L’une des questions soulevées par la prise de pouvoir du Hamas dans la bande de Gaza est le risque de voir semblable scénario se répéter ailleurs, c’est-à-dire en Cisjordanie, à cinq minutes de Kfar Sava. Plus inquiétant encore, pareil cauchemar ne risque-t-il pas de se réaliser au cœur même de la capitale d’Israël, à cinq minutes de la Knesset ?

Is Jerusalem hotbed for radicals ?
Neglect of east Jerusalem could lead to Hamas takeover there too

Amos Gil

Published : 07.03.07, 13:58 / Israel Opinion

One of the questions that have emerged from Hamas’ Gaza takeover is whether a similar scenario could take place in other locations as well. Is the West Bank too, five minutes from the town of Kfar Saba, in danger ? And even more worrisome, can such a nightmare scenario materialize in Israel’s capital, five minutes from the Knesset ?

Those who walk through the streets of east Jerusalem these days won’t notice the problem right away. Seemingly, the streets are quiet and free of violence. Only on occasion do we see reports of gatherings, demonstrations, and protests. Everything is fine. For the time being.

This resembles the man who falls off the top floor of the Azrieli towers, and as he reaches the 20th floor still feels that all is well. Yet the blow will come, and those who follow daily realities in east Jerusalem will easily identify signs of the fall there too.

Therefore, the Gaza experience proves that calm is not always an indication of what’s to come. So what can we expect to happen in east Jerusalem ?

In recent years, Israel has increasingly tightened its chokehold around east Jerusalem Arabs. The population’s situation deteriorates with each passing day. The city, which used to be the West Bank’s economic capital, was severed from it following the construction of the separation fence.

The separation from the West Bank on the one hand and the neglect on the part of the State and city hall on the other, led to a drastic decline in Palestinian Jerusalemites’ standard of living and turned many of them into poor people who require welfare support.

These needs are only slightly addressed by the State, but are mostly addressed by Palestinian and religious movements, including Hamas, which hand out food and money and maintain clear influence over ideology.

In addition to the welfare system, the education system is also facing grave distress. The Jerusalem municipality, which is responsible for education in the city, prefers to send the children and their parents to look for private bodies that operate schools instead of transferring funds for that purpose, as required by law.

Of course, when the State finds it difficult to offer proper education services it also finds it difficult to supervise these schools and influence their level of education and curriculum. The children learn to read, write, and basic math, but perhaps additional texts are also included, texts that the education minister would not likely approve.

The education system is only one example of the Israeli government’s powerlessness. In the same breath we can mention the absence of infrastructure - disapproval of construction and development plans, shortage of roads, sidewalks, playgrounds etc. - as well as the unemployment problems and the limits on east Jerusalem Arabs’ freedom of movement.

At the same time as it undermines each and every right of east Jerusalem residents, the State of Israel also fails to maintain a presence of law and order apparatuses in the east of the capital. Israeli security forces, including the police and army, do not view east Jerusalem Arabs as people who should be protected, but rather, as people who should be defended against.

Therefore, there is almost no police response to criminal activity in the east of the city. We have seen the creation of a government vacuum, which conveys a message to residents that nobody cares for them and that they should not be expecting improvements.

Residents’ personal safety has hit a nadir, anarchy has spread everywhere, and residents seek new forces to replace the vacuum created by the Israeli government.

Eleventh hour is hour
The situation in east Jerusalem is different than in other parts of the West Bank. The State of Israel annexed
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the city four decades ago, and since then it makes pretenses to be the only sovereign power there. In order to illustrate its sovereignty, the State closed down all Palestinian government institutions that used to operate in Jerusalem, so compared to the West Bank where the Fatah rule is recognized and established, there are no moderate forces in Jerusalem.

All of the above may turn east Jerusalem into a hotbed for radical elements. Take a relatively small population group, disconnected from West Bank realities and the Fatah government and hungry for social services and some kind of body that will assume responsibility for the situation - and there you have a fertile ground for the emergence of an alternative that would not be to Israel’s liking, possibly similar to the one in the Gaza Strip.

We saw the first indications of this in the 2006 Palestinian elections, after Hamas made considerable gains in Jerusalem.

The eleventh hour is here. If the government of Israel seeks to prevent Hamas’ establishment in Israel’s capital, under the noses of government institutions, there is only one way to do it : Take responsibility for what’s going on in the east of the city. Not through declarations or decisions, but rather, through rapid, incisive acts of considerable scope.

Those should include restoring infrastructure that has been neglected, improving welfare, education and health services, maintaining law and order, and restoring a sense of personal safety.

In this framework, we should also ease the connection with the West Bank, which is the economic lifeline of the city’s east, and mostly bring back the hope to residents of east Jerusalem.

Should these moves be adopted soon, perhaps it would be possible to maintain the relative quiet that has prevailed in Jerusalem in most years, until a diplomatic solution is secured to guarantee not only quiet but also hope for a better future for residents of east Jerusalem, west Jerusalem, and the rest of Israel’s citizens.

The writer is the director of the Ir Amim non-profit organization for an Equitable and Stable Jerusalem with an Agreed Political Future

The writer is the director of the Ir Amim non-profit organization for an Equitable and Stable Jerusalem with an Agreed Political Future