The question of the partition of Jerusalem has its origins in the lines drawn by the 1948 armistice in Palestine. But Israel was not satisfied with its occupation of the western part of the city. It had to invade and occupy the eastern portion, and then devise a law that flies in the face of international law, violates the provisions of all previously signed agreements and flagrantly breaches all humanitarian mores, so as to declare the whole of Jerusalem the capital of Israel. In 1980, 13 years after its occupation of East Jerusalem, governed by Jordan until 1967, the Israeli Knesset passed a law — the so-called Jerusalem Law — declaring the whole of Jerusalem the Israeli capital and the headquarters of its government. That day marked another Palestinian tragedy, one characterised by parades staged by Israeli settlers through Arab Jerusalem and taunts and jeers with which they declare their intent to Judaicise the whole of the city. Lawyers and rights advocates describe the annexation of East Jerusalem to Israel as symbolic, because there is no equality between Israelis in the western portion of the city and native Jerusalemites in the eastern portion, whether with respect to basic citizenship rights and civil liberties, or public services and facilities, infrastructure and other standard of living issues. Sami Ershid, a human rights lawyer, said that Israel spent the past 50 years entrenching discrimination between the two parts of the city. It confiscated more than a third of the land of East Jerusalem to build Israeli settlements. Jerusalemites, he notes, “carry Israeli identity cards labelling them as resident aliens, on which basis the government slashed allocations for education and healthcare”. The threat of deportation and exile constantly hangs over Jerusalemites' heads. The municipality can and does revoke identity cards on feeble pretexts. Even the call to prayer has been targeted, in a law Israel passed prohibiting microphones broadcasting the dawn call to prayer on the grounds of “noise pollution”. Lawyers stress that Israel has violated international law by altering the culture of occupied Jerusalem, violating religious freedoms and passing blatantly racist, degrading and discriminatory laws. One of the most insidious laws is the ban on family reunification, violating the sanctity of Palestinian family life. According to Ziad Al-Hamouri, director of the Jerusalem Centre for Economic and Social Rights, there are around 13,000 pending family unification applications. A significant portion of those approved deprive the spouse from working, healthcare and other social benefits. A recent report by the United Nations' Economic and Social Commission for West Asia (ESCWA), retracted under intense political pressure, confirms that Israel has imposed an apartheid system on Palestinians. It divides them into different categories, each subject to different legal arrangements. Palestinians in Jerusalem are in a category that deprives them of citizenship rights accorded to Israeli settlers. Native Jerusalemites are stripped of the right to return and of rights to education and healthcare. International law professor Hanna Eissa said the ESCWA report would have necessitated sanctions against Israel, which is why the UN secretary-general disowned it. Nevertheless, the succession of reports that corroborate Israeli human rights abuses are succeeding in shaping a more favourable climate in international forums for Palestinians and efforts to secure their rights. As for Al-Aqsa Mosque, this holy precinct is on the brink of collapse, the ground it stands on hollowed out and riddled with a network of tunnels which Israel dug the moment it occupied East Jerusalem in 1967. Director of Tourism and Antiquities at Al-Aqsa Mosque Youssef Al-Natsha said that despite the rocky substrata beneath the mosque, there are a number of weak points that could expand and imperil the mosque. Israeli activities below the mosque may have dangerous cumulative effects. He said he fears the consequences of any earthquake. The Minister of Awqaf (religious endowments) has registered numerous complaints because of the occupation authority's refusal to allow any legal entity to inspect Israeli excavations below Al-Aqsa. He added that Israel recently intensified excavation activities following the UNESCO resolution declaring Al-Aqsa Mosque and the Buraq Wall as exclusively Muslim holy sites. With regard to education in Jerusalem, Israel exerts more pressure every year to subject Palestinian school children in Jerusalem to pedagogic materials that are devoid of any Palestinian or Islamic features and references. Instead of Palestinian flags, the children are instructed to colour in Israeli ones. Itidal Al-Ashhab, president of the Refugee Girl's Educational Society, said: “The occupation authority is working directly and indirectly to brainwash and control Jerusalemites. The results may not be evident immediately, but with time they will manifest themselves in the students' behaviour, their faith, identity and language.” Israeli educational authorities have expunged all texts that contain references to jihad and resistance, and to Palestinian national heroes and landmarks in Palestinian history. The history taught if one of a Jewish presence and peaceful coexistence. Some Palestinian academics sense the impending eradication of Palestinian identity. The Hebrew language Israel Hayom newspaper reports that the chairman of the Jewish Home Party and current education minister is working on a bill to prevent the Knesset from approving the partition of Jerusalem by any less than 80 votes. Naftali Bennett describes his action as a strategic precaution in advance of any political agreement that might call for Israel to relinquish a portion of Jerusalem and transfer title to a “foreign” authority. The bill is also an attempt to pre-empt a referendum on any future agreement. Under the current “Jerusalem Law”, Jerusalem is the capital of Israel and cannot be transferred to any foreign agency or authority. The Ministerial Committee for Legal Affairs is expected to vote on the proposed amendment to this law in two weeks. The Palestinians are likely to argue that a step of this nature will add another obstruction to negotiations. Even so, the Jewish Home is determined to force the coalition government to clarify its stance and to draw a line at the partition of Jerusalem in any future agreement. “Jerusalem is the heart of the Jewish people,” Bennett said. “I see in the Trump era an opportunity to fortify Jerusalem against any possibility of partitioning it, ever.” The June 1967 War resulted in the Israeli occupation of Sinai, Gaza, the West Bank and the Golan Heights. It was the third Arab-Israeli war, in which 15,000 to 25,000 people died in Arab countries versus 800 in Israel. Other outcomes were UN Security Council Resolution 242 and the Arab Summit's “Three No's”. At the humanitarian level again, the war and its aftermath led to the displacement of the inhabitants of Suez Canal cities, displacement of civilians in Syria, and the displacement and exile of thousands of Palestinians from the West Bank and the eradication of entire West Bank villages. The fallout of the 1967 war is still with us today. Israel still occupies the West Bank and persists in its illegal annexation of Jerusalem and the Golan Heights.
