Israel shrouds its illegal control over Occupied East Jerusalem, Including the Old City, with a "Modern" Town Planning Scheme

This Action Alert is issued to draw the attention of the International Community to Israel's continued illegal campaign to alter the status of Occupied East Jerusalem in disregard to International Resolutions and Human Rights conventions.

During a press conference held on September 13, 2004, and in unprecedented move, the Israeli Mayor in Jerusalem, Mr. Uri Lublialsky, disclosed a Town Planning Scheme (TPS 2000) for the City of Jerusalem to serve as a mandatory map for land use and a blueprint for other municipal planning purposes until the year 2020. The plan incorporates occupied East Jerusalem. This is the first time that Israel publicizes a comprehensive town planning scheme for "Jerusalem". The goal of TPS 2000, as pronounced in the executive summary of the plan, is "to create a 'positive' framework to proceed with the development of the city of Jerusalem as a capital for the state of Israel and a seat for its government.” And “to achieve a long term goal which reflects the future vision for the city as conceived by the City’s “fathers”.

De Facto Israeli Control over West Jerusalem

To this day, the status of Jerusalem has not been determined under International law. UN General Assembly Resolution 181, or the partition plan of Palestine 1947, recommended that Jerusalem be placed under International sovereignty as an International city. UN General Assembly resolution 303 reiterated the UN commitment to internationalization of Jerusalem, and designated it a "corpus separatum" - separate body. The partition plan was rejected by the Palestinians and the Arab countries, and hostilities broke out between both parties and Israel.

By UN Security Council resolution 62 (1948), an armistice was established in all sectors of Palestine. In conformity with this resolution, an armistice agreement was concluded in 1949 between Israel and Jordan. The Agreement fixed the armistice demarcation line (often later called the “Green Line” owing to the colour used for it on maps; hereinafter the “Green Line).

The armistice demarcation line led to the division of Jerusalem into an eastern half controlled de facto by Jordan, including the historic Old City, and a western half controlled de facto by Israel. To this day, Israel's sovereignty over "Jerusalem" is contested. Even the United States does not recognize any part of Jerusalem as part of Israel despite congressional resolutions. And, both the United States and Great Britain, consider that the status of Jerusalem is to be resolved by the parties to the dispute in final status negotiations.

In the 1967 armed conflict, Israeli forces occupied all the territories which Jordan controlled West of the river Jordan including the Eastern Half of Jerusalem..

De Facto Israeli Control over East Jerusalem

Following the 1967 war, the Israeli Knesset on 27 June, 1967, approved an amendment to the "Law and Administration Ordinance" "The, Jurisdiction and administration of the State shall extend to any area in Eretz Israel designated by the Government by order; a second amendment to the "Municipalities Ordinance Law", allowing the Minister to enlarge by proclamation the area of a municipality by inclusion of an area. Designed by order. And a third law, "Protection of Holy Places Law" which called for the protection of the Holy places and Freedom of access to them". "In 1980, the Knesset adopts Basic Law formally annexing the expanded city" (Living in Jerusalem: A Report by the Palestine Housing Rights Movement to the UN Committee on Economic and cultural rights, May 1996) On 22 November 1967, the Security Council unanimously adopted resolution 242 , which called for the withdrawal of Israeli forces from territories occupied during the 1967 war, including East Jerusalem

Security Council resolution 298 (1971) confirmed in the clearest possible terms that:
“All legislative and administrative actions taken by Israel to change the status of the City of Jerusalem, including expropriation of land and properties, transfer of populations and legislation aimed at the incorporation of the occupied section, are totally invalid and cannot change that status”.

Later, following the adoption by Israel on 30 July 1980 of the Basic Law making Jerusalem the “complete and united” capital of Israel, the Security Council, by resolution 478 (1980), stated that the enactment of that Law constituted a violation of international law and that “all legislative and administrative measures and actions taken by Israel, the occupying Power, which have altered or purport to alter the character and status of the Holy City of Jerusalem. . . are null and void”. It further decided “not to recognize the ‘basic law’ and such other actions by Israel that, as a result of this law, seek to alter the character and status of Jerusalem”.

The International Court of Justice (ICJ) Ruling on the "Legal consequences of the Construction of a Wall in the Occupied Palestinian Territory" on 9 July 2004 reiterated the International stance vis a vis the status of Jerusalem:

"The territories situated between the Green Line and the former eastern boundary of Palestine under the Mandate was occupied by Israel in 1967 during the armed conflict between Israel and Jordan. Under customary international law, these were therefore occupied territories in which Israel had the status of occupying Power. ….All these territories (including East Jerusalem) remain occupied territories and Israel has continued to have the status of occupying Power"

Despite UNSC Resolutions 242, 298 and 478 "the Israeli government proceeded to redraw the municipal boundaries of Jerusalem to include "Jordanian" Jerusalem and land adjacent to it in the West Bank. This is the area which came to be known as East Jerusalem. 70,500 dunams owned exclusively by Palestinians were annexed de facto to Israel. Since then, the government of Israel and the Jerusalem Municipality have been systematically expropriating land and confining the Palestinians to ever smaller areas in East Jerusalem so that today, only 7,000 dunams, or 10% of the land is used by its Palestinian owners"(Sara Kaminkar: "A Policy of Land Use Denial, 1995). Concurrently, an Israeli ministerial committee was formed in 1967 and its first decision was to declare a 76:24 demographic ratio of Jews: Palestinians in the City. A census was carried out in East Jerusalem to fulfill this purpose. (Please see table 1 in Annex I)

("The first decision of the ministerial Committee on Jerusalem was to set policies to preserve a 76:24 (Israeli: Palestinian) demographic ratio in Jerusalem. The primary means to create and preserve this ratio was expropriation of Palestinian land, construction of Jewish settlements on this land, restriction on Palestinian building and land use through planning and zoning policies detailed below, residency regulations and other measures, such as services designed to push part of the Palestinian population to reside outside the extended borders of annexed Jerusalem (Living in Jerusalem).

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