The Hebronisation of Jerusalem

[Violet_Crumble]

Growing Israeli and settler control has set Jerusalem on the same path as the West Bank's most divided city

Mick Dumper
guardian.co.uk
Wednesday 10 March 2010 11.06 GMT

The recent escalation of tensions in Jerusalem with clashes between Palestinian demonstrators and Israeli police in and around the Old City appear to signify the emergence of a disturbing new trend: the Hebronisation of Jerusalem. This presages not only the triumph of the radical settler groups in taking over culturally sensitive parts of the city, but also further violence and turmoil. More importantly it also interrupts the delicate moves towards the resumption of negotiations between the Israeli government and the Palestinian Authority/PLO.


Why Hebronisation? Hebron, just south of Jerusalem and Bethlehem, is a city – despite pockets of wealth – characterised by poverty, lack of investment, increasing criminality, the breakdown of municipal services and the absence of any recognised national and local leadership. Since the Israeli occupation of the West Bank, Israeli settler groups in Hebron have acted with increasing impunity in a city with an overwhelming Palestinian majority. This is largely due to restrictions imposed by the Israeli government to promote the settler presence in the heart of Hebron's Old City. The declaration last week that the Tomb of the Patriarchs (the presumed site of Abraham's burial place) located in the al-Ibrahimi mosque has been added to a list of protected Jewish sites has underlined this projection of Israeli power into the planned Palestinian state.


The acceptance of the Israeli settlement movement in Jerusalem into the Israeli political mainstream, its capture of some of the city's key institutions and geographical locations, its support from the highest echelons of the Israeli bureaucracy, judiciary and army, its funding by wealthy US and other external sources all point to a culture of impunity that suggests more than a passing resemblance to Hebron. The creation of no-go areas for Palestinians in parts of Jerusalem and the closing of market streets as a result of settler harassment has not occurred to the same extent as in Hebron, but the signs that this can happen all too easily are already discernible in areas targeted by the settlers.


A recent report published by Chatham House – Jerusalem: The Cost of Failure – argued that this Hebronisation of Jerusalem also comprised a mixture of exclusion, unilateral withdrawal from certain peripheral areas by Israel and the so-called "warehousing" of the remainder of the Palestinian residents in East Jerusalem. Current trends, it suggested, would result in the physical removal of much of the Palestinian population from the central parts of East Jerusalem.


Despite this dire scenario, the report also held that for the foreseeable future the Israeli government was in a strong enough position to contain the negative impact of these developments. The chief result has been to deprive the Palestinians of East Jerusalem of any effective and coordinated resistance to the settler activity. Consequently, in the short-to-medium term (two to five years) the Israeli government will have an almost free rein in the city to complete the Hebronisation process.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/mar/10/jerusalem-hebron-israel-palestine

[aquart]

1. I love British opinion. They're so supportive.

[Violet_Crumble]

2. Supportive of what?

Do you have anything to say about the article? Did you even read it?

[ProgressiveMuslim]

3. Who cares? Farrakhan's an anti-semite and so is the chief of police in Dubai!

[ProgressiveProfessor]

4. While your observation about Farrakahn is quite correct the Dubai bubba

seems more like a grand stander to me. He is more than just the police chief and is more than embarrassed over the multiple killings that have happened recently on his watch. The way his claims of numbers keep rising, I fully expect him to next claim that the entire Haganah had landed and was involved.

[aquart]

6. Wait. What multiple killings?

I've only heard about multiple murderers for one killing. What's happening in Dubai?

[aquart]

5. If you posted it, it can only be presenting one side of the problem.

Two people want one land. They hate each other for excellent but similar reasons. They behave badly.

According to you, only one side behaves badly and the other side is completely justified whatever it does.

I disagree.

You post endless articles illustrating ONLY your POV and expect me to be fascinated and enthralled.

I'm not.

[Violet_Crumble]

7. Yeah, that's why I post articles that are sympathetic to the settlers...

Maybe you should try reading what gets posted before you put yr foot in yr mouth any further than you already have? Just a suggestion...

[ProgressiveMuslim]

8. I love what the Magnes Zionist has to say:

"These are dark times. There is no peace process, thank God: the peace process is a scam, a stalling tactic that Israel and the Palestinian Authority used to maintain the status quo. Hillary stands up and make jokes about gefilte fish while people suffer in Palestine. Why George Mitchell hasn't quit yet is a mystery to me.

"Peace, peace, and there is no peace." No, now is not the time for peace. It is the time for protest, for demonstrations, for boycott, divestment and sanctions, for delegitimizing the very regime that fosters such injustice in my name.

And let's not forget about prayer.

There are so many things to do, even for ineffectual academics like yours truly. But why go to demonstrations? Years ago, after my umpteenth Peace Now demonstration, I swore off demonstrations. I still hate those things. I hate the crowds; I feel sorry for the police; and where does it get you? But then the next demonstration rolls around, and I say to myself, I won't be there?"

http://themagneszionist.blogspot.com/2010/03/saturday-night-live-from-sheikh-jarrah.html