, sharing...
taking control over East Jerusalem
East Jerusalem
East Jerusalem or Eastern Jerusalem refer to the parts of Jerusalem captured and annexed by Jordan in the 1948 Arab-Israeli War and then captured and annexed by Israel in the 1967 Six-Day War...
. Israel occupied East Jerusalem during the Six Day War
Six-Day War
The Six-Day War , also known as the June War, 1967 Arab-Israeli War, or Third Arab-Israeli War, was fought between June 5 and 10, 1967, by Israel and the neighboring states of Egypt , Jordan, and Syria...
in 1967.
Today, Palestinian
Palestinian people
The Palestinian people, also referred to as Palestinians or Palestinian Arabs , are an Arabic-speaking people with origins in Palestine. Despite various wars and exoduses, roughly one third of the world's Palestinian population continues to reside in the area encompassing the West Bank, the Gaza...
Jerusalemites in East Jerusalem number some 250,000, comprising 30% of the total population of Jerusalem. Since the Six Day War and Israel's annexation of East Jerusalem, Israeli actions seeking to change the legal status of East Jerusalem have been condemned by the international community
International community
The international community is a term used in international relations to refer to all peoples, cultures and governments of the world or to a group of them. The term is used to imply the existence of common duties and obligations between them...
. Moshe Ma'oz describes the policy of Israeli governments since 1967 as aimed at "maintain[ing] a unified Jerusalem; to Judaize or Israelize it, demographically and politically." According to the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre (IDMC), "Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
i and Palestinian organisations have criticised Israeli policies that have sought to judaise East Jerusalem, expand the municipality of Jerusalem, and maintain a Jewish majority in Jerusalem at the expense of the Palestinian community, in violation of international humanitarian law
International humanitarian law
International humanitarian law , often referred to as the laws of war, the laws and customs of war or the law of armed conflict, is the legal corpus that comprises "the Geneva Conventions and the Hague Conventions, as well as subsequent treaties, case law, and customary international law." It...
and human rights law (UNCHR, 12 July 1995; ICAHD, March 2007; B'tselem
B'Tselem
B'Tselem is an Israeli non-governmental organization . It calls itself "The Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories"...
, July 2006)."
Defining Judaization: Means and effects in Jerusalem
"JudaizationJudaization
Judaization is a process of cultural assimilation in which a person or a demographic group acquires Jewish cultural and religious beliefs and values....
" in territorial terms is characterized by Oren Yiftachel
Oren Yiftachel
Oren Yiftachel teaches political geography, urban planning and public policy at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev.Yiftachel studied during the 1980s in Australian and Israeli universities...
as a form of "ethnicization", which he argues is "the main force in shaping ethnocratic regimes". Yiftachel identifies Judaization as a state strategy and project in Israel, not confined to Jerusalem alone. He also characterizes the goals of those pursuing a "Greater Israel
Greater Israel
Greater Israel is a controversial expression with several different Biblical and political meanings over time.Currently, the most common definition of the land encompassed by the term is the territory of the State of Israel together with the Palestinian territories...
" or "Greater Palestine" as being driven by "ethnicization", in this case by "Judaization" and "Arabization
Arabization
Arabization or Arabisation describes a growing cultural influence on a non-Arab area that gradually changes into one that speaks Arabic and/or incorporates Arab culture...
" respectively.
Valerie Zink writes that much was accomplished towards the Judaization of Jerusalem with the expulsion of Arab
Arab
Arab people, also known as Arabs , are a panethnicity primarily living in the Arab world, which is located in Western Asia and North Africa. They are identified as such on one or more of genealogical, linguistic, or cultural grounds, with tribal affiliations, and intra-tribal relationships playing...
residents in 1948
1948 Palestinian exodus
The 1948 Palestinian exodus , also known as the Nakba , occurred when approximately 711,000 to 725,000 Palestinian Arabs left, fled or were expelled from their homes, during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War and the Civil War that preceded it. The exact number of refugees is a matter of dispute...
and 1967
1967 Palestinian exodus
The 1967 Palestinian exodus refers to the flight of around 280,000 to 325,000 Palestinians out of the territories taken by Israel during and in the aftermath of the Six-Day War including the demolition of the Palestinian villages of Imwas, Yalo, and Bayt Nuba, Surit, Beit Awwa, Beit Mirsem,...
, noting that the process has also relied in "peacetime" on "the strategic extension of Jerusalem's municipal boundaries, bureaucratic and legal restrictions on Palestinian land use, disenfranchisement of Jerusalem residents, the expansion of settlements in 'Greater Jerusalem', and the construction of the separation wall
Separation barrier
A separation barrier is a wall or fence constructed to limit the movement of people across a certain line or border, or to separate two populations. These structures vary in placement with regard to international borders and topography...
." The attempts to Judaize Jerusalem, in the words of Jeremy Salt, "to obliterate its Palestinian identity" and thicken 'Greater Jerusalem' to encompass much of the West Bank
West Bank
The West Bank ) of the Jordan River is the landlocked geographical eastern part of the Palestinian territories located in Western Asia. To the west, north, and south, the West Bank shares borders with the state of Israel. To the east, across the Jordan River, lies the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan...
, have continued under successive Israeli governments.
Cheryl Rubenberg
Cheryl Rubenberg
Cheryl A. Rubenberg is a writer and researcher specializing in the Middle East, formerly an associate professor in the Department of Political Science at Florida International University...
writes that since 1967, Israel has employed processes of "Judaization and Israelization so as to transform Jerusalem into a Jewish metropolis," while simultaneously pursuing "a program of de-Arabization" so as to facilitate "its objective of permanent, unified, sovereign control over the city." These policies, which aim to change Jerusalem demographically, socially, culturally and politically, are said by Rubenberg to have intensified after the initiation of the Oslo peace process in 1993.
Drawing on the scholarship of Ian Lustick
Ian Lustick
Ian Steven Lustick is an American political scientist and specialist on the modern history and politics of the Middle East.Lustick completed his Ph.D...
, Cecilia Alban writes of how the Israeli government has succeeded in establishing "new powerful, concepts, images, and icons" to explain and legitimise its policies in Jerusalem. The government's use of the term "reunification" to describe its occupation of East Jerusalem in 1967 is cited as one such example, which in Alban's view, falsely implies that this area belonged to Israel in the past. Noting the reality of the fear among Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
is that Jerusalem would become redivided under dual sovereignty or internationalization
Internationalization
In economics, internationalization has been viewed as a process of increasing involvement of enterprises in international markets, although there is no agreed definition of internationalization or international entrepreneurship...
proposals, Alban's writes that such fears were "exploited politically to justify the forced retention and Judaization of East Jerusalem." Steve Niva writes that Israeli policies calling for the Judaization of Jerusalem and the rest of historic Palestine
Palestine
Palestine is a conventional name, among others, used to describe the geographic region between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River, and various adjoining lands....
in the 1970s, augmented Muslim fears that Israel was an extension of Western
Western culture
Western culture, sometimes equated with Western civilization or European civilization, refers to cultures of European origin and is used very broadly to refer to a heritage of social norms, ethical values, traditional customs, religious beliefs, political systems, and specific artifacts and...
imperialism
Imperialism
Imperialism, as defined by Dictionary of Human Geography, is "the creation and/or maintenance of an unequal economic, cultural, and territorial relationships, usually between states and often in the form of an empire, based on domination and subordination." The imperialism of the last 500 years,...
in the region.
Settlements and house demolitions
Over roughly three decades, from 1967 to 1995, of 76,151 housing units built in Jerusalem, 64,867 (88%) were allocated for Jewish residents with 59% of these units built in East Jerusalem as new Jewish neighbourhoods.Yiftachel writes that by 2001, Judaization in Jerusalem had entailed the incorporation of 170 square kilometres (65.6 sq mi) of surrounding land into the city's boundaries and the construction of 8 settlements in East Jerusalem housing a total of 206,000 Jewish settlers. In an essay he co-authored with Haim Yaacobi, they write that, "Israel would like the Palestinian residents of Jerusalem to see Judaization as 'inevitable', a fact to be accepted passively as part of the modern development of the metropolis."
Plans are underway to construct a new Israeli settlement
Israeli settlement
An Israeli settlement is a Jewish civilian community built on land that was captured by Israel from Jordan, Egypt, and Syria during the 1967 Six-Day War and is considered occupied territory by the international community. Such settlements currently exist in the West Bank...
in the last piece of open land linking Arab East Jerusalem to the West Bank that will house about 45,000 residents on a land area larger than Tel Aviv
Tel Aviv
Tel Aviv , officially Tel Aviv-Yafo , is the second most populous city in Israel, with a population of 404,400 on a land area of . The city is located on the Israeli Mediterranean coastline in west-central Israel. It is the largest and most populous city in the metropolitan area of Gush Dan, with...
, the second-largest Israeli city. According to Alghad
Alghad
The Alghad is an independent Arabic daily national newspaper, founded in 2003, issued and published in Jordan, and headquartered in Amman.-Content:The newspaper is organized into five sections:* AlGhad Al-Urduni : for local news of Jordan...
, a Jordan
Jordan
Jordan , officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan , Al-Mamlaka al-Urduniyya al-Hashemiyya) is a kingdom on the East Bank of the River Jordan. The country borders Saudi Arabia to the east and south-east, Iraq to the north-east, Syria to the north and the West Bank and Israel to the west, sharing...
ian newspaper, the Israeli government elected in 2009 is soliciting tenders for the biggest settlement plans in West Bank
West Bank
The West Bank ) of the Jordan River is the landlocked geographical eastern part of the Palestinian territories located in Western Asia. To the west, north, and south, the West Bank shares borders with the state of Israel. To the east, across the Jordan River, lies the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan...
. These plans have been described by the Palestinian Information Minister Mustafa Barghouti
Mustafa Barghouti
Mustafa Barghouti is a Palestinian democracy activist. He was a candidate for the presidency of the Palestinian National Authority in 2005, finishing second to Mahmoud Abbas, with 19% of the vote.Barghouti was born in Jerusalem...
as, "an announcement against peace and against the Palestinian state and it means the Israeli government is not a partner for peace." This settlement is considered to by Palestinians as one method by which to Judaize the city.
In 1981, the Supreme Court of Israel
Supreme Court of Israel
The Supreme Court is at the head of the court system and highest judicial instance in Israel. The Supreme Court sits in Jerusalem.The area of its jurisdiction is all of Israel and the Israeli-occupied territories. A ruling of the Supreme Court is binding upon every court, other than the Supreme...
ruled that non-Jews could not buy property in the Jewish Quarter in Jerusalem so as to "preserve the homogeneity" of the Jewish Quarter. On the other hand, no law prohibits Jews from buying property or living in East Jerusalem. Israel Shahak
Israel Shahak
Israel Shahak was a Polish-born Israeli professor of chemistry at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, known especially as a radical political thinker, author, and civil rights activist. Between 1970-1990, he was president of the Israeli League for Human and Civil Rights and was an outspoken critic...
, citing the ruling, wrote that: "only Jews have a right to permanent residence in Jerusalem as a natural right. The state of Israel does not recognize the right of an Arab or another non-Jew to live in Jerusalem even if he was born there." The efforts of fundamentalist Jewish groups who enjoyed government backing in attempts to take over Palestinian homes in the Muslim
Islam
Islam . The most common are and . : Arabic pronunciation varies regionally. The first vowel ranges from ~~. The second vowel ranges from ~~~...
and Christian
Christianity
Christianity is a monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus as presented in canonical gospels and other New Testament writings...
Quarters of the Old City between 1993 and 2000 are cited by Rubenberg as one example of the Judaization of Jerusalem. Meron Benvenisti
Meron Benvenisti
Meron Benvenisti is an Israeli political scientist who was Deputy Mayor of Jerusalem under Teddy Kollek from 1971 to 1978, during which he administered East Jerusalem and served as Jerusalem's Chief Planning Officer. He is a medieval scholar and published books and maps on the Crusader period in...
writes that these groups succeeding in taking over several buildings, "but only after receiving massive assistance from the government to, among other things, finance an extensive system of armed guards to protect them day and night, and hire armed guards for their children anytime they go out into the streets."
Rubenberg also cites settlement construction as an example of the Judaization of Jerusalem, citing in particular the construction of bypass roads that connect Israeli settlement
Israeli settlement
An Israeli settlement is a Jewish civilian community built on land that was captured by Israel from Jordan, Egypt, and Syria during the 1967 Six-Day War and is considered occupied territory by the international community. Such settlements currently exist in the West Bank...
s in East Jerusalem with those in the West Bank so as to create a newly expanded Jerusalem metropolis integrally linked with Israel proper. Jeff Halper
Jeff Halper
Jeff Halper is an anthropologist, author, lecturer, political activist, and co-founder and Coordinator of the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions...
, an anthropologist and director of the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions
Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions
The Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions is an Israeli peace and human rights organization dedicated to ending the occupation of the Palestinian territories and achieving a just peace between Israelis and Palestinians...
(ICAHD), describes the Judaization of the city as one of the effects of settlement growth and house demolitions
House demolition in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict
House demolition is a controversial tactic used by the Israeli Defence Forces and Israeli settlers in Jerusalem, the West Bank, and the Gaza Strip against Palestinians....
in East Jerusalem
East Jerusalem
East Jerusalem or Eastern Jerusalem refer to the parts of Jerusalem captured and annexed by Jordan in the 1948 Arab-Israeli War and then captured and annexed by Israel in the 1967 Six-Day War...
, describing it as being aimed at "eliminat[ing] the idea that there is an East Jerusalem, to create one unified, Jewish Jerusalem." In March 2009, defending its planned demolitions against Palestinian houses in the Bustan area of Silwan that would leave 1,500 people homeless, Jerusalem authorities said the houses were built illegally, without zoning and construction permits. Palestinians and human rights
Human rights
Human rights are "commonly understood as inalienable fundamental rights to which a person is inherently entitled simply because she or he is a human being." Human rights are thus conceived as universal and egalitarian . These rights may exist as natural rights or as legal rights, in both national...
organisations countered that "Israel makes it almost impossible for Palestinians to get the requisite permits, as a part of the policy to Judaise the eastern part of the city."
The E1 Plan
E1 Plan
E1 Plan is an Israeli administrative name for the stretch of land northeast of Jerusalem to the west of the settlement of Ma'ale Adumim, with E-1 being an abbreviation for "East 1"...
which includes the demolishing of some Palestinian homes and the building of a new Israeli settlement is described by the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights
Palestinian Centre for Human Rights
The Palestinian Centre for Human Rights is an independent Palestinian human rights organization based in Gaza City, founded and directed by Raji Sourani...
(PCHR) as another method by which the Judaization of Jerusalem is being implemented.
Residency rights
Other means by which the Israeli government is "Judaizing Jerusalem", according to Leilani Farha, are via the revocation of residency rights, absentee property laws, and discriminatory taxation policies. Since 1982 the Israeli Interior Ministry has not permitted the registration of Palestinian children as Jerusalem residents if the child's father does not hold a Jerusalem ID card, even if the mother is a Jerusalem ID cardholder. In 2003, the Citizenship and Entry into Israel law was enacted, which denies spouses from the occupied Palestinian territories, who are married to Israeli citizens or permanent residents (Jerusalem ID card holders), the right to acquire citizenship or residency status, and thus the opportunity to live with their partners in Israel and Jerusalem. In Israel, foreign spouses who are Jewish are automatically granted citizenship under Israel's Law of Return.Replacing Arabic place names with Hebrew names
Another major aspect of Israel's effort to Judaize Jerusalem was to replace the ArabicArabic language
Arabic is a name applied to the descendants of the Classical Arabic language of the 6th century AD, used most prominently in the Quran, the Islamic Holy Book...
names
Place names in Palestine
Place names in Palestine have been the subject of much scholarship and contention, particularly in the context of the Israeli-Arab conflict. The significance of place names in Palestine lies in their potential to legitimize the historical claims asserted by the involved parties, all of whom claim...
of streets, quarters and historical sites with Hebrew
Hebrew language
Hebrew is a Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Culturally, is it considered by Jews and other religious groups as the language of the Jewish people, though other Jewish languages had originated among diaspora Jews, and the Hebrew language is also used by non-Jewish groups, such...
names. The Jordan
Jordan
Jordan , officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan , Al-Mamlaka al-Urduniyya al-Hashemiyya) is a kingdom on the East Bank of the River Jordan. The country borders Saudi Arabia to the east and south-east, Iraq to the north-east, Syria to the north and the West Bank and Israel to the west, sharing...
ian newspaper, al-Ra'i, published a list of such names and accused the Israeli government of changing the Arab names systematically to erase Arab heritage in Jerusalem and prevent the reassertion of Arab sovereignty over the city. The newspaper also claimed the new names had nothing to do with the old names and sometimes attributed a Jewish patrimony when in fact there was no such relation. One example it cited was the site named Solomon's Stables
Solomon's Stables
Solomon's Stables or Marwani Mosque is an underground mosque some 600 square yards beneath al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem...
by the Israeli government, which the newspaper claimed was not built in Solomon
Solomon
Solomon , according to the Book of Kings and the Book of Chronicles, a King of Israel and according to the Talmud one of the 48 prophets, is identified as the son of David, also called Jedidiah in 2 Samuel 12:25, and is described as the third king of the United Monarchy, and the final king before...
's time, but at the time of the Roman emperor
Roman Empire
The Roman Empire was the post-Republican period of the ancient Roman civilization, characterised by an autocratic form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean....
Hadrian
Hadrian
Hadrian , was Roman Emperor from 117 to 138. He is best known for building Hadrian's Wall, which marked the northern limit of Roman Britain. In Rome, he re-built the Pantheon and constructed the Temple of Venus and Roma. In addition to being emperor, Hadrian was a humanist and was philhellene in...
. Solomon's Stables
Solomon's Stables
Solomon's Stables or Marwani Mosque is an underground mosque some 600 square yards beneath al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem...
were named as such by crusaders, who built the stables, because they were adjacent to the location of Solomon's temple. This name was used by the Israeli government.
Demographic debate
Benvenisti writes that complete data on the demographics of Jerusalem are not collected by any one official source and that as a result, data are interpreted and used selectively and inconsistently by both Palestinian and Israeli sources. Figures pointed to by Palestinians as evidence of their success in preserving the Arab character of Jerusalem, are also sometimes used as "proof of the Judaization of Jerusalem". Benvenisti writes that despite immense Israeli effort, "the demographic balance in the city has hardly changed at all."Critiquing international news reporting on Jerusalem for centering on Arab and Palestinian claims regarding the Judaization of Jerusalem, Dan Diker writes that the underlying assumption of such reporting is that "eastern Jerusalem" has always been an Arab city, ignoring "the fact that Jerusalem has had an overwhelmingly Jewish majority as far back as the mid-nineteenth century, well before the arrival of the British." Drawing on a study of urban planning and demographic growth in Jerusalem conducted by Justus Reid Weiner
Justus Weiner
Justus Reid Weiner is an Israeli-American lawyer at the firm of Geraldson, Marks and Xeno in Jerusalem and scholar. He is a UC Berkeley law school graduate, a Boston native, and a member of the Israel and New York Bar Associations. According to an interview by Salon books, Weiner worked at the...
, Diker writes that between 1967 and 2000, "Jerusalem's Arab population increased from 26.6 percent to 31.7 percent of the city's total populace, while the city's Jewish population decreased accordingly." He also writes that Arab housing construction heavily outpaced Jewish building during the same period, attributing this in part to "the direct sponsorship of illegal construction by the Palestinian Authority."
In "Is Jerusalem being "Judaized"?, Weiner reviews demographic figures from the mid-19th century through to the present and concludes that the "demographic evidence does not support the allegations that Israel is 'Judaizing' the city." His view is that speculation as to whether or not a policy of Judaization exists is rather pointless when there is no "effective implementation of tangible measures to implement such a program."
Support for Judaization efforts
According to Nur Masalha, the International Christian Embassy in Jerusalem (ICEJ), established in 1980 in the former home of Edward SaidEdward Said
Edward Wadie Saïd was a Palestinian-American literary theorist and advocate for Palestinian rights. He was University Professor of English and Comparative Literature at Columbia University and a founding figure in postcolonialism...
, supports "exclusive Israeli sovereignty over the city and the Judaisation of Arab East Jerusalem." The ICEJ website notes that its embassy was founded "as an act of comfort and solidarity with Israel and the Jewish people in their claim to Jerusalem" It also notes that the ICEJ administers several aid projects, engages in advocacy for Israel, and assists "aliyah
Aliyah
Aliyah is the immigration of Jews to the Land of Israel . It is a basic tenet of Zionist ideology. The opposite action, emigration from Israel, is referred to as yerida . The return to the Holy Land has been a Jewish aspiration since the Babylonian exile...
to the Jewish homeland."
The Elad Association promotes the Judaization of East Jerusalem. Operating in the city for some 20 years to acquire properties belonging to Palestinians in Kfar Silwan
Silwan
Silwan or Wadi Hilweh is a predominantly Palestinian village adjacent to the Old City of Jerusalem. In recent years a small Jewish minority of 40 families has settled in the area. The village is located in East Jerusalem, an area occupied by Jordan from 1948 until the 1967 Six-day War and by Israel...
, Palestinians say it has "taken over" substantial sections of the village. Elad also funds the digs being conducted near the Temple Mount
Temple Mount
The Temple Mount, known in Hebrew as , and in Arabic as the Haram Ash-Sharif , is one of the most important religious sites in the Old City of Jerusalem. It has been used as a religious site for thousands of years...
. In 2008, Haaretz
Haaretz
Haaretz is Israel's oldest daily newspaper. It was founded in 1918 and is now published in both Hebrew and English in Berliner format. The English edition is published and sold together with the International Herald Tribune. Both Hebrew and English editions can be read on the Internet...
reported that at least 100 skeletons dating to the Islamic era (c. 8th-9th centuries AD) found a few hundred meters from Al-Aqsa mosque
Al-Aqsa Mosque
Al-Aqsa Mosque also known as al-Aqsa, is the third holiest site in Sunni Islam and is located in the Old City of Jerusalem...
were removed and packed into crates before they could be examined by archaeological experts. The excavations at Al-Aqsa
Excavations of Al-Aqsa Mosque
Several excavations at the Temple Mount have taken place. The first archaeological excavations at the site was by the British Royal Engineers in the 1870s....
are described in Arab media in the context of Israeli efforts to Judaise Jerusalem.
Criticism of Judaization efforts
The United NationsUnited Nations
The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...
has criticised Israel's efforts to change the demographic makeup of Jerusalem in several resolutions. All legislative and administrative measures taken by Israel, which have altered or aimed to alter the character, legal status and demographic composition of Jerusalem, are described by the UN as "null and void" and having "no validity whatsoever".
According to David G. Singer, the magazine America
America (magazine)
America is a national weekly magazine published by the American Jesuits that contains news and opinion about Catholicism and how it relates to American politics and cultural life....
published four articles between 1969 and 1972 that "censured Israel for its policy of Judaizing Jerusalem: moving Jews into the former Jewish section of the Old City, building new housing projects around the Holy City, and permitting — even encouraging - Christian Arabs
Palestinian Christians
Palestinian Christians are Arabic-speaking Christians descended from the people of the geographical area of Palestine. Within Palestine, there are churches and believers from many Christian denominations, including Oriental Orthodoxy, Eastern Orthodoxy, Catholic , Protestant, and others...
to migrate from Israel."
In a six-point document drafted as a result of discussion between the leaders of Fateh
Fatah
Fataḥ is a major Palestinian political party and the largest faction of the Palestine Liberation Organization , a multi-party confederation. In Palestinian politics it is on the left-wing of the spectrum; it is mainly nationalist, although not predominantly socialist. Its official goals are found...
, Hamas
Hamas
Hamas is the Palestinian Sunni Islamic or Islamist political party that governs the Gaza Strip. Hamas also has a military wing, the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades...
, and Islamic Jihad
Islamic Jihad Movement in Palestine
The Islamic Jihad Movement in Palestine known in the West as simply Palestinian Islamic Jihad , is a small Palestinian militant organization. The group has been labelled as a terrorist group by the United States, the European Union, the United Kingdom, Japan, Canada, Australia and Israel...
, among other Palestinian groups in March 2005, three issues were listed as "liable to explode the calm" between Israeli and Palestinians, one of these being "the Judaization of East Jerusalem."
In a 2008 report, John Dugard
John Dugard
John Dugard is a South African professor of international law. He has served as Judge ad hoc on the International Court of Justice and as a Special Rapporteur for both the former United Nations Commission on Human Rights and the International Law Commission...
, independent investigator for the United Nations Human Rights Council
United Nations Human Rights Council
The United Nations Human Rights Council is an inter-governmental body within the United Nations System. The UNHRC is the successor to the United Nations Commission on Human Rights , and is a subsidiary body of the United Nations General Assembly...
, cites the Judaization of Jerusalem among many examples of Israeli policies "of colonialism
Colonialism
Colonialism is the establishment, maintenance, acquisition and expansion of colonies in one territory by people from another territory. It is a process whereby the metropole claims sovereignty over the colony and the social structure, government, and economics of the colony are changed by...
, apartheid or occupation", that create a context in which Palestinian terrorism is "an inevitable consequence".
In a joint communiqué issued by King Abdullah
Abdullah II of Jordan
Abdullah II ibn al-Hussein is the reigning King of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan. He ascended the throne on 7 February 1999 after the death of his father King Hussein. King Abdullah, whose mother is Princess Muna al-Hussein, is a member of the Hashemite family...
of Jordan
Jordan
Jordan , officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan , Al-Mamlaka al-Urduniyya al-Hashemiyya) is a kingdom on the East Bank of the River Jordan. The country borders Saudi Arabia to the east and south-east, Iraq to the north-east, Syria to the north and the West Bank and Israel to the west, sharing...
and King Mohammed VI of Morocco
Morocco
Morocco , officially the Kingdom of Morocco , is a country located in North Africa. It has a population of more than 32 million and an area of 710,850 km², and also primarily administers the disputed region of the Western Sahara...
in March 2009, both leaders stressed their determination "to continue defending Jerusalem and to protect it from attempts to Judaise the city and erase its Arab and Islamic identity." And in February 2010, Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Muallem
Walid Muallem
Walid al Muallem is the current Minister of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates for Syria, and a long-time diplomat for that country.-Early life, education and career:...
was quoted in Israeli Media as saying "halting the ongoing Judaization of Jerusalem” would be a significant topic at an upcoming Arab League Summit.
In 2011, EU envoys in the Middle East reported to Brussels that various Israeli policies amounted to "systematically undermining the Palestinian presence" in Jerusalem.
Richard Falk, Special Rapporteur for the UN on the occupied Palestinian territories, said that "the continued pattern of settlement expansion in East Jerusalem combined with forcible eviction of long residing Palestinians are creating an intolerable situation that can only be described, in its cumulative impact, as a form of ethnic cleansing
Ethnic cleansing
Ethnic cleansing is a purposeful policy designed by one ethnic or religious group to remove by violent and terror-inspiring means the civilian population of another ethnic orreligious group from certain geographic areas....
". Falk said that Israel's actions reveal systematic discrimination against Palestinian residents of the city, and recommended that the International Court of Justice
International Court of Justice
The International Court of Justice is the primary judicial organ of the United Nations. It is based in the Peace Palace in The Hague, Netherlands...
assess allegations that Israel's occupation of the West Bank and East Jerusalem possesses elements of apartheid and ethnic cleansing.
See also
- Demographics of JerusalemDemographics of JerusalemJerusalem's population size and composition has shifted many times over its 5,000 year history. Since medieval times, the Old City of Jerusalem has been divided into Jewish, Muslim, Christian, and Armenian quarters....
- Islamization of JerusalemIslamization of JerusalemThe Islamization of Jerusalem began in the first year A.H. , when Islam instructed Muslims to face the city while performing their daily prostrations and, according to Muslim religious tradition, Muhammad's night journey and ascension to heaven took place...
- Islamization of Jerusalem under Jordanian occupationIslamization of Jerusalem under Jordanian occupationIslamization of Jerusalem under Jordanian occupation refers to the allegation that Jordan sought to transform the demographics and character of East Jerusalem between 1948 and 1967 in order to make it more Muslim. Egyptian political commentator Bat Ye'or and Mayor of Jerusalem Teddy Kollek have...
- Islamization of the Temple MountIslamization of the Temple MountThe Islamization of the Temple Mount refers to the view that Muslim authorities have sought to appropriate and Islamicize the Temple Mount for exclusive Muslim use...
- Judaization of the GalileeJudaization of the GalileeJudaization of the Galilee is a regional project and policy of the Israeli government and associated private organizations which is intended to increase Jewish population and communities in the Galilee, a region within Israel which has a Palestinian Arab majority.-Background:With the termination...
- Islamization of PalestineIslamization of PalestineThe Islamization of Palestine occurred as a result of the Islamic conquest of Palestine in 640 CE/A.D. It was a long process by which Islam was gradually accepted by the majority of the indigenous Christian, Samaritan and Jewish population of the area...
- Religious significance of JerusalemReligious significance of JerusalemThe city of Jerusalem, located in modern-day Israel, is significant in a number of religious traditions, including Abrahamic religions Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, which consider it a holy city.-In Judaism:...
External links
- The Judaization of East Jerusalem, by Alice Rothchild
- 'Judaizing Jerusalem', by A.M. Rosenthal
- "Judaising" of Jerusalem, by Gulf NewsGulf NewsGulf News is a daily English language newspaper published from Dubai, in the United Arab Emirates with a December 2009 BPA audited circulation of over 117,036 qualified copies...