The Case of East Jerusalem Cultural Events and Activities in East Jerusalem: On 24 October 2010, a draft law was unanimously approved by the Knesset’s Ministerial Committee on Legislative Affairs to make the Judaization of Jerusalem “a Jewish national priority area of the first order.”350 Some of the efforts to ‘de-Palestinianize’ Jerusalem take the form of constant policing of Palestinian cultural events and activities. For example, East Jerusalem was chosen to be the Arab Capital of Culture for 2009 as part of UNESCO’s Cultural Capitals Program.351 Instead of respecting this celebration of international importance which occurred outside its recognized borders, the Israeli army reported that municipal police and border guards were being deployed in East Jerusalem and surrounding villages to stop “any event related to the festival from taking place.”352 Actions taken by the Israeli security forces included; shutting down a soccer game and a gathering of young girls, blocking a group of students with Palestinian flags from reaching the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound, confiscating a torch brought from Syria for the opening ceremony, and dispersing crowds in locations throughout the city.353 The official justification for these actions was that any events in some way organized or funded by the Palestinian Authority (PA) are illegal within Israeli sovereign jurisdiction, despite the fact that East Jerusalem is internationally recognized as occupied territory.354 Israeli police have also used allegations of PA sponsorship to shut down events even when their organizers attest to their independence, including a children’s puppet show in a Palestinian theatre in East Jerusalem,355 and the Palestinian Literature Festival which was supported by the British Council and 350 CCPRJ, Alternative Report on Israel to the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights 47th session, 14 November – 2 December 2011. Available at: http://www.civiccoalition-jerusalem.org/ uploads/9/3/6/8/93682182/escr_alternative_report_nov_-_dec_2011_47th_session.pdf 351 Randa Abu Shakra, Celebrating Jerusalem as the capital of Arab culture, Menassat, 26 January 2009. Available at: http://www.menassat.com/?q=en/news-articles/5863-celebrating-jerusalem-capitalarab-culture 352 Philip Weiss, Arab festival shut down in Jerusalem amid fears of suppression of cultural identity, Mondoweiss, 20 March 2009. Available at: http://mondoweiss.net/2009/03/the-israeli-policeaccording-to-a-report-in-the-israeli-daily-haaretz-have-pledged-to-prevent-the-al-quds-arabcultural/ 353 Reuters, Jonathan Lis and Jack Khoury, Police Disperse ‘Palestinian Culture Festival’ Events, Haaretz, 20 March 2009. Available at: http://www.haaretz.com/news/police-disperse-palestinian-culturefestival-events-1.272577 354 Ibid. 355 Harriet Sherwood, Israel stops children’s puppet theatre show over PA link, The Guardian, 24 June 2013. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/jun/24/israel-cancels-puppet-showjerusalem 96