Israel’s Jerusalem plans ‘virtually unprecedented’

Netanyahu has no intentions of allowing a Palestinian state and is working to ensure a partition between occupied East Jerusalem and the West Bank

srael’s obsession with maintaining a Jewish demographic majority in occupied Jerusalem — as in the rest of Israel and Palestine — has culminated in recent weeks to a Knesset Bill that, if passed, would have deeply altered the demographic nature of the city.

However, in the final hours before the late October 29 vote in the Knesset’s Ministerial Committee for Legislation, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu intervened, halting the imminent passing of the Bill. What became known as the ‘Greater Jerusalem law’ has been gathering momentum for months. Weeks before the scheduled vote, Netanyahu himself joined the fervent chorus of support.

A national poll published on November 3 revealed that 72 per cent of Israeli Jews wanted Israel to maintain control over Muslim holy sites in occupied Jerusalem, while 58 per cent supported the initiative to expand the Jerusalem municipal boundaries and merge major illegal Jewish colonies under one municipality. The Bill proposed the expansion of the municipal boundaries of occupied Jerusalem to include major illegal Jewish colonies in the West Bank, including Ma’aleh Adumim, Givat Ze’ev, Betar Illit and Efrat.

The objective behind this effort is to increase the Jewish population of occupied Jerusalem by 150,000. The law would have further demoted the status of 100,000 Palestinians who would have found themselves in a political grey area, excluded from the occupied Jerusalem municipality and governed under a new municipal structure. East Jerusalem was illegally occupied by Israel in 1967 and annexed by the Israeli Knesset in 1981, a move that has won no international recognition and has no legal foundation.

Since then, 200,000 Jewish colonists have been moved or relocated to the occupied city, in violation of the Fourth Geneva Convention. Despite the vote not taking place, the campaign to drive Palestinians out of occupied Jerusalem is still being actively pursued.

Two main reasons seem to have led to the postponing of the vote. First, the ultra-Orthodox United Torah Judaism Party, which has a strong constituency in the city’s elections rejected and threatened to ‘torpedo’ the Bill. Expanding the borders of occupied Jerusalem will bring about a massive number of new Jewish voters, who could jeopardize the ultra-Orthodox party’s chances of reclaiming the city’s most coveted position, the seat of the mayor.

The second reason American pressure.

United States President Donald Trump had frequently spoken of a regional peace and an ‘ultimate deal’ that would allow Israel to integrate is reportedly related to into the larger Arab economic landscape without making many concessions to Palestinians. For Israel, this has been an ideal scenario. While Netanyahu is keen on pleasing his rightwing constituency in Israel, he is also determined not to upset the ‘special relationship’ he attained with the US since Trump’s advent to power.

Complicating relations

Trump, on the other hand, has laboured to reassure Netanyahu of his enduring loyalty. His last visit to Israel was a major step in that direction, with a US commitment to Israel’s security and future made abundantly clear.

However, an outright decision to once more alter the status of occupied Jerusalem, annex large parts of the occupied West Bank and further ethnically cleanse tens of thousands of Palestinians would have ignited the kind of backlash that could likely bring an end to Trump’s Middle East politicking, and complicate his relations with various Arab governments.

When the ‘Greater Jerusalem law’ was introduced earlier this year, it seemed like the logical evolution of a current that has been on the rise for years.

The authors of the Bill, one of whom is Katz himself, were hardly discrete about its intentions. In explaining the motives of the Bill, Katz — who is now a minister in Netanyahu’s right-wing government — bluntly said: The Bill aims to “ensure a Jewish majority in the united city”.

The ethnic cleansing plan was described by Israeli rights group, B’Tselem, as “virtually unprecedented.” But Netanyahu had to temporarily flout his own method of ‘creeping annexation’ of Palestinian land to join the burgeoning movement championed by Katz and others who call for wholesale annexation and dramatic steps to ensure Jewish dominance.

However, a greater political calculation proved more urgent and, ‘Greater Jerusalem’ is left to be achieved some other day.

For now, Israel will resume its ‘creeping annexation’ tactics, paying no heed to international protests, and remaining oblivious to the injustice inflicted on Palestinians.

Ramzy Baroud is a journalist, author and editor of Palestine Chronicle. His forthcoming book is The Last Earth: A Palestinian Story (Pluto Press, London).