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The Advocacy Project seeks to help community-based advocates produce, disseminate and use information, and so become more effective advocates for human rights and social justice

Demolition Plan Seeks to Expand Israeli Control in Arab East Jerusalem, Claim Israeli and Palestinian Advocates, August 30, 2005

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AdvocacyNet
News Bulletin, August 30, 2005
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Washington, DC: The Israeli authorities are seeking to demolish 88 Palestinian houses in Arab East Jerusalem as part of a broad plan to consolidate the Israeli presence in the West Bank and undermine the peace process, according to Israeli and Palestinian peace groups.

The houses are home to about 1,000 Palestinians and are situated in the Al Bustan valley just outside the Old City of East Jerusalem. Their destruction would amount to the largest mass demolition of Palestinian houses since Israeli forces occupied the Palestinian Territories in the 1967 Six Day War.

The plan has mobilized the inhabitants of Silwan, who have formed a defense committee, and also provoked a vigorous campaign from Palestinian and Israeli activists, headed by the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions (ICAHD). Under the pressure, the Israeli municipal government has suspendedthe demolitions, but not cancelled the plan and four houses have already been demolished.

The campaigners include the Alternative Information Center (AIC), a joint Israeli-Palestinian organization that partners with The Advocacy Project. AIC has been reporting on the Silwan controversy on its website and magazine with help from Nitzan Goldberger, an AP intern, who worked on the AIC site this summer.

To the AIC and others, Silwan illustrates Israel's strategy of expanding a presence in the West Bank even as Israel withdraws from the Gaza Strip. The 1993 Oslo peace accords, and the 2003 Road Map, call for an independent Palestinian state in Gaza and the West Bank and joint sovereignty over Jerusalem.

The Jerusalem municipality has justified the demolition plan on the grounds that Silwan has "archaeological significance" dating back to biblical times, and should be made into a national park. It also points out many of the 88 houses were constructed after 1967 and have not received planning permission.

But advocates point out that Israeli law bans the demolition of buildings after seven years of their construction. In addition, the government has given out so few building permits to Palestinians in East Jerusalem since 1967 that as many as 160,000 Palestinian residents are technically illegal. At the same time, the government has permitted the construction of a seven-story Israeli-owned apartment building in Silwan and raised no objection to the influx of Jewish settlers.

In the light of this, advocates see Silwan as part of a larger plan to create a Jewish presence in Palestinian East Jerusalem by creating Israeli "islands" of settlements, breaking up the contiguity of Palestinian communities, and slowly reducing the Palestinian population.

On June 9, Jerusalem's Mayor Uri Lupolianski announced that the municipality would suspend the demolition order. While this may be temporary, it amounts to a victory for the Silwan Land and Property Defense Committee and its allies, who meet regularly to plan activities. The Committee has also invested in community services, including child day camps and collective clean-up projects.

The campaign is notable for the involvement of Israeli activists, headed by ICAHD. The Alternative Information Center, which shares an office with ICAHD, uses a broad array of information tools, including a website, monthly magazine (News From Within) and documentaries to lobby for Palestinian self-determination and the complete withdrawal of Israeli from the West Bank and Gaza.

The AIC is particularly influential because it is a joint Israeli-Palestinian organization and represents progressive opinion on both sides. AIC volunteers recently teamed up with Silwan residents to produce material for documentaries on the proposed demolitions. The AIC has also worked with ICAHD to arrange tours of Silwan to Knesset (Israeli Parliament) members, international diplomats, and journalists.

Israel has demolished 12,000 Palestinian homes since 1967 affecting an estimated 70,000 Palestinians.

• For more on Silwan, please visit the AIC website.
• For the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions visit their website.