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East Jerusalem’s
community of 177,000 residents and is about 30% of the total
population
of the city. Residents
of East Jerusalem (EJ) have to pay taxes like all city residents but
with a big difference
that they don’t receive the same services. Physical infrastructure
and
public services are poor
or non-existent.
Arab citizens face some
of the most serious rights violations in Israeli society. They are
affected by
discrimination and racism in areas such as employment, housing,
education
and the allocation of
government resources.
They have a high
birth-rate and thus large families-50 percent of East Jerusalem
residents
are under 18. There is
high unemployment and 50 percent population live below the poverty
line.
The Jerusalem
Municipality doesn’t invest in services as water & sewage system,
roads,
and sidewalks in
Jerusalem’s Palestinian neighborhoods.
Almost 90 percent of the
sewage pipes, roads, and sidewalks are found in West Jerusalem
Less than 10 percent of
the municipality’s development budget for 1999 was allocated for
Palestinian
neighborhoods.
West Jerusalem (WJ) has
1,000 public parks, East Jerusalem has only 45
West Jerusalem has 26
libraries, East Jerusalem 2
.
Income levels in West
Jerusalem are much higher than in East Jerusalem
In EJ, Palestinian
merchants are currently going through very bad economic situation as
a
result of the closures
imposed on Jerusalem since 1993.
235 shops are close
inside the Old City of Jerusalem constituting 25 percent number of
shops.
Since 1967 approximately
40,000 housing units have been built in East Jerusalem by Israel
exclusively for the
Jewish population, which before 1967 was zero.
The Palestinian
residents of East Jerusalem, who are considered as permanent
residents
but not citizens of
Israel, are not entitled to purchase apartments constructed on state
land,
in those neighborhoods
built on land expropriated mainly from Palestinian residents.
Palestinians who try to
use lawful means to build houses will face a maze of legal, economic
and bureaucratic
obstacles. A building permit from the municipality can cost $20,000
and
take up to five years to
be authorized.
On the other hand, the
Palestinians of East Jerusalem have the status of permanent
residents of Israel,
they carry identity cards but they are not Israeli citizens and they
don’t
have an Israeli
passport. Residents of West bank and Gaza Strip can travel abroad
with a
passport issued by the
Palestinian Authority. The residents of EJ are not allowed to carry
Palestinian passport
since they are not eligible for Israeli passports, the consequence
is
that they have no
passport at all.
In education the
situation is not better. Israel appears to violate international law
by not
providing ample
classroom space and vocational training.
More than that, there is
discrimination between Jewish and Palestinian students by
providing WJ students
with superior facilities.
Palestinian
Jerusalemites pay taxes at the same rates as their Jewish
counterparts
accounting for 26
percent of municipal tax revenue but Palestinians receive only about
5
percent of municipal
services.
The classrooms are
small; there are no libraries, computer laboratories, science
laboratories or
facilities for art and physical education. The atmosphere in most
classrooms is unsuitable
for education.
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