CHAPTER XI :THE SCHEMES TO JUDAIZE AL-QODS AL-SHAREEF

Schemes to judaize the city of Al-Qods were started very early in an attempt to fulfil a false dream that is still cherished by orthodox Jews and some Christian zealots. This seems to be closely linked to the Jews' migration to Palestine. It should be noted that this migration first took on a purely religious character, but it soon shifted to a political objective presided by the World Zionist Congress, viz. the creation of a Jewish State in "the Promised Land", as they claimed. (379)

Al-'آbidî reports that Ayyûbid Sultan Salâhuddîn Al-Ayyûbî gave audience in 1211 A.D. to three rabbis who had come from England and France to find out if Jews could emigrate to Palestine. The consultations fell through, however, because of the two parties' diverging points of view on this point. Be it noted here that, in 1267 A.D., only two Jews lived in Palestine. Actually, these were two full brothers who resided in Al-Qods. In 1327 A.D., there was in Palestine a small Jewish community whose members mostly worked as goldsmiths. The number of Jewish inhabitants in Al-Qods gradually increased so that, in 1481 A.D., it reached about one thousand and five hundred individuals over a total population of ten thousand. However, in 1492 A.D., with the fall of Grenade in Moorish Spain, the number of Jews in Al-Qods increased as they were expelled from Spain and other European countries. (380)

On the other hand, their number decreased so dramatically that, in 1800 A.D., only one Jew lived in Al-Qods. Later on, their number picked up gradually so that they were about thirty thousand in 1890 A.D. fifty thousand in 1896, and eighty thousand in 1898. (381)

379. This issue has been dealt with in many studies, the most recent and most interesting of which is Rajae Garaudy's book Israel and Political Zionism, published in 1978. Cf. the Arabic translation, p. 14.

380. M. Al-'آbidî (1978), Some of Our History, p. 14.

381. Al-'Aref, A History of Al-Qods, p. 192. This author also states that in 1670 A.D. the Jewish population was one hundred and fifty according to the census of the time.

At the beginning of this process, the Arab Palestinians welcomed to their community all the immigrant Jews, with whom they had cordial and peaceful relations for many generations. The very few and isolated incidents that ever occurred between Arabs and Jews were considered unimportant and expected in any society with multiple religious or ethnic groups. Thus, a very good relationship developed between Arab farmers and the first Jewish colonies that settled in Palestine. Members of those colonies employed many Arabs as farm-hands. (382) Palestinian city-dwellers saw these early settlers as refugees who had fled from the persecutions in Eastern Europe or as pilgrims who had decided to settle in Palestine as devouts. (383)

Between 1881 and 1891, the Arabs' attitude remained a peaceful one. However, as the Zionist threat gradually became evident, their reaction became one of scepticism and disapproval concerning Jewish immigration. The old amity turned into deep aversion which gradually developed into an open war between Arabs and Jews in 1947. (384)

After 1947, the city of Al-Qods was divided into two parts : the Arab part to the east, and the part to the west, called the "new Al-Qods", whose inhabitants were mostly Jews. Each of these two parts of the city grew larger with the growth of its population. In the Arab part of the city, the population growth was mainly due to an increase in the birth rate and to an exodus from the country to the city. The population growth in the west part was the result of the migration of Jews from overseas.

The former mayor of Al-Qods, Professor Rouhî Al-Khatîb, who is now an expatriate, states that the Judaization of Al-Qods and the modification of its demographic structure may be said to have taken place in four stages corresponding to the following periods : the first stage (1907-1917), the second stage (1918-1948), the third stage (1948-1967), and the fourth stage (1967-1981). He then lists the various schemes devised in order to judaicize the city. (385)

382. A. 'Awad (1984), The Palestinian Personality and Zionist Immigration in Studies in Palestinian History and Archeology, p. 398.

383. A. 'Awad, Ibid., p. 398.

384. A. 'Award, Ibid., p. 399, Arab-Jew relations changed once the Arabs realized that the Jews, helped by the World Zionist Congress, were carrying out their plan to establish a Zionist State in Palestine and to expel the Arab natives from it by way of ethnic purification.

385. Rouhî Al-Khatîb (1982), Bulletin of the Royal Commission on the Affairs of Al-Qods, n° 100; p. 12

Under the British Mandate (i.e. before Palestine was divided up and after the first Arab-Israeli war (i.e. during the period when Palestine was divided up), the schemes to judaicize Al-Qods were numerous (386) ; but it was not until 1967, after the Zionist forces had occupied the city, that these measures became draconian, for they affected the administrative system, the educational system, and the historic environment of Al-Qods. Jewish settlements were set up, thereby helping with the measure to change the city's demographic structure; and the historic vestiges, which gave Al-Qods its Arabic and Islamic specificity, were removed.

After Al-Qods had been occupied, voices in Israel called loud from the settling of further Jewish colonies in the occupied territories, particularly in Al-Qods because of its strategic location and political importance for the state of Israel. Among those voices was that of David Bengurion, who, in 1967, urged the members of his party in a speech that "The inhabitants of Arab Al-Qods should be those who are returning to it" (i.e. the immigrating Jews). (387) In a prayer ceremony held by the West Wall (the Wall of Al-Burâq) and attended by a congregation of Jewish soldiers, Solomon Warren, a rabbi of the Jewish army, repeated many times over that the dream of many Jewish generations had been fufilled, that Al-Qods belonged to the Jews and should never be given up by them, and that it was the eternal capital of the Jewish State. (388) Also, representatives of the Jewish part of Al-Qods had a meeting with the Jewish Prime Minister, David Eshkol, whom they asked to authorize Jews to populate the Arab part of the city. As a matter of fact, some Jewish settlers seized Arab houses and occupied them long before the authorization of their government was officially announced. (389)

The situation got worse when the Executive Committee of the National Religious party urged its party members to march into the Arab part of Al-Qods and settle it. Also, various Israeli institutions manifested their wish to move to the Arab part of the city and carry on their business activity there. Some such institutions were the Hadassa Medical Organization and the Hebrew University.

The Israeli Government services competed for the control of the administrative institutions of the Arab City. Thus, the Israeli Ministry of Religious Affairs on its own initiative took control of the Holy Places, the Antiquities Division usurped the Palestinian Museum and seized the ancient monuments and sites, 386. Getting more and more Jews to settle Al-Qods was one of the objectives of the Zionists, who repeated to credulous Jews that "Our feet have always been at your door, O Jerusalem! O Jerusalem! the ever-unified city." Cf. Palestine Encyclopedia, Vol. 3, p. 522.

387. J. Samîr (1983), Jewish Immigration to Al-Qods and its Neighbourhood in Bulletin of the Royal Commission on the Affairs of Al-Qods, n° 107; p. 1

388. Palestine Encyclopedia, Vol. 3, p. 522.

389. J. Samîr, Ibid., p.1

and the Ministry of Housing launched its project to build new residential areas. The Ministry of Tourism and Communications as well as the other Ministries had similar plans. (390) In short, every Government body and institution sought to carry out its own building projects without ever coordinating with other bodies and the resulting chaos caused extensive damage to the infrastructure and to the socio-economic foundations of the city. The Israeli Government tried to confer legitimacy on this chaotic situation by declaring at the end of its meeting of 11 June 1967 that it was proposing to the Knesset a bill whereby it sought the annexation of the Arab city of Al-Qods.

The Israeli Parliament wasted no time, for on the same day, it unanimously passed it into a law. Thus, the Arab city of Al-Qods became politically and administratively an annex of the State of Israel by virtue of decree n° 2064. On the basis of this same decree, the Israeli Government decreed the 1967 Law and Order Rule n° 1, which stipulates that the Arab city was subject to the rules and laws of Israeli administration. (391)

Thirteen years later, the Knesset laid down the so-called "ground rules of the unified Jerusalem" according to which "the city of Al-Qods, both of its parts included, constitutes Israel's unified capital and is thereby the head-quarters of the Government, the Knesset, and the Supreme Court." (392) In order to complete the judaization of the city as fast as possible, the Israeli Government took a series of measures, particularly the settling of Jewish colonies within the Arab city (393) , the setting up of a Society for the Restoration of the Jewish Quarter and the Development of the Old City (394) and among other things, the substituting of Hebrew names for Arab names carried by the streets and squares in the city.

Concerning the Israeli colonies to be mentioned later on, the occupying authorities deliberately settled them within the Arab city so as to judaize it immediately after its occupation. This strategy consisted in setting up three settlement belts around the city (395) . The first belt involved the Old Arab City 390. J. Samîr, Ibid., p. 2

391. Palestine Encyclopedia, Vol. 3, p. 522

392. Palestine Encyclopedia, Vol. 3, p. 522

393. M. Abdulhâdi, Israeli Settlements in Al-Qods and the Jordan Valley : 1967-1977 published by the Al-Multaqâ Al-Fikrî Al-'Arabî Association (Al-Qods : 1978), p.57

394. J. Samîr, Ibid., p. 5

395. These belts also seemed to have the military aims of controlling and subjugating the Arab city. The same scheme was followed in the setting of other Jewish colonies in occupied Palestine.

396. J. Samîr, Ibid., p. 6

W. Al-Ja'farî, Settlement Colonies in the Occupied Territories : 1967-1980, Mou-assassat Ad-Dirâssât (Beirût, 1981), p. 171.

397. W. Al-Ja'farî, Ibid., p. 35.

398. M. Abdulhâdî, Ibid., p. 57.

399. M. Abdulhâdî, Ibid., p. 61.

Palestine Encyclopedia, Vol. 3, p. 525.

within the ramparts; the second was set around the Arab part of the city outside the ramparts; and the third was intended to contain the Arab populations in the suburbs of the city. This scheme was carried out in such a way that the Arab city was contained within a larger "Jewish Al-Qods" as the Zionist schemers wished to see it. (396)

The occupying authorities first set up colonies in the Arab and Muslim area between the west wall of the Mosque of Al-Aqsâ and the Latin Convent, thus usurping Muslim parcels which were waqf property (pious endowments) and, by contrast, using only a small parcel that was owned by some Jews before 1948. To carry out this scheme, four Arab quarters, namely Ash-Sharq, Bâb As-Silsila, Al-Yâshûra, and Al-Maghâriba were pulled down and their occupants were thrown out. (397) Such measures are part of the Israeli scheme to stamp out the Palestinian entity by means of the colonies set up in the city of Al-Qods and throughout the occupied territories. The following are the most important of these Jewish colonies (398) :

1. 'Athrooh

This colony was set up close to Qalandiyya Airport in 1970 on an expropriated land area of about 1,000 dunums which belonged to Arab owners from Beit Hanîna. Part of this land was used for the construction of Israeli factories that produce space heaters, paint, furniture, and building materials, in addition to a biological laboratory, a refrigerated depot, and other facilities The rest of this land area was used by the occupying forces for the construction of one hundred and eighty one housing units. (399)

2. Prophet Jacob

This colony was set up seven kilometres away from the centre of Al-Qods in 1973 and involved a project for the construction of four thousand housing units. Accordingly, vast Beit Hanîna land areas, estimated at thirty dunums,

400. M. Abdulhâdî, Ibib., p. 61.

Palestine Encyclopedia, Vol. 3, p. 524. Abdulhâdî reports that this colony contains a population of seventeen thousand while the Palestine Encyclopedia reports an estimation of only twelve thousand inhabitants.

401. M. Abdulhâdî, Ibid., p. 62.

Palestine Encyclopedia, Vol. 3, p. 522.

402. Palestine Encyclopedia, Vol. 3, p. 524.

403. Palestine Encyclopedia, Vol. 3, p. 524.

M. Abdulhâdî, Ibid., p. 62.

404. Palestine Encyclopedia, Vol. 3, p. 524.

M. Abdulhâdî, Ibid., p. 62.

were expropriated. It was expected that this project would provide housing for seventeen thousand inhabitants. (400)

3. Ramooth

This colony was set up in 1973 on the site between Aksomat Beit Hanîna and Prophet Samuel; this site was developed into a residential area for some seven thousand five hundred settlers, with a thousand houses constructed on an area of thirty dunums. To secure the land for this colony, the occupying forces pulled down a hundred houses belonging to Arabs and deprived many other owners of their parcels. (401)

4. Ramath Eshkol

This colony was set up in 1968 near Sheikh Jarrâh Quarter on a land area of six hundred dunums, where seven thousand five hundred Jewish settlers live in two thousand and two hundred houses. (402)

5. At-Talla Al-Afransiyya

Located east of Mount Al-Mashraf (Scopis), this colony was set up in 1969. About fifteen dunums of Arab-owned land was expropriated by the Israelis for the construction of five thousand houses for twelve thousand Jewish settlers. (403)

6. Ma'looth Dafna

This Arab-owned site was converted in 1968 into an Israeli residential area which is considered an extension of the Ramath Eshkol colony. Its area is of two hundred and seventy dunums, on which two thousand and four hundred houses were built for about four thousand five hundred Jewish settlers. (404)

7. Jello (Sharfât)

This colony was set up in 1973 for the housing of thirty five thousand Jewish settlers. (405)

8. At-Tâlibiyya Ash-Sharqiyya

This colony was established in 1973 near Abou-Thaour and Sûr Bâher (Jabal Al-Mukabbar), about three kilometres south-east of the Old City. It was built on an area of twenty thousand dunums of Arab-owned land which was expropriated by the Israelis.

9. The Jewish Quarter in the Old City

Immediately after the occupation of Al-Qods in 1967, a Jewish colony was set up in this quarter on the site between the west wall of the Mosque of Al-Aqsâ and the Latin Convent. This site essentially consisted of Muslim waqf (pious endowment) estate. One hundred and sixty Arab houses were pulled down, six hundred others were expropriated, and up to the beginning of 1977, six thousand five hundred Arab inhabitants were thrown out of their houses. By 1981, the occupying forces had built and restored four hundred and sixty eight houses for about one thousand eight hundred Jewish settlers. Additionally, a market and a synagogue were built on the site of four Arab quarters, which had been razed so that those facilities could be built. The following are the names of the quarters in question : Ash-Sharq, Al-Bâshûra, Al-Maghâriba, and Bâb As-Silsila, as pointed out further above. (406)

10. The Hebrew University

This colony was set up so that a university campus could be built on Mount Al-Mashraf (Scopis). Construction work was launched on Mount Al-Mashraf in 1969. Thus, residence halls for students and for professors, offices, a lecture hall, and a university hospital were built on this site. These

405. M. Abdulhâdî, Ibid., p. 62.

406. M. Abdulhâdî, Ibid., p. 64

Palestine Encyclopedia, Vol. 3, p. 523.