in reality, ultimately aiming at restricting Palestinian use and access to lands in east Jerusalem. 1. Zoning and Planning The Planning and Building Law of 1965, which applies to east Jerusalem, prohibits building permits for areas not zoned for construction or lacking a planning scheme.108 Since no Local Town Planning Scheme for Jerusalem was approved by Israel, it is impossible to obtain a permit. Consequently, tens of thousands of individuals have no legal building option: 28 percent of Palestinian homes in east Jerusalem are built without a permit,109 making this part of the city twice as crowded as its Western part. Following the 1967 War, over a third of east Jerusalem’s total area was confiscated and used to build 40,000 housing units for the Jewish population exclusively, while no single unit was built for the Palestinian population. The Jordanian planning schemes applicable prior 1967 were unauthorized and no alternative plans put forward until 1983.110 Israel’s obsession with the demographic “balance” in Jerusalem led to a plethora of restrictive and burdensome planning procedures.111 In fact, only 13 percent of east Jerusalem is allowed for building (and 9 percent for residential buildings) by Israeli zoning policy, most of which is already built up and even if it were not, it would not be sufficient to cover the population’s housing needs.112 Unveiled in September 2004, the “Jerusalem Master Plan 2000” zoned areas intended for specific functions such as residency, urban building, transportation 108 The Civic Coalition for Defending Palestinian Rights in Jerusalem, Aggressive Urbanism: Urban Planning and the Displacement of Palestinians Within and from Occupied East Jerusalem, 2009, 17, Available at: https://rete-eco.it/2012/attachments/article/38254/ Aggressive%20Urbanism%20Report.pdf 109 OCHA oPt, The Planning Crisis in East Jerusalem: Understanding the Phenomenon of Illegal Construction, 2009, 12, Available at: https://www.ochaopt.org/sites/default/files/ ocha_opt_planning_crisis_east_jerusalem_april_2009_english.pdf [Hereinafter: OCHA oPt, The Planning Crisis in East Jerusalem]. 110 BADIL, Israeli Land Grab and Forced Population Transfer of Palestinians, 105. 111 BADIL, Israeli Land Grab and Forced Population Transfer of Palestinians, 106. 112 OCHA oPt, The Planning Crisis in East Jerusalem, 18. 27