The JTA is reporting that Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat is coming to the US to drum up support among American Jews for his plans for the city. He hopes to find Jewish "shareholders" for several special economic zones that will focus on culture, life sciences and tourism.
The JTA article doesn't make it clear whether any of these economic zones will be in East Jerusalem. However it is widely known that one of the areas that Barkat wants to "develop" is the Palestinian neighborhood Silwan, which he is currently threatening with a series of home demolitions to force at least 1,000 Palestinians out of the area. Hillary Clinton criticized him for this plan on her last visit to the region. Here is how he is responding to the criticism on his trip:
Barkat, who favors settling Jews in Silwan — several dozen families have moved into the largely Arab area in recent years — rejects such criticism and says the people who live there will be relocated.
“If you have a group of people trying to plan housing in Central Park, what do you think Mayor Bloomberg would do?” Barkat asked rhetorically. “And this park has more importance than Central Park because of its historical significance.”
My guess is that anyone in the US who takes the time to look into Barkat's analogy will figure out how ludicrous it is. But that raises the question – will anyone take the time to figure out what they're investing in?
This site often brings up the issue of how American Jews are implicated in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. This is often thorough their tacit ideological support for Israeli expansionism and militarism, but sometimes it is explicit participation. One example is the new settlement Nof Zion, which is located in the East Jerusalem neighborhood Jabal Al Mukabir, and is being marketed as a luxury destination for diaspora Jews. The website http://www.nofzion.co.il was set up to sell the settlement to American Jews, and gives the contact information for Gita Galbut, the US sales representative based in Miami. The image above (click to enlarge) is from that website. Nof Zion is located between Silwan and Jabal Al Mukabir, severing a crucial point of continuity between Palestinian communities in East Jerusalem. This continuity is essential if East Jerusalem is ever to become the capital of a Palestinian state next to Israel in a two-state solution.
The building of Nof Zion points to the unequal nature of life in Jerusalem between its Jewish and Palestinian residents – realities Barkat is most likely ignoring on his current tour. From Joshua Mitnick's New York Observer article "Luxury Condos for American Jews (in Arab East Jerusalem)":
A newly installed traffic circle starts the descent along a path under construction to upgrade the narrow road to a divided street to accommodate the traffic. Infrastructure in Palestinian neighborhoods in Jerusalem is notoriously underfunded by the municipality, and the lack of street lights or sidewalks make Jabel Mukaber look more like an outlying village than an actual part of the capital.
Though Palestinian residents are grateful for the new road, they say their requests to be hooked up to Nof Zion's sewage system have been turned down, leaving the Palestinians without a sewage system.
They also complain that Nof Zion has received permission to build five- and six-story buildings while they are limited to two stories . . .
The plan to make Nof Zion a gated enclave with 24-hour security stirs worry. "There will be restrictions from one place to another," predicts Ali, the unemployed neighbor of Nof Zion. "In the future there will be gates and guards, and I won't be able to cross."
But Ms. Galbut, the U.S. marketing agent, insisted the restrictions won't put a crimp on the neighbors. Theoretically, the Palestinians from the surrounding areas will have access to Nof Zion's parks if they can tell security guards the name of friends in the development.
According to Galbut there is a lot of interest in the settlement, and it looks from the website that it will be ready for people to move in soon. Its impossible to tell if the investors in Nof Zion know what they're getting involved in, but most articles on the settlements make it clear that it is not geared towards ideological or religious settlers. Rather it is being sold as 5 star accommodations with a view of the Old City. And so it continues.
While Barkat is an advocate for expanding Israeli settlements in Jerusalem, he has been critical of the type of "revitalization" that Nof Zion represents. He feels it benefits rich foreigners at the expense of the poor Jewish residents of Jerusalem. He calls on absentee homeowners to rent their apartments to Jewish university students at subsidized rates, calling it a "a classic win-win.” This is only a "win-win" for the efforts to judaize Jerusalem, whether investors know it or not. In the end, it decimates Jerusalem's Palestinian community and destroys the chance for a viable two-state solution. Is this what American Jews want to be investing in?
Related posts:
- In their own words (End of the two-state solution edition)
- Mearsheimer: only an alliance of American Muslims and Jews can bring about 2-state-solution
- American Jews on Jerusalem: We’ll Probably Never Go There, But Palestinians Can’t Share It!
- American Jews Are/Aren’t Willing to Divide Jerusalem?
- Unending myth of two-state solution has helped to destroy two-state-solution
{ 13 comments }
Excellent post. Thanks.
"Is this what American Jews want to be investing in?"
The short answer, I'm afraid, is Yes. It will take him all of a week to raise the kind of capital he needs.
I wonder how long it will take Hillary Clinton to reverse her criticism.
All that's missing from the cutesy-pie artist's conception is a sign on the park steps reading, 'Dogs and Arabs not allowed.'
But I think we all 'get' that from reading the code words anyhow. Kosher Jim Crow galls my butt, Ms. Galbut.
Very good post, Phil. Fascinating story, but I wonder how many American Jews would really consider this a good investment in the current economic and political climate after Gaza. It's getting harder for the MSM to sweep the bad news under the rug.
Jim, I call that Jim Crownstein.
If he is coming to the US to sell Arab land, then maybe he should be met with some demonstrations, or at least informational picket lines informing his listeners that this real estate could be lost to the Palestinians in a two-state solution.
How many Hollywood stars can we get to picket?
RE: "the new settlement Nof Zion"
ME: LA DOLCE VITA!
I wish I was as good at inserting pictures into my own posts as Adam seems to be. I have never managed to learn the code, though I know it's easy enough in principle, to do anything except just break the text, insert the picture, then resume the text again, each thing beneath the one before. Placing the text around the picture is what I can't yet do.
A little bird told me that each unit comes with its own bridge.
So Palestinians can use parks on their own land if they tell the guard the name of a "friend" who just bought the condo build on their land.
No irony here, then.
I Think it is important to support the mayor of Jerusalem. The only way peace can come is when everyone realizes we must live together and share this undivided city. Dividing the city isn't feasible or desired by most of the population. It hasn't worked in the past so why repeat the same mistake?
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