INTRODUCTION

Jerusalem is one of the most important components, and arguably even the most important component, of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict due to its religious importance for the three major monotheistic religions. Each faith endeavors to stamp its religious identity on Jerusalem. Consequently, the issue of Jerusalem has become complicated, especially following Israel’s occupation of the eastern part of the city in 1967. Political changes wrought by Israel’s occupation and ensuing annexation of the city have impacted the presence and identity of the Christian community adversely. These political changes continue to intensify the Christian community’s struggle to maintain its presence in Jerusalem. This factsheet presents several political and economic issues that have directly, and negatively, impacted the Christian community in Jerusalem.

Political issues

The Israeli occupation of Jerusalem. In 1948 when the State of Israel was created, Israel took control of the western parts of Jerusalem and subsequently deemed the city as Israel’s capital, a move not recognized by the international community. Jerusalem Palestinians remained in the eastern parts of the city although East Jerusalem and the West Bank were then under the control of Jordan, which annexed the territory in a move that also was not recognized by the international community at the time. Between 1948 and 1967 Jerusalem’s eastern and western parts thus were physically partitioned. On June 27, 1967, following the Six Day War, Israel extended its legal and administrative jurisdiction to all of Jerusalem including the East, West and the Old City of Jerusalem by expanding the city’s municipal borders, effectively annexing these newly occupied areas, and applying Israeli law to this unilaterally declared expanded municipal area. Israel’s occupation of Jerusalem and its ensuing actions created a multitude of issues for the Christian community in Jerusalem as part of the Palestinian nation: 1. Demographic problems: Israeli officials and law makers agreed on the importance of preserving a Jewish majority within the expanded boundaries of Jerusalem as part of the struggle against Palestinian influence and control in East Jerusalem. Israel translated its plan to preserve a Jewish majority within the boundaries of Jerusalem by mandating, and working to preserve, a 76:24 (Israeli: Palestinian) demographic ratio in Jerusalem. To accomplish this ratio, the Israeli government encouraged Israeli Jewish immigration into the city through the restoration and expansion of the Jewish Quarter and the provision of quality housing, jobs, and services for Jewish Israelis who moved into the Old City of Jerusalem. Much of the new Jewish housing was located in the eastern and Palestinian part of the city, without any reciprocal arrangement for locating any Palestinian housing in the western side of the city that Israel conquered in 1948. At the same time, the government devised an array of legal measures to restrict new construction and expansion by the Palestinian population of Jerusalem.1 Israel also began the construction of Jewish settlements and extensive supporting infrastructure in occupied and Israeli annexed East Jerusalem, settlements that today, after more than half a century of inexorable creeping expansion, form two rings around the entire northern, eastern, and southern perimeters of the city. The first, inner, settlement ring consists of ten settlements in Palestinian East Jerusalem that isolate East Jerusalem from its West Bank hinterland. The second, outer, ring consists of 20 settlements that split the West Bank into northern and southern halves. read more...