Thousands in East Jerusalem caught in planning trap, with critics accusing officials of using heritage and tourism to pave way for settler land
JERUSALEM, Israel - On the planning map of Jerusalem, the aerial view of Aref Totanji’s home is obscured by green ink, part of a swath of colour besieging the walls of the Old City on every side.
Over the past decade, these coloured zones have spread over the map of East Jerusalem, creating a patchwork that engulfs ever more Palestinian neighbourhoods close to the Old City.
The green ink may look innocuous on paper, but for 50-year-old Totanji it signals the impending arrival of bulldozers to demolish his one-storey house, leaving the family of 16 - including a seven-month-old granddaughter - homeless.
As Israeli authorities declare “national parks” over residential areas, thousands of Palestinians living in overcrowded neighbourhoods close by Jerusalem’s Old City are being trapped in a similar planning nightmare.
Planners and human-rights group accuse the Israeli authorities of increasingly using such parks as a tool to grab control of Palestinian land and demolish homes, under the guise of archaeological preservation and tourism development.
Clearing a path for the ‘Bible Trail’
Some 13 other families live alongside Totanji in the Sawaneh district, next to the Palestinian neighbourhood of Wadi al-Joz. They discovered only two years ago that they were living in the Jerusalem City Walls Park, even though it was officially established four decades ago.
It was the first park to be declared after Israel occupied East Jerusalem, in violation of international law, in 1967.
But only in the past year have the residents noticed Israeli officials taking any interest in their neighbourhood. Regular surveys have been carried out and inspectors have issued clean-up orders.
Totanji’s neighbours, Nureddin and Sharif Amro - two brothers who are blind - had parts of their homes demolished last year, including a kitchen, sitting area, garden wall, and chicken coop. Electricity cables and sewage pipes were also damaged.
All the families have been warned that they are in the way of a planned “Bible Trail”, running along the eastern edge of the Jerusalem City Walls ParkThe land on which the homes is built is privately owned by two Palestinian families.
No suggestion has been made that there are archaeological remains, under either the homes in Sawaneh or in a large green space close by that also falls within the national park.
The families suspect that the authorities may be targeting their area now because it includes the last large parking space within walking distance of the Old City. The space is used by coaches that bring thousands of Palestinians to pray at the al-Aqsa mosque on Fridays.
Nureddin Amro, principal of a school for the blind in Jerusalem, said the Parks Authority appeared to be more interested in developing what he termed “settler tourism” at Sawaneh.
“The authorities are preparing to create a network of paths and tourism centres here to connect between the settlements and the Old City,” he said. “The settlers are keen to get this area.”
He noted that extremist settler groups had expressed a desire to destroy the al-Aqsa mosque, inside the Old City, and replace it with a Jewish temple.
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