Underneath the rubble

Today I did another tour of East Jerusalem. This time to learn about the issue of house demolitions, with the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions (ICAHD). I found it hard: confronting and conflicting.

East Jerusalem is heavily disputed. Israel annexed the territory after the 1967 six-day war but it is not recognised internationally. Palestinians want East Jerusalem to be the capital of an independent Palestinian state.

In 1967, according to ICAHD, the population in the whole of Jerusalem was 72 percent Jewish and 28 percent Arab. Since then, the Israeli government has wanted to maintain that ratio. In order to do this, the Israeli authorities implemented planning and zoning laws to limit the growth of Arab communities in East Jerusalem.

In practice, this means a few things. First, encouraging Jews to rent or buy homes in East Jerusalem. ICAHD says that 90, 000 housing units have been built for Jewish Israelis since 1967, and around 180, 000 Jews live in East Jerusalem. Since Israel's annexation of East Jerusalem is not recognised, these people are considered as settlers.

Second, it means restricting the growth of Arab neighbourhoods in East Jerusalem. However, the Arab population in East Jerusalem has grown in the past forty years, and people need extra housing. But, only a few permits are granted per year, so people have built new houses and made extensions without the permission of the Israeli planning and zoning authority.

According to ICAHD, about one third of the homes built in East Jerusalem do not have building permits. This means that they are illegal, and can be demolished at any time. I met a family today whose house was demolished last week.

My initial reaction, was "hey, come on, this guy's house was illegal. Do you really want me to feel sorry for him? If he does not go through the regular channels it's his fault. You cannot blame Israel for everything!" There is a big part of me that gets tired of hearing Israel be blamed for everything. Things are never so black and white.

But, it also got me wondering. How do you judge what is acceptable government policy when the people subject to the policy are not citizens and have no democratic voice in the decision-making? And, what message is the Israeli government sending by actively moving Jewish Israelis into a place which is the hope and aspirations for a future Palestinian state? And anyway, why does all this make me angry at the poor bastard who just lost his home and with it, his life savings?

39 days to go...