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Suspended Due to U.S. Pressure, East Jerusalem Construction Plan May Be Revived In the Media

Ir Amim’s Aviv Tatarsky said in the context of the Ramat Shlomo plan that Jewish developers were profiting at the expense of the Palestinian landowners. Tatarsky said that the project was designed so that residential and commercial buildings would be on Jewish-owned land, while the unprofitable roads and public spaces would be built on Palestinian-owned land.

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Keeping the Peace on the Temple Mount / Haram al-Sharif During the Jewish High Holiday Period Policy Papers

As the high holidays approach, this paper examines current developments on the Temple Mount / Haram al-Sharif, describing emergent trends during the period of relative calm the Police has managed to maintain – trends which threaten the fragile calm for new reasons – and culminating with recommendations for how best to prevent a renewed deterioration in order to preserve the status quo.

General recommendations elaborated in the paper:

1. The Israel Police should continue to refrain from imposing collective entry restrictions on Muslim worshippers. It is also important that decision makers make clear to the Israeli public that maintaining Muslim freedom of worship on the site is a basic component of the status quo as well as being essential to the prevention of violence and the effectiveness of Police operations.

2. As he has in the past, the prime minister should publicly instruct members of his government, coalition, and party not to provide support for the Temple movements either through declaration or action. Given the public responsibility borne by the members of his coalition, the prime minister is entitled to use sanctions against any members who ignore his instructions.

3. The Israeli government should be careful to ensure coordination with Jordan regarding site visits. Coordinated arrangement of all activities, including simultaneous entry of multiple groups and permission for earlier entrance times, should be made in advance of such visits. Defining clear procedures by Israel and Jordan (and the Waqf) will prevent an exacerbation of tensions on the ground and will also inhibit the creation of situations in which Israel subsequently retracts decisions, thereby indicating that it has submitted to pressure groups on either side. All procedures should provide for pre-emptive coordination to contain developing tensions should they arise.

4. Decision makers should support ongoing and respectful coordination between the Police and the Waqf.

5. The Israeli government should immediately terminate its financial and political support of the Temple movements. The government’s commitment to the status quo – and even more so to the integrity of the mosques – is incompatible with governmental support for these bodies.

6. Public figures and religious leaders on both sides, Israeli and Palestinian, should become increasingly involved in cultivating religious and public discussion within and between the communities to encourage interfaith dialogue and tolerance.

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Education Report 2016: Between the Hammer and the Anvil Reports

This year’s annual survey presents new data on the growing shortage of classrooms and dropout rates in East Jerusalem, exposing the surge in unofficial schools filling the vacuum of municipal facilities and mounting pressure on Palestinians to adopt the Israeli curriculum.

This is the first annual education report since the 2011 High Court ruling establishing that the staggering shortage of classrooms in East Jerusalem in the official educational system constitutes a violation of the constitutional right to education for the students of East Jerusalem. The Court ruling mandated the Jerusalem Municipality and the Ministry of Education to ensure that within five years (by February 2016) all students in East Jerusalem who elect to study in the official system would be able to fulfill that expectation. The Court also ruled that in order to realize the Compulsory Education Law, the state must underwrite the tuition of any student who is unable to secure a spot in the official education system and who is consequently forced to enroll in one of the recognized but unofficial schools operating in East Jerusalem.

Five years after the High Court ruling:

The shortage of classrooms in East Jerusalem – which now stands at 2,672 – has actually only worsened.
A total of 23,500 Palestinian children in East Jerusalem are not registered at a known educational institution; and this year, for the first time, the number of students in unofficial classrooms in East Jerusalem exceeded the number of those in official institutions.
East Jerusalem has the highest dropout rates in Israel. Every year, more than 1,300 students drop out of the education system in East Jerusalem.

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City Hall gets ever more creative in ignoring E. Jerusalem school shortage Articles/ Op-Eds

Aviv Tatarsky: As the Jerusalem municipality is gradually forced to acknowledge a catastrophic shortage of classrooms in the city’s Palestinian districts, it also finds brave new ways to avoid tackling it.

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How Many New Schools Has Israel Built in East Jerusalem? Depends Who’s Counting In the Media

According to Ir Amim’s education report, and contrary to Municipality statements, there will be only 38 new classrooms in East Jerusalem as the school year begins, with another 44 under construction and some 400 in the planning stages. Over 22,000 East Jerusalem children and teens are not registered in any local school, public or private.

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Study: More east J’lem students opt for informal education over formal education frameworks In the Media

Ir Amim education report: shortage of classrooms in East Jerusalem has grown to 2,672 classrooms; Planning for public buildings allocated for Palestinians living in East Jerusalem constitutes 2.6 percent of all of East Jerusalem’s land.

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Jerusalem Panel Okays New Housing in Ramot Neighborhood, Over Green Line In the Media

Jerusalem District Planning and Building Committee advances 56 residential units in Ramot. Ir Amim's Aviv Tatarsky: "the Israeli government has adopted unilateral steps that won’t promote the peace and security to which Israelis are entitled.”

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Why New Israeli Settlements Set Back The Day Of Peace Articles/ Op-Eds

Ir Amim board member Alon Liel writes: “The recent U.S. condemnation [of Israeli settlement expansion] is anything but overstated; it is an indication of mounting global concern over the imminent extinction of the two state solution. In the next six months, until January 20, 2017, the window for saving it remains open, albeit narrowly.”

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Stop the escalation in Israel’s actions in East Jerusalem Articles/ Op-Eds

Ir Amim Executive Director: The escalation in Israel’s unilateral actions in east Jerusalem is evident in almost every realm, and all branches of government are parties to it… The drive to push the Palestinian presence out of Jerusalem – either by direct action or by engaging in practices that render it unseen – is implemented every day.

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The right-wing group moving Jews into largely Muslim neighborhoods In the Media

Ir Amim: placing Jews in predominantly Muslim neighborhoods of Jerusalem complicates any prospective peace deal along the lines of a two-state solution.

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U.S. Rebukes Israel Over New Settlement Activity in East Jerusalem In the Media

State Department sharply criticized Israel for advancing hundreds of housing units in Jewish neighborhoods in East Jerusalem. The tenders, posted without fanfare on the land authority’s website, came to wide attention after they were publicized by Ir Amim.

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Dispelling the myths about building in Jerusalem Articles/ Op-Eds

In Jerusalem, construction of Jewish neighborhoods continues unabated, while Palestinians are still struggling for basic infrastructure. Aviv Tatarsky: In the past few years the state has not approved a single, detailed master plan for the city’s Palestinian neighborhoods, while it approves plans for 10,000 housing units in Israeli neighborhoods.

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Greater Jerusalem 2016 Maps

Map showing the Green Line and the municipal boundary; the distinction between I

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Bennett: PM dividing Jerusalem with 600 homes for Arabs In the Media

Ir Amim’s Aviv Tatarsky said that the approval of 600 homes was part of a plan to expand existing buildings in Beit Safafa. Residents of Beit Safafa petitioned the Jerusalem District Court on the matter, Tatarsky added, saying that Netanyahu’s order with regard to the homes was likely given as part of those legal proceedings.

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Yehuda Glick Brings Extreme Vision of Temple Mount to the Knesset — With an Affable Touch In the Media

Ir Amim’s Aviv Tatarsky: “[Glick] believes that if Jews are able to pray there, they will want to, and from a situation of today, where you have several dozen Jews wanting to go there, you will maybe have hundreds daily and on holidays thousands. They will have a spiritual experience, and there will be lots of excitement and attraction… You can go to this next step [of building the Third Temple.] So it is not some mystical or religious belief. It is very political.”

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After Months of Quiet, Scuffles Erupt After Jews Ascend Temple Mount In the Media

Ir Amim: "[Public Security] Minister Erdan and the police needed to anticipate that violating the unofficial custom of prior years and allowing non-Muslims to enter [the mount] towards the end of Ramadan would cause the situation on the Temple Mount to deteriorate. If they hadn't anticipated that, it showed faulty judgment. If they allowed it knowing the consequences, it showed irresponsibility."

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Jerusalem Okays Jewish Housing in Flashpoint Palestinian Neighborhood In the Media

Jerusalem Building Committee approved building permit for settler building inside Silwan. Ir Amim: "The Netanyahu government has enabled yet another destructive step in one of the most sensitive areas of Jerusalem. In the process, it is showing its determination to foil any diplomatic solution to Israel's citizens and to the entire world, as well as demonstrating its lack of interest in improving the situation in Jerusalem."

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Court rejects petition to keep marchers out of Muslim Quarter In the Media

Ir Amim on Flag Parade court decision: “The court recognized the obligation of the state to more seriously address the proximity to Ramadan and the location of the march. With that, the court could have taken the additional necessary step and allowed the Muslim Quarter residents to prepare as necessary for the start of the month of Ramadan, as Jews would want to prepare for their festivals.”

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Police, organizers agree to alter Jerusalem Day march in Old City due to Ramadan In the Media

Ir Amim’s Betty Herschman said that the Flag March through the Old City is always problematic, but especially this year due to Ramadan. She said she doesn’t believe that the schedule changes made by police will make a difference and that the possible confluence of the nationalist flag march and Ramadan eve only intensifies the potential for violence. She said that while the parade “already includes a great violation of Palestinian freedom of movement and right to protection, now there is also a violation of their religious freedom and their right to prepare for their major holiday.”

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Jerusalem Day Flag Parade on Eve of Ramadan Videos

Here’s what June 5, 2016 stands to look like: The start of Ramadan in the Muslim Quarter, with tens of thousands of Muslim worshippers filling the streets on their way to al-Aqsa Mosque. And the Jerusalem Day nationalist Flag Parade, with thousands of Jewish nationalist marchers celebrating the 1967 “reunification of Jerusalem” planning to pass through the very same streets.
Can you imagine these two events coinciding?

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