by Ruth Tenne
Jerusalem Day was declared a national holiday by the State of Israel on the 12th May 1968 in celebration of the “liberation” of East Jerusalem and the unification of the city in the aftermath of the 1967 Six-Day War. The medieval Maghrabi Quarter near the Jewish Wailing Wall was demolished soon after, and its Palestinian inhabitants were evicted in order to make way for an open space for Jewish worshipers [1]. To celebrate this occasion the victorious hymn “Jerusalem of Gold” was written in glorification of the annexation of East Jerusalem and the reclaiming of the Western Wailing Wall .
In 1980 the Israeli Knesset passed the Basic Law: Jerusalem, Capital of Israel, confirming Jerusalem’s status as the nation’s “eternal and indivisible capital”. UN Security Council Resolution 478 stated thereafter that the Jerusalem Law was “null and void and must be rescinded forthwith”. [2]. The Resolution instructed UN member-states to withdraw their diplomatic representation from the city – refusing to confer official status on Israel’s illegal act of annexation.
The UN position, however, did not deter Israel from its continued attempts to cleanse East Jerusalem of its Palestinian inhabitants by the use of force and military orders. The so-called “City of Gold” turned into a ghettoised place with rubble from demolished Palestinian houses, razed Palestinian neighbourhoods , desecrated Muslim graveyards, and dispossessed homeless families serving as testimony to Israel’s underlying aim of “purifying” the city of its indigenous Palestinian population. According to the Head of the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions – Jeff Halper – only 11 percent of East Jerusalem land is available for Palestinian housing as result of Israel’s discriminatory policies which means that Jerusalemite Palestinians are virtually barred from 93 percent of the municipality of Jerusalem. The overall goal is to confine Palestinians to small enclaves in East Jerusalem, or to remove them from the city altogether – an action referred to by Israel as the “quiet transfer”.
The policy of ethnic cleansing is further intensified by the ongoing construction of a 8- meter -high Segregation Wall complete with watch towers, electronic sensors, and military patrols. The Wall encircles East Jerusalem, rips through villages and neighbourhoods, divides families – leaving about 35,000 West Bank Palestinians enclosed between the Wall and the Green Line in a “no man’s land” [3] . The International Court of Justice’s ruling (9 July 2004) declared the Israeli Wall an illegal entity that had to be removed, stating that financial compensation must be paid to affected Palestinians. The ruling was endorsed by a consequent UN resolution (20 July 2004 [4]) .Yet Israel continues to press ahead with the construction of the Wall, flouting UN resolutions with impunity, leading to a situation whereby “Jerusalem is being transformed from a city into a region dominating the entire central position of the West Bank” (Jeff Halper, An Israeli in Palestine , Pluto press 2008).
The recent expropriations in the neighbourhood of Sheikh Jarrah and elsewhere make it increasingly unlikely that East Jerusalem could ever serve as the designated capital of a Palestinian state. The Israeli police is given free hand to harass evicted families and arrest demonstrators who are committed to a non-violent, popular resistance against Israel’s expansionist policy in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem. [5]
In spite of the outcry from members of civil society around the world, the ultra-right government under the leadership of Netanyahu brazenly continues its relentless purge of Palestinians from East Jerusalem and the West Bank. In a recent decision the Israeli Government declared a plan to construct 1600 new housing units in East Jerusalem. The announcement was specially timed to obstruct the evident willingness of the Palestinian Authority to resume halted negotiations with Israel. It attracted a strong public condemnation by US Vice President -Joseph Biden – who referred to Israel’s action as “precisely the kind of step that undermines … the trust we need right now in order to begin profitable negotiations. “[6]
ISRAEL ESCALATES ITS ETHNIC CLEANSING
The Israeli Government’s response to US call and the expressed concerns of human rights activists (including Israeli human rights groups) is a further escalation of its ethnic cleansing strategies. A new military order came into force in April this year which will enable the deportation of hundreds of Palestinians from the West Bank and their indictment on charges that carry prison terms of up to seven years. The new order defines as an infiltrator “anyone who enters the West Bank illegally and does not hold a permit. [7] This order is the latest step by the Israeli government to limit Palestinian freedom of movement and residency by administering a pass and permit system reminiscent of Apartheid South Africa.
In order to stifle any criticism of the state’s undemocratic actions, members of the Israeli parliament tabled a bill this May which, if it became law, would prevent any human rights organisations from being registered. It would close down existing groups if they were found to be passing information “to foreign entities” or were involved in legal proceedings abroad against war crimes of senior Israeli government officials and officers. In a joint statement, Israeli human rights groups declared that the bill would “trample democratic values.” They claimed that the bill is the “direct result of irresponsible leadership that is doing all it can to undermine democratic values and the institutions that are the backbone of a democracy: the Supreme Court, a free press and human rights organisations”.[8]
RE-BRANDING ISRAEL
“Brand Israel” is the new multi- million propaganda project which aims to legitimize Israel’s policies and make them acceptable to people abroad. [9] . In its effort to legitimize the illegal annexation of East Jerusalem the Zionist Federation are hosting a Jerusalem Day celebration in a Hendon synagogue where the Guest Speaker is Benny Begin- an Ultra-right member of the Israeli parliament. The website refers to Benny Begin as a minister of Netanyahu’s inner cabinet who is “a vigorous defendant of Jerusalem as the undivided capital of the Jewish nation and for the rights of Jewish settlement in Yisrael” (the land of Israel). Ironically Jerusalem is the very same city where a Jewish terrorist group headed by a Begin (Benny’s father) planted a bomb at the King David hotel in the Western part of Jerusalem (in 1946) – destroying the hotel and killing 91 people, mainly British Mandate officials. [10]
SILENCE AND INACTION IS NOT AN OPTION
Jerusalem Day is a day of reckoning rather than of celebration. Solidarity groups across the world are committed to non-violent actions in order to remind the international community of the continued plight of the Palestinians. The Boycott Divestment and Sanctions Movement (BDS) appeals to civil society to boycott Israel, including consumer goods and produce, and state-sponsored appearance of politicians, military staff and public figures from the worlds of arts, science, and academia, along with divestment from companies which trade and profit from Israel’s illegal occupation of Palestinian territories.
The BDS movement is gaining momentum in the West. Trade unions, faith organisations, charities, human rights organisations, political parties, civil and municipal bodies and major commercial companies are showing their commitment to boycott and divest from Israel. However, it has to be said that in order to achieve its ultimate aims the BDS movement has to expand across the globe and win active support from Arab and Muslim nations who should use their potential impact in terms of oil production and distribution, and trade and commerce. Arab leaders have to be approached and challenged by their own people and by pro- Palestinian groups in the same manner that Western leaders are being confronted by the BDS movement. Arab regimes , under the umbrella of the Arab League, need to play a greater role in achieving a just resolution to the Palestinian cause rather than remaining disengaged, or implicitly (and explicitly) cooperating with Israel and the US . Disengagement by Arab and Muslim leaders implies support for the status quo.
On Jerusalem Day -the ultimate symbol of the Palestinian dispossession of their home, land, livelihood and heritage – the international community ought to be reminded of the resounding words of Archbishop Desmond Tutu: “If you are neutral in a situation of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor”.
Ruth Tenne’s personal appeal on Jerusalem Day was written in commemoration of a city in which she spent the early 60s as a student – being unaware of the plight of the Palestinians and remaining blind to the many expropriated Palestinian homes which were taken over by Israeli residents in the aftermath of the 1948 war. Ruth confronted her ingrained Zionist heritage in the aftermath of the 1967 “six days war” and became an active supporter of the Palestinian Solidarity Campaign, the BDS movement and Jews for Justice for Palestinians. In this capacity she published a number of articles and book reviews on the issue of the Israeli-Palestine conflict and the BDS campaign in websites and the press such as Middle-East Online , Media Monitors Network,Palestine Chronicle, International Socialism Journal, Socialist Review , Palestine News , the Morning Star and Islamic Times.
Note: The last Friday of Ramadan was also designated ‘Jerusalem Day’ by Ayatullah Khomeini. Hizbullah of Lebanon celebrate this day every year.
1. http.//www.pij.org/details.php?id=646
2. http://en.allexperts.com/e/u/un/united_nations_security_council_resolution_478.htm.
3. http://www.palestinemonitor.org/spip/spip.php?article4
4.http://unispal.un.org/UNISPAL.NSF/0/F3B95E613518A0AC85256EEB00683444
5. http://www.uruknet.info/?p=62641
6.http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE6271YE20100310.
7.http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/8614908.stm
8.http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/apr/29/rights-groups-israeli-bill-military
P U L S E 
I do not believe a word of this propaganda. Ruth Tenne is a fraudulent ally of the Palestinian people. She lived in Jerusalem yet did not lead any protests against the Israelio expansionism there. Now that she is happily living in merry olde England, perhaps she can tells us if she still prays three times a day in the qibla towards Jerusalem as she used to before.