The paradox of Jerusalem

[Violet_Crumble]

By Tom Segev

Some time ago Amos Gil traveled to the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Kafr Aqeb. On his way back from the village he was stopped by Border Policemen and given a tongue-lashing: Did he not know that Israelis are not allowed to enter the West Bank? Gil, who is executive director of the Ir Amim association, was unable to persuade the policemen of their error: Kafr Aqeb, located in the northeast of the city, lies within the boundaries of "Greater Jerusalem," but as far as the policemen knew, the State of Israel ends at the checkpoint they were manning, a few kilometers south of the village. This, then, is a Jerusalem neighborhood of 25,000 people which has been "ceded" out of Israel, in the current parlance.

Ir Amim is one of a series of organizations that are trying to protect the human rights of the Palestinians; Gil formerly served as executive director of the Association for Civil Rights in Israel. Ir Amim specializes in Jerusalem and opposes any action that is liable to influence the city's final status before a peace agreement is signed between Israel and the Palestinians. The association is underwritten by a variety of funds, including the Ford Foundation.

This week Gil led a tour along the terrifying concrete wall that bears a soft, almost soothing name: the "Jerusalem envelope line." The tour was conducted under the auspices of Bimkom - Planners for Planning Rights. This association also deals with the Palestinians' human rights and gets its funding from, among others, the New Israel Fund and the Heinrich Boll Foundation of the German Green Party.

The abundance of associations, the full-color chromo leaflets in Hebrew and English, the professional publications and the petitions to the High Court of Justice - it is all misleading: There would seem to be no problem in locating funds to underwrite these groups, but all told there are only a small number of activists. In the tours he conducts - including those for groups connected with the army - Gil is constantly taken aback at how few Israelis know what is going on in Jerusalem today. His tours are riveting; the information he offers is astonishing.

At the start of the tour Gil usually asks the participants what the term "East Jerusalem" evokes for them. Most of them identify it with the Old City. In fact, the eastern section of Jerusalem is larger than the western section (77 square kilometers vs. 45 square kilometers); it contains more than half the city's residents, Jews and Arabs. In the consciousness of most Israelis the residents of East Jerusalem are perceived as a minority, and that is correct, but many Israelis for some reason find it difficult to internalize the statistic which was this week published anew: one of every three residents of Jerusalem is an Arab. In 1967 they numbered 70,000, today they number 230,000.

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/586545.html

[Lithos]

1. The focus in the media

Has been on other issues. In fact, the news that Mr. Segev is reporting on is really the ignorance of the situation. How it got that way is the subject of my criticism.

Makes you wonder how many other stories (not the bombings, killings, demolitions, land seizures which do make the news) are not reported?

Note: I'm not blaming Mr. Segev, he is only one person. This is the fault I think of the whole media with particular focus on American media.

L-