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A woman passes the separation barrier in Jerusalem. (AP)
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| By israelinsider staff and partners July 10, 2005 |
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Israel's Cabinet on Sunday approved final details of a plan to surround Jerusalem with a barrier, despite angry protests by Palestinians who say Israel is redrawing the city's boundaries and shifting its demographic balance in favor of Jews.
The Cabinet acknowledged that some 55,000 Palestinian residents in four neighborhoods will be cut off from the city by the separation barrier, meant to stop Palestinian bombers, and promised to come up with a plan by Sept. 1 to alleviate some of the hardships.
However, critics warned that despite the new provisions, tens of thousands of Palestinians, who have Jerusalem residency rights and pay municipal taxes, would probably face major delays in crossing through one of 11-12 planned gates in the barrier on their way to and from jobs and schools.
The 60-kilometer (40-mile) Jerusalem barrier is also expected to include the largest West Bank settlement, Maaleh Adumim with nearly 30,000 residents, on the Jerusalem side, further tilting the demographic scale. Currently, about one-third of the city's 700,000 residents are Arabs, who live in east Jerusalem, captured by Israel from Jordan in the 1967 Mideast war.
The Palestinians want to establish their future capital in east Jerusalem. They say the Jerusalem barrier -- only between 25% and 50% has been built -- cuts off their aspirations by cutting off the city from its West Bank hinterland. Israeli media speculated that the goal was to complete the barrier as the disengagement process is underway, sparing Israeli from excessive international criticism for the move.
The city's fate was to have been determined in talks on a final peace deal, and the Palestinians say Israel is pre-empting the outcome of these negotiations. After Israel's withdrawal from the Gaza Strip this summer, Israel is expected to come under growing pressure from the international community to renew peace talks with the Palestinians.
Israel denies it is drawing a final border. It has portrayed the Jerusalem barrier, part of a complex of obstacles being built along and in the West Bank, as a temporary security measure, meant to keep out Palestinian suicide bombers.
Last week, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon ordered that construction of the Jerusalem segment be accelerated. In its decision Sunday, the Cabinet said it sees "great importance in the immediate completion of the security fence in the Jerusalem area, in order to improve the level of personal security for the residents of Israel."
During four years of fighting, more than 100 Palestinian suicide bombers have crossed the unmarked and mostly unguarded cease-fire line between Israel and the West Bank to attack Israeli cities. In Jerusalem alone, 170 people have been killed in 22 suicide bombings. The last one there was in September 2004.
"We are not moving the fence for enjoyment or our pleasure," said Vice Premier Ehud Olmert, a former mayor of Jerusalem, "but because there are security concerns of the highest level."
The United States has said Israel can build the separation barrier to defend itself from militants, but that it should minimize hardships for Palestinians. The Bush administration has also held that the barrier should not be built in such a way that it prejudices the outcome of a final peace deal. U.S. State Department officials were not available for comment Sunday.
The Jerusalem barrier leaves four Arab neighborhoods of the city with 55,000 residents, including a refugee camp, on the West Bank side. In addition, tens of thousands of Palestinians, who moved to the West Bank suburbs because of overcrowding, but hold Jerusalem identity cards, also find themselves outside the barrier, Israeli officials estimated Sunday.
Palestinians with West Bank identity cards are banned from entering Jerusalem at all because of Israeli security restrictions.
Amir Cheshin, a former Arab affairs adviser in the Jerusalem municipality, said it would be impossible to implement the government's plan.
"I don't know if I should laugh or cry," Cheshin told Israel Radio. "I don't see thousands and thousands going through these checkpoints to go to school."
But Housing Minister Yitzhak Herzog lauded the government?s decision. "We are talking about a very important step for the improvement of life in Jerusalem," he said. "A project like this must ensure consideration for the lives of Jerusalem residents, both inside and outside of the fence."
But left-wing Knesset Member Yossi Sarid (Yahad-Meretz) is not joining those who welcome the project. "The government decision on the borders of the fence prove once again that the occupation can?t be swallowed, nor does the government want to throw it up," said Sarid. "The occupation is stuck like a bone in the throat of Israel, and is choking her."
Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas criticized the Israeli Cabinet decision. "We reject these measures," he said. "Israel is not serving the peace process nor its security well with such acts, but rather places more obstacles in the path to peace."
Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas accused the Israeli government of scuttling any chance for dialogue and said that the PA would not accept the plan. "The approval of the fence route in the Jerusalem region could bring about an end to the relations between the two sides. Such measures will not help serve the peace nor will they serve the security of Israel, which places obstacles on the road to dialogue between the sides," he said.
Saeb Erekat, a senior Palestinian official, said Israel must stop building the barrier, which he said was bringing "catastrophe" upon the Palestinians.
"The wall is separating between Palestinians and Palestinians," Erekat said.
Lawyer Danny Seideman, who represents Palestinians and Israelis critical of the barrier, said Palestinians are reacting by packing up and moving to the "Jerusalem" side. "Tens of thousands moved few hundred yards to the other side of the wall," he said. "If they stay where they are, they will descend into abject poverty."
The AP contributed to this report.
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