Palestinians: the project will change the character of the Old City
Occupied Jerusalem: -- Palestinian experts and officials are warning of the dangerous repercussions of an Israeli project aimed at changing the landmarks and character of Jaffa Gate and the Omar Bin Khattab Square in the Old City of Jerusalem.
The project, which is currently under construction by Israeli Jerusalem municipal teams and the Israeli Antiquities Authority, involves excavations beneath the western wall of the historical Jerusalem Citadel, which includes the Nabi Daoud Mosque. A market and tourist and commercial center will be built belowground at the site, aimed at attracting commercial and tourist activity and diverting entrance into the Old City to Jaffa Gate by connecting it to Jaffa Street and Jewish centers in the western sector of occupied Jerusalem.
Renowned settlement expert, Khalil Tufakji says the Jaffa Gate project is part of an even more comprehensive project to alter the landmarks and character of the area, especially Omar Bin Khattab Square. He explains that this area in particular leads into the Old City, namely the Armenian Quarter and the Sharaf, or Jewish Quarter, where settlement build-up in the Old City is concentrated. Around 3,000 settlers live in this quarter in addition to the hundreds of settlers and yeshiva students distributed among dozens of other properties taken over from Palestinian Jerusalemites.
“We are talking about a huge tourist project in this area, which is slated to be completed in 2022; the construction and bulldozers are already in place,” Tujaki says.
The project includes the establishment of open arenas, markets and commercial and tourist centers along with an underground museum, so that tourists and Jews can reach Jaffa Gate through several nearby, glassed-in courts and tourist rest-stops. Through its Antiquities Authority, the Israeli government earmarked a budget of ILS40 million for the project, which is being implemented by the “Clore Israel Foundation.”
Jerusalemites fear this Israeli project will result in an even worse slump in commercial and tourist activity in the Old City, which already suffers from an almost complete commercial standstill. This recession only worsened with the coronavirus pandemic, which forced many Jerusalemite merchants to close their shops in search of other means of livelihood for their families.
Walid Dajani is manager of the Imperial Hotel in Jaffa Gate, whose family has been fighting a legal battle for over two decades with settlement associations that claim ownership of the hotel, which is originally the property of the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate. Dajani warned of the demographic ramifications of these developments in this area, especially on the Palestinian Christian presence in the Old City, which is currently only 1% of the population of 40,000 residents.
Previous estimates indicate a 5% rise in Jerusalemite shops closed during the pandemic and due to Israeli taxes. Overall, 350 shops in the Old City have been forced to close over the years and turned into alternative workspaces. This was confirmed by head of the Jerusalemite merchants’ committee and former secretary of the Chamber of Commerce, Hijazi Risheq, who said the situation in the Old City in particular was dire. Everyday, he contends, shopkeepers and merchants lose money due to the recession, a situation which is exacerbated by restrictive and Israeli measures including on movement, for people coming to the Old City.
Meanwhile, Tony Khashram, head of Holy Land Tourism, said Israel was looking to turn Jaffa Gate into the “Mecca” of Jewish pilgrims worldwide. He explains how Orthodox and extremist Jews in Jerusalem are in control of capital and have considerable sway in the politics of the city, investing large amounts of money into Jewish religious sites in the Old City. In contrast, Christian and Islamic sites are unimportant to them. “Jaffa Gate is the easiest entryway into the Old City for Jews from West Jerusalem to the Buraq [Western] Wall, on foot, by car or other means of future transportation,” Kashram explains.
Commenting on the current project at Jaffa Gate, Khashram says: “As for the future of commercial activity in the Old City, I think it will continue to be very weak, because it depends on Christian and Islamic and not Jewish tourism.”
Khashram explains that 2019 saw the highest number of Christian and Muslim tourists since 1948, constituting 35% of the total number of tourists who entered the holy land from all crossings. The other 65% were Jewish foreigners.
The current projects being carried out in Jerusalem cannot be separated from the crux of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, especially in regards to the narrative. Khashram maintains, “Everyone knows that Jews inside and outside of Israel have not stopped for one day since 1948 to promote the idea of building Solomon’s Temple. We, in the tourism sector, hear it all the time from tourists and we know how much money Israel collects from other countries and Jewish organizations abroad for the sake of their settlement projects in the city. This money funds all of the tourism service providers and contractors and all of the other Jewish-owned economic sectors in Jerusalem.”
Money utilizes to enhance the demographic settlement presence in the Old City is not limited to Israeli government-funded projects, all of which look to achieve one goal, which is the Judaization of Jerusalem in its entirety, but extends to other sources, particularly the millions of dollars flowing into these projects from the likes of American-Jewish millionaire Irving Moskowitz. He finances settlement associations with an annual ILS100 million, constituting a main source of funding for their activities, aimed at taking over Jerusalemite properties in the Old City, Silwan and Sheikh Jarrah. Thanks to his money, two settlement neighborhoods were established in Ras Al Amoud, named “Ma'ale HaZeitim” and another in the heart of Sheikh Jarrah named the “Moskowitz Quarter”, which was built on the ruins of the Shepherd Hotel.
بميزانية أولية مقدارها 40 مليون شيكل..
باب الخليل: سوق تجاري وسياحي إسرائيلي أسفل قلعة القدس بمبادرة من مؤسسة 'Clore Israel'
تاريخ النشر: 09/02/2022
بقلم: مفتاح
الفلسطينيون: المشروع سيغيّر معالم البلدة القديمة ويضعف الحركة التجارية والسياحية المقدسية
القدس المحتلة – تقرير - حذر مسؤولون وخبراء فلسطينيون من التداعيات الخطيرة الناجمة عن شروع سلطات الاحتلال الإٍسرائيلي مؤخراً بتنفيذ مشروع يستهدف تغيير معالم منطقة باب الخليل وساحة ميدان عمر بن الخطاب بالبلدة القديمة من القدس.
يأتي ذلك، بعد أن أنهت لجان التخطيط التابعة لبلدية الاحتلال في القدس مخططاتها بهذا الشأن ودفعت بآلياتها للعمل هناك، حيث تواصل جرافات تابعة لسلطة الآثار والبلدية أعمال التجريف أسفل الجدار الغربي لقلعة القدس التاريخية والتي تضم مسجد النبي داود تمهيداً لبناء سوق ومجمع تجاري وسياحي في باطن الأرض لاستقطاب الحركة التجارية والسياحية الوافدة وتحويل الدخول إلى البلدة القديمة عبر باب الخليل بعد ربطه بشارع يافا والتجمعات اليهودية في القطاع الغربي المحتل من مدينة القدس.
ويقول خليل تفكجي خبير الاستيطان المعروف أن ما يجري في منطقة باب الخليل يأتي في سياق مشروع أشمل يستهدف تغيير معالم المنطقة هناك خاصة ميدان عمر بن الخطاب المفضي إلى البلدة القديمة وتحديداً حي الأرمن وحارة الشرف أو ما تعرف الآن بالحي اليهودي حيث تتركز الكثافة الاستيطانية داخل البلدة القديمة في هذا الحي والذي يقطنه نحو 3000 مستوطن، عدا المئات من المستوطنين وطلاب المدارس الدينية الموزعين على عشرات العقارات التي تم الاستيلاء عليها من مقدسيين.
أضاف:" نحن نتحدث عن مشروع سياحي ضخم سيقام في المنطقة، بعد أن أنهت لجان التخطيط التابعة لبلدية الاحتلال عملها ووضعت الخرائط والأمور اللوجستية، وبدأت بتهيئة المكان ووضع المعدات والجرافات لأجل تنفيذ هذا المشروع خلال العام ٢٠٢٢.
ويتضمن المشروع إقامة ساحات وأسواق ومجمعات تجارية وسياحية، ومتحفاً تحت الأرض، لوصول السياح الأجانب واليهود إلى باب الخليل من خلال عدة ساحات قريبة وزجاجية واستراحات للسياح. فيما رصدت حكومة الاحتلال عبر سلطة الآثار ميزانية بقيمة 40 مليون شيكل، حيث سينفذ هذا المشروع بمبادرة من مؤسسة "Clore Israel.
ويخشى المقدسيون من أن يؤدي المشروع الإسرائيلي هذا إلى انتكاسة إضافية للحركة التجارية والسياحية في البلدة القديمة والتي تعاني من ركود تجاري شبه تام ازداد تدهوراً مع جائحة كورونا، ما دفع العديد من التجار المقدسيين إلى إغلاق محلاتهم بحثاً عن مصادر رزق لعائلاتهم كما قال وليد الدجاني مدير فندق الإمبريال في باب الخليل والذي تخوض عائلته منذ نحو عقدين أو يزيد صراعاً قضائيا مع جمعيات استيطانية تدعي ملكيتها للفندق المملوك أصلاً لبطريركية الروم الأرثوذكس. وحذر الدجاني من التداعيات الديمغرافية لما يجري في المنطقة خاصة على الوجود المسيحي الفلسطيني في البلدة القديمة والذي لا يتجاوز حاليا 1% فقط من مجموع سكان القدس القديمة البالغ عددهم نحو أربعين ألف نسمة.
وكانت تقديرات سابقة أشارت إلى ارتفاع بنسبة المحال التجارية التي أغلقها المقدسيون خلال جائحة كورونا ونتيجة الضرائب المفروضة عليهم إلى نحو 5% ليصل عدد تلك المحال إلى ما يقارب أل 350 محلاً اضطر أصحابها إلى إغلاقها على مدى سنوات الاحتلال والتحول إلى أماكن عمل بديلة، على ما أكده رئيس لجنة التجار المقدسيين وأمين سر الغرفة التجارية السابق حجازي الرشق/ مشيراً إلى أن الأوضاع في البلدة القديمة تحديداً هي الأسوأ حيث يمنى التجار يومياً بخسائر فادحة بسبب حالة الركود التجاري والتي تفاقمت مع ممارسات الاحتلال ضد الوافدين إليها وإخضاعهم لعمليات مهينة والتضييق على حركتهم.
بدوره، قال طوني خشرم رئيس جمعية السياحة الوافدة في الأراضي المقدسة تعليقاً على ما يجري من تغيير لمعالم باب الخليل، أن توني خشرم أن التوجه الحالي للاحتلال يقوم على جعل القدس "مكة" اليهود عالميا أي للحجاج اليهود فقط، حيث يحكم اليهود الارثوذكس والمتدينين المتشددين القدس بالمال والسياسة وهم الذين يستثمرون أموالاً كثيرة في المواقع الدينية اليهودية في البلدة القديمة. في حين أن الاماكن المقدسة المسيحية والاسلامية هي بمثابة مواقع أثرية غير مهمة لليهود. أضاف:" باب الخليل هو الأسهل لدخول اليهود من القدس الغربية الى حائط البراق مشياً على الأٌقدام أو بالسيارات ومستقبلا بوسائل تنقل اخرى
وفيما يتعلق بمستقبل الحركة التجارية بالبلدة القديمة على ضوء تنفيذ هذا المشروع قال خشرم:" بالنسبة للحركة التجارية في البلدة القديمة ستبقى ضعيفة جدا لأن اعتمادها على السياحة المسيحية والاسلامية ولا تعتمد على "السياحة اليهودية".
ولفت خشرم في هذا الصدد إلى أن عدد السياح المسيحيين والمسلمين في سنة ٢٠١٩ كان أعلى رقم منذ ١٩٤٨، وقد شكلوا ٣٥٪ من مجموع السياح الذين دخلوا الاراضي المقدسة ومن جميع المعابر، أما الباقي فهم ٦٥٪ هم من اليهود الاجانب.
ولا ينفصل ما يجري تنفيذه من مشاريع تهويد في القدس القديمة عن لب الصراع الفلسطيني الإسرائيلي خاصة فيما يتعلق بموضوع الرواية، وفي هذا يقول خشرم: “الجميع يعرف أن اليهود في "اسرائيل" والخارج لم يتوقفوا يوما واحدًا منذ ١٩٤٨ على ترويج فكرة بناء هيكل سليمان ونحن في مجال السياحة نعرف ذلك تماما ونسمعه دائما من قبل السائح الوافد.، علماً بأن حجم الاموال التي تقوم "إسرائيل" بتجنيدها من دول العالم والمنظمات اليهودية في الخارج بخصوص القدس ومشاريعهم الاستيطانية كبيرة جدا، وهذه الأموال تشغل جميع مزودي الخدمات السياحية والمقاولين وكل القطاعات الاقتصادية الأخرى في القدس والتي يمتلكها اليهود".
بيد أن ضخ الأموال لتعزيز التواجد الديمغرافي الاستيطاني في البلدة القديمة لا يقتصر على ما تموله الحكومة الإسرائيلية من مشاريع تلتقي جميعها عند هدف واحد وهو تهويد المدينة المقدسة لكاملها، بل تمتد إلى مصادر أخرى أبرزها ما يضخ من ملايين الدولارات من قبل أثرياء يهود يقيمون في الولايات المتحدة الأميركية ومن أ[رزها المليونير اليهودي الأميركي إيرفينغ موسكوفيتش الذي يضخ سنوياً ما قيمته 100 مليون دولار تشكل مصدراً رئيسيا لأنشطة الجمعيات الاستيطانية اليهودية الناشطة في الاستيلاء على عقارات المقدسيين في القدس القديمة وسلوان والشيخ جراح، وبفضل هذه الأموال شيد حيّان استيطانيان في رأس العامود يطلق عليه "معاليه هزيتيم"، أما الحي الآخر فيقع في قلب الشيخ جراح ويطلق عليه "حي موسكوفيتش" الذي أقيم على أنقاض فندق شبرد.
The world will pay for our genocide
Date posted: July 13, 2024
By Joharah Baker
On a recent advocacy trip to Europe, I was asked by a young university student how to respond to his parents who shrug off the genocide in Gaza as something that is “unfortunately inevitable”. While this student maintained that his parents realized this was not an ideal situation, he admitted to struggling with their nonchalant attitude about the annihilation of the Palestinians. My answer was brief and to the point, albeit emotional. “Tell them: is this the kind of world you want to live in? Where a state can freely annihilate an entire people with impunity? Is this the world you want your children and grandchildren to inherit?”
The young man was well intentioned and he was clearly grappling with this existential conundrum. Jewish, he grew up in a household that believed in Israel and the Zionist project, but having witnessed what this entity and its ideology is capable of, he shifted course and is now trying to convince his parents it is their moral imperative to do the same.
Now over two months after this encounter, as Palestinians and many around the world continue to reel from the horrific scenes coming out of Gaza, this young man’s question has repeatedly crept back into my head.
In the past nine months, Israel has provided a sneak-peak into the world it envisions: one that does not question it, regardless of its atrocities; one where the word Palestine, along with its people, are wiped from map and memory. The Gaza slaughter is a foreshadowing of this new world order, which does not include us.
As the genocide grinds on mercilessly, the dead, wounded, missing and displaced soaring to unimaginable heights, a terrifying truth has dawned on us Palestinians: there is no question anymore whether the world will allow our extermination to happen or not. The answer is provided every day and with every unchecked massacre.
This world that really is callous, watching the slaughter of innocent men, women and children without blinking an eye. Or worse, they justify the rivers of Palestinian blood as “concerning” but immediately follow this up with the hackneyed phrase: “Israel has the right to defend itself,” or, “…but Hamas.” Where is the argument for the Palestinians’ right to self-defense against a brutal military occupation that has stripped them of rights and dignity for decades? Does that never calculate into the equation? Apparently not.
This is nothing new. Colonialist powers have always maligned the people under their colonization, dehumanizing them through language and deed as a means of justifying their annihilation. Indigenous peoples all over the world understand this painful reality, from New Zealand, to North and South America, to Africa and of course, Palestine. We are the “terrorists”, and the “human animals”, so our deaths will not matter.
This is where the world has it all wrong. To the parents of this young man who found his own humanity and compassion for the plight of Palestinians and was desperately seeking answers to how this compassion could be passed on to his parents, the answer is clear. The world will pay for this genocide in more ways than one, humanity being the first casualty. If “never again” signifies anything other than its literal meaning, then it means nothing at all, and this is a dangerous and slippery slope for everyone. If Israel is allowed to get away with mass murder and remain a nation among nations, who will stop Israel or others from doing this to another people ? Those who greenlighted this genocide from day one, unwittingly created a beast that will turn on them the first chance it gets.
The people united will never be divided
Date posted: April 30, 2024
By Joharah Baker
I was born in the United States and lived there through early childhood, but since returning with my family to Palestine, I have never wanted to go back. The United States has always evoked mixed feelings in me. I have a certain nostalgia for the place of my birth but my overall sentiments always culminated in a sense of resentment for this so-called superpower that has systematically aided in my people’s oppression, occupation and dehumanization.
That is, until present day. The scenes of American university campuses breaming with students in kuffiyehs, waving Palestinian flags and resisting the brutality of the police and their own university administrations, has uplifted my spirit in ways I cannot fully articulate. In a word, what is happening on US campuses today is validation of our people, of Palestine and of our struggle. To those who live comfortable lives in free countries, this may sound like an exaggeration, but for my people, who have been denied their very right to exist, who have been demoralized, demonized and dehumanized, this is huge. We are seeing students of all races, creeds, backgrounds and religions, calling for an end to the genocide in the Gaza Strip and marching for a free Palestine and divestment from the Israeli occupation. We are hearing Jewish voices, debunking Zionist propaganda and its below-the-belt attempts to conflate anti-Zionism with anti-Semitism. We are being validated for our struggle, for our resistance against oppression, occupation and settler-colonialism and we are finally being heard and seen.
Students have always been the litmus test for social and political justice. Rallies and demonstrations on university campuses have been the driving force against imperialist wars throughout the ages, the Vietnam War being the best example. However, what is so incredible about this movement is that American students are not directly involved in Palestine. Students are not being drafted into an army to fight on foreign soil, so the stakes are not as high for them at the personal level. What is happening today is the direct result of the intersectionality of struggles and the belief that no one is free until all of us are free. This is a force far more powerful than a genocidal regime will ever be.
The scenes from university campuses in the United States and now in Europe, juxtaposed against the crushing images from the Gaza Strip, are a balm for our wounded hearts. We feel a kinship with these incredible Gen Zs who have put their very lives on the line for Palestine. We send them love, energy and solidarity as we watch them being thrown to the ground, handcuffed and arrested and we burst with pride as we hear them chant ‘Free Palestine”.
This is a moment in time that must not be squandered. May these American university protests spread like wildfire throughout campuses across the world, putting to shame both Zionism and American imperialism, which has allowed this racist ideology to survive. The Palestinians have never wavered in their determination to liberate their land from Israeli occupation and oppression, whether they do it alone or with the help of friends. Today, thanks to the beautiful people all over the world who have championed our cause alongside of us, a free Palestine is not only an inevitability, it is just around the corner.
Who will hear their screams?
Date posted: April 01, 2024
By Joharah Baker for MIFTAH
When Israel claimed women were sexually assaulted on a mass scale on October 7, the world exploded. Almost the entirety of Israel’s genocidal war was based on these and other allegations, many unsubstantiated. We all remember the infamous’40 beheaded babies” story, do we not?
This article is not about Israeli allegations per se, neither will it only focus on violations against Palestinian women. This is about a world that is immediately up in arms when one side merely alleges atrocities while it turns a blind eye to actual documented violations against the “other”.
In Gaza, it is painfully clear that we indeed, are ‘the other’. How else can anyone explain the muted cries of women being stripped, raped, starved and murdered practically in real time, on our phone screens, documented in UN reports and described in horrific detail in eyewitness testimonies? There is no other explanation than that Palestinians are what Arundhati Roy calls “Children of a lesser God”. We are the victims of deep-rooted colonialism, one whose geographic demarcations may have vanished but whose insidious, dehumanizing mentality still prevails and manifests in the ugliest of manners.
For nearly six months, Palestinians have endured unspeakable atrocities at the hands of Israel’s occupying army. Today, the Gaza Strip has been reduced to an emaciated shell of what it once was. As Gaza is being systematically decimated and ethnically cleansed, the world, for the most part, looks on. Barring sympathetic supporters and a few well-intended but timid political actors, nothing has been done to stop the carnage. Palestinians once believed there was no way the world would allow Israel to erase Gaza off the map, no way it could see a live-streamed genocide and do nothing. But that is exactly what is happening.
Then, when we thought things could not get any worse, something unfathomable emerged from the deathtrap of Gaza. When this happened, we were certain it would be the turning point in this hellish nightmare. Well-documented reports, corroborated by the UN and eyewitnesses on the ground, told of harrowing stories of sexual assault against Palestinian women in Gaza.
We were paralysed with horror when we heard of women being raped by Israeli soldiers in northern Gaza, assaulted and stripped in front of their families. What’s worse, we all know that in times like these, the undocumented atrocities will far outnumber those documented. Who knows what horrors will unfold once the dust settles in Gaza; no doubt they will be so horrific, our entire nation will be traumatized for years to come.
The real question here is not how Israel’s soldiers perpetrated such gross violations. I think by now we can all agree that this depraved military establishment and its political echelon to boot, has dehumanized and vilified Palestinians so much and for so long, they will justify just about anything. No, the question is more about the moral compass of the rest of the world. While alliances and political interests are always part of the equation, even when the issue pertains to basic human rights, nothing can better explain the blatant hypocrisy, double standards and loss of collective humanity than the deafening silence today.
Our women have not only been killed, starved and displaced, they have been exposed to the very violations that sparked global outrage and a genocidal war against an entire population under occupation, unprecedented in modern history. This is not only unacceptable, it is an indelible stain on humanity. Sexual violence is a crime so heinous it is imperative to condemn and prevent, no matter the perpetrator or the victim. That must always be the baseline in any argument.
Palestinians will never get past this genocide; it is not something you can come back from. However, be assured, this is not only about the Palestinians. The world’s women, the majority of so-called feminists who have remained disgustingly silent, must know this: when you do not stand up for women, all women, no one will stand up for you in your time of need.
