WND
JERUSALEM
– Sections of Jerusalem have essentially been forfeited on the ground to the Palestinian Authority, while Jews, including local landowners, are barred from
entering parts of Israel's capital, a WND investigation has found.
The probe further determined the U.S. has been aiding the Palestinians in
developing infrastructure in Jerusalem.
Also, it has emerged, the Israeli government has failed to stop Arabs from
illegally building thousands of housing projects on Jerusalem land purchased and
owned by a U.S. Jewish group for the express purpose of Jewish settlement,
culminating in an Arab majority in the neighborhoods.
The situation has been unfolding in the northern Jerusalem neighborhoods of
Kfar Akeb, Qalandiya and Samir Amis, which are close to the Jewish neighborhoods
of Neve Yaacov and Pisgat Zeev in Israel's capital. Kfar Akeb, Qalandiya and
Samir Amis are located entirely within the Jerusalem municipality.
A tour of the three Jerusalem neighborhoods in question finds some surprising
developments. Official PA logos and placards abound, including one glaring red
street sign at the entrance to the neighborhoods warning Israelis to keep out.
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Another official sign, this one in Kfar Akeb in Jerusalem, reads in English,
"Ramallah-Jerusalem Road. This project is a gift form (sic) the American people
to the Palestinian people in cooperation with the Palestinian Authority and
PECDAR. 2007." The sign bears the emblems of the American and PA governments and
of the U.S. Agency for International Development, or USAID. The displays were
not present during a previous WND tour of the neighborhoods in 2006.
Some local schools in the Jerusalem neighborhoods are officially run by the PA
– some in conjunction with the U.N. – with many teachers drawing PA salaries.
Civil disputes are usually settled not in Israeli courts but by the PA judicial
system, although at times Israeli courts are used depending on the matter.
U.N. school for Palestinians illegally built on Jewish property (WND photo)
Councils governed by PA President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah organization oversee
some municipal matters. USAID provides the PA funds for road and infrastructure
projects.
Israeli security officials said the local Jerusalem police rarely operate in
Kfar Akeb, Qalandiya and Samir Amis; instead security has been turned over to
the Israel Defense Forces and Border Police, who work almost daily with PA
security forces. The PA police operate in the Jerusalem neighborhoods in
coordination with Israel.
Shmulik Ben Ruby, spokesman for the Jerusalem police, confirmed the
arrangement.
"If there are fights between some local families, sometimes we involve the PA
police to make peace between the families," he told WND. "Yes, the PA police can
operate in these neighborhoods in coordination with the IDF and Border Police."
Jews barred from sections of Jerusalem
In another recent development, Israeli Jews, including local property owners,
have been almost entirely barred from entering Kfar Akeb, Qalandiya and Samir
Amis, while Israeli Arabs can freely enter.
Aryeh King, a nationalist activist who holds the power of attorney to some Kfar
Akeb land owned by an Israeli Jew, told WND he was barred several times during
the past few months from entering the neighborhood to administer to the land,
upon which local Arabs illegally constructed apartments.
Police spokesman Ben Ruby explained this new arrangement is due to security
concerns.
"It's quite dangerous to be there alone, so if they don't have to be there it's
not allowed, because they might find themselves in danger if they go in," said
Ben Ruby.
In 2002, in response to the outbreak one year earlier of the Palestinian
intifada, or terrorist war against the Jewish state, the Israeli government
constructed its security barrier blocking off the West Bank from Jewish
population zones. The route of the fence also cut into northern and eastern
Jerusalem, incorporating=2
0Kfar Akeb, Qalandiya and Samir Amis on the so-called
Palestinian side.
Israel recaptured northern and eastern Jerusalem, including the Old City and
the Temple Mount – Judaism's holiest site – during the 1967 Six-Day War. The
Palestinians, however, have claimed eastern Jerusalem as a future capital. About
244,000 Arabs live in Jerusalem, mostly in eastern neighborhoods, out of a total
population of 724,000, the majority Jewish.
Jews lived in Kfar Akeb, Qalandiya and Samir Amis years before the
establishment of Israel in 1948, but they were violently expelled during deadly
Arab riots in 1929.
Jordan, together with other Arab countries, attacked Israel after its founding
in 1948 and administered the three Jerusalem neighborhoods as well as all of
eastern Jerusalem following an armistice agreement. In 1967, Jordan attacked
again and Israel liberated the entire city of Jerusalem in the Six-Day War.
During the period of Jordanian control, some new construction took place,
including in areas previously purchased by Jews.
The recent barring of Jews from northern Jerusalem sections seems to coincide
with an Israeli government decision the past year to allow the PA some presence
in Jerusalem.
Last June, WND exclusively reported Prime Minister Ehud Olmert allowed the PA
to hold an official meeting in Jerusalem to discuss dealing with expected
Palestinian sovereignty over key sections of the city. Dmitri Ziliani , a
spokesman for the Jerusalem section of PA President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah party,
confirmed to WND the meeting was related to the activities and structure of
Fatah's local command in some neighborhoods of Jerusalem.
"We were covering the best ways to improve our performance on the street and
how we can be of service to the community," Ziliani said.
Ziliani said the regular PA meetings in Jerusalem are, in part, held in
anticipation of a future Palestinian state encompassing all of eastern
Jerusalem.
"Our political program as Fatah dictates there will be no Palestinian state if
these areas – all of east Jerusalem – are not included," Ziliani told WND.
According to Israeli law, the PA cannot officially meet in Jerusalem. The PA
previously maintained a de facto headquarters in Jerusalem, called Orient House,
but the building was closed down by Israel in 2001 following a series of suicide
bombings in Jerusalem. Israel said it had information indicating the House was
used to plan and fund terrorism.
Thousands of documents and copies of bank certificates and checks captured by
Israel from Orient House – including many documents obtained by WND – showed the
offices were used to finance terrorism, including direct payments to the Al Aqsa
Martyrs Brigades terror group
U.S. Jewish group to blame for 'division' of Jerusalem? Key land in Qalandiya and Kfar Akeb is owned=20by a U.S. Jewish group that over
the years has allowed tens of thousands of Arabs to illegally squat on its land,
resulting in the current Arab majority.
The Jewish National Fund, or JNF, purchased the land in the early 1920s using
Jewish donor funds for the specific purpose of Jewish settlement.
The JNF lands have been utilized for the illegal construction of dozens of Arab
apartment buildings, a refugee camp and a U.N. school.
A previous tour of Qalandiya and Kfar Akeb found dozens of Arab apartment
complexes, a Palestinian refugee camp and a U.N. school for Palestinians
constructed on the land.
According to officials in Israel's Housing Ministry, Arabs first constructed
facilities illegally in Qalandiya and Kfar Akeb between 1948 and 1967, prior to
the 1967 Six-Day War during which Israel retook control of the entire city of
Jerusalem.
Qalandiya, still owned by JNF, came under the management of the Israeli
government's Land Authority in the late 1960s.
Ministry officials say the bulk of illegal Arab construction in Qalandiya
occurred in the past 20 years, with construction of several new Arab apartment
complexes taking place in just the past two years.
Neither the Israeli government nor JNF took any concrete measures to stop the
illegal building, which continues today with at least one apartment complex in
Qalandiya under construction.
Land in another Jerusalem' neighborhood, Shoafa t, which has an estimated value
of $3 million, was also purchased by JNF in the early 1900s and fell under the
management of the Israel Land Authority about 40 years ago. Much of the illegal
Arab construction in Shoafat took place in the past 15 years, with some
apartment complexes built as late as 2004.
In Qalandiya and Shoafat, Israel's security fence cordons off the Arab sections
of the JNF lands from the rest of Jewish Jerusalem.
Internal JNF documents obtained by WND outline illegal Arab construction on the
Jewish-owned land. A December 2000 survey of Qalandiya summarized on JNF
stationery and signed by a JNF worker states, "In a lot of the plots I find
Arabs are living and building illegally and also working the JNF land without
permission."
The JNF survey goes on to document illegal construction of Arab apartment
complexes and the U.N. school under the property management of Israel's Land
Authority.
Group misleading donors?
In response to a previous WND exclusive report on the JNF's alleged
mismanagement of the properties, JNF CEO Russell Robinson sent statements to
concerned donors that the illegal construction occurred during periods the
Jerusalem land was occupied by Jordan.
1991 photo of Shoafat shows region entirely forest land
"During that time the Jordanian government oversaw all activities, including
the U.N. building. Under international law, this makes matters pe rtaining to the
land more complicated than what [WND describes]," states Robinson's letter.
But WND obtained aerial photos of the two JNF sites in question, Shoafat and
Qalandiya, which Robinson claimed were illegally built upon prior to 1967.
1967 aerial photo of Qalandiya region
A photo taken in 1991 of Shoafat shows the entire area was a forest – meaning
all illegal Arab construction took place after 1967 while the land was under
Jewish control.
An aerial photo taken in 1967 of the second site, Qalandiya, which is now a
large Arab town, finds construction of a U.N. building but few other sites,
indicating the vast majority of Arab construction – dozens of large apartment
complexes – occurred under JNF control. WND originally reported some of the
construction took place prior to 1967, but the bulk of the building occurred the
past few years, under Jewish management.
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