<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="yes"?><oembed><version><![CDATA[1.0]]></version><provider_name><![CDATA[Occupied Palestine | فلسطين]]></provider_name><provider_url><![CDATA[https://occupiedpalestine.wordpress.com]]></provider_url><author_name><![CDATA[occupiedpalestine]]></author_name><author_url><![CDATA[https://occupiedpalestine.wordpress.com/author/hajarhajar/]]></author_url><title><![CDATA[IRIN | OPT: Displacement risk for Palestinians in East&nbsp;Jerusalem]]></title><type><![CDATA[link]]></type><html><![CDATA[<div class="fl photobox" style="width:302px;">
<div><a href="http://www.irinnews.org/PhotoDetail.aspx?ImageId=201101171003140504"><img src="https://i0.wp.com/irinnews.org/images/2011/201101171003140504.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a></div>
<div style="font-size:10px;color:#666666;text-align:right;padding:5px;">Photo: <a href="http://www.irinnews.org/photo.aspx">Erica Silverman/IRIN</a></div>
<div style="font-size:11px;color:#333333;padding:5px;">Nasser Siam stands by the remains of his home in Sheikh Jerrah, East Jerusalem</div>
</div>
<p>JERUSALEM/RAMALLAH,  17 January 2011 (IRIN) &#8211; UN agencies and European Union (EU) officials  in the occupied Palestinian territory (oPt) are calling for the  implementation of international humanitarian law to protect the  Palestinian population in East Jerusalem from forced displacement.</p>
<p>UN, Palestinian Authority and EU officials say East Jerusalem is  occupied territory, requiring protection of the civilian population by  international humanitarian law, a legal framework which prohibits  population transfer into and out of the territory.</p>
<p>Israel says property transfers in East Jerusalem are private  transactions governed by Israeli local municipal law. Today East  Jerusalem, annexed by Israel in 1967, is governed by Israeli basic law.</p>
<p>Between 5 and 11 January the Israeli authorities demolished five  Palestinian-owned structures in East Jerusalem because they did not have  Israeli-issued building permits, according to the UN Office for the  Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (<a href="http://www.ochaopt.org/documents/ocha_opt_protection_of_civilians_2011_01_14_english.pdf" target="_blank">OCHA</a>).</p>
<p>Because of inadequate zoning and planning for Palestinians,  obtaining a building permit from the Israeli authorities in East  Jerusalem is almost impossible, says OCHA. Restrictions prevent  Palestinians from lawfully repairing or constructing homes, water  systems and other necessary infrastructure. Meanwhile, there are at  least 1,500 pending demolition orders in East Jerusalem, potentially  affecting the livelihoods of thousands.</p>
<p>“Transfer of property and buildings in East Jerusalem should be  regulated by the provisions of the fourth Geneva convention,” said  Ghassan Khatib, a representative from Palestinian prime minister Salam  Fayad’s office.</p>
<p>But it is unclear how international law could be implemented when  some 195,000 Israeli citizens (so-called “settlers”) live in East  Jerusalem, out of a total of 500,000 “settlers” in occupied Palestinian  land, according to OCHA estimates.</p>
<p>“The quarter of a million people living in suburban communities of  Jerusalem, so-called settlements, will remain,” said Israeli Prime  Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, speaking about a potential settlement  agreement between Israelis and Palestinians during an 11 January  reception for foreign media. “We have hundreds of Arab residences in  Jewish neighbourhoods and we cannot ban Israelis from purchasing  property in Arab areas and vice-versa,” he said.</p>
<p>According to the December 2010 Jerusalem Report authored by 25 heads  of mission from the EU in Jerusalem and Ramallah, “successive Israeli  governments have pursued a policy of transferring Jews into oPt in  violation of the fourth Geneva convention and international humanitarian  law.” In East Jerusalem 35 percent of the land has been expropriated  for “state land”. Palestinians living in Jerusalem only hold ID cards  and are prohibited from buying property.</p>
<p>Today some 924,000 people live within the municipal boundaries of  Jerusalem, of whom around 277,000 are Palestinian, according to the EU  report.</p>
<p>The USA says the status of Jerusalem must be resolved between  Israelis and Palestinians, and has warned both parties not to change the  situation on the ground outside a formal negotiating process.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, the number of displaced and affected persons in East  Jerusalem is increasing, weakening economic and social stability.</p>
<p><strong>Shepherd Hotel</strong></p>
<p>Israeli authorities bulldozed a wing of the historic Palestinian  Shepherd Hotel compound in the Sheikh Jarrah area of East Jerusalem on 9  January to make way for the construction of 20 new Jewish housing  units, despite US and UK condemnation.</p>
<p>About 5,000 Jewish “settlers” live in the Old City and Palestinian  neighbourhoods Silwan, Ras al-Amud, At-Tur Wadi al-Joz and Sheikh  Jerrah, according to the EU.</p>
<p>The Shepherd Hotel, built under Jerusalem Mufti Haj Amin al-Husseini  in the 1930s, was purchased in 1985 for US$1 million by US Jewish  tycoon Irving Moskowitz, a supporter of Israeli settlement building in  East Jerusalem.</p>
<p>“This is not a question of government property, this is a private sale,” said Prime Minister Netanyahu.</p>
<p><strong>Marked for demolition</strong></p>
<p>Many of the legal disputes that result in property transfers are  over ownership, while homes and structures built without permits are  marked by Israeli authorities for demolition.</p>
<p>Nasser Siam, 52, his wife Lina and their six children, Palestinian  Jerusalem ID-holders and registered refugees, are living in the one room  of their house that remains standing after Israeli police and  authorities from the Jerusalem municipality demolished their home in  Sheikh Jerrah on 3 January.</p>
<p>According to the municipality, the area is not zoned for residential property.</p>
<p>“In 1967 Israeli forces seized 40 dunums [3.25 hectares] of the  original 48 dunums [3.88 hectares] of land that my family owned at this  location,” said Nasser. “I paid US$20,000 [to the municipality] in 2004  to obtain a zoning permit, but the laws changed in 2005 and I lost the  money and had to restart the process,” he said.</p>
<p>Nasser was billed $14,000 by the municipality to pay for the  demolition of his own home. He earns about $16,800 a year as a sales  clerk. In some cases homes have been demolished by the owners  themselves, following the receipt of a demolition order from Israeli  authorities &#8211; to avoid the fee.</p>
<p>Nasser’s family received about $2,250 from the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) for rubble removal.</p>
<p>According to international law professor Yuval Shany from Hebrew  University, “the legal procedure is fair, but in some ways the laws are  biased against them [Palestinians].” The Absentee Property Law, for  instance, which enables Jewish individuals or associations to claim  rights to property allegedly owned prior to 1948, does not recognize  similar Palestinian claims, he said.</p>
<p>Seventy-eight structures in East Jerusalem, including 24 homes, were  demolished by the Israeli authorities in 2010, according to the UN,  displacing 116 people and affecting 289.</p>
<p>es/cb</p>
<p><a href="http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?ReportId=91648">IRIN Middle East | OPT: Displacement risk for Palestinians in East Jerusalem | OPT | Economy | Governance | Refugees/IDPs | Security</a>.</p>
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