Discriminatory Zoning and Planning
in East Jerusalem
In June 1967, Israel annexed 70.5 km² of the occupied areas in and around
Jerusalem. This unilateral act, contradictory to international law, meant the
confiscation of a third of the area of East Jerusalem.101 These parts were
added to the municipal areas of Jerusalem under Israeli rule, which applied
the administration, law and jurisdiction of Israel. However, Israel annexed
the land without its people: even though the Palestinian population of East
Jerusalem was granted the status of ‘permanent residents in Israel’, they
were not granted citizenship.102
After the 1967 occupation of the West Bank (including East Jerusalem), Israel
adopted a policy of systematic and deliberate inequity against the Palestinian
population of Jerusalem in all matters relating to land expropriation, planning
and building. For example, in order to curb the authorization of building
permits for areas not zoned for construction or which lack planning schemes,
Israel applied the Planning and Building Law of 1965.103 This law is still applied
and demonstrates a considerably discriminatory application as, for example,
between 1996 and 2001, 82% of the recorded building violations were located
in the western part of the city while 80% of the administrative demolition
orders concerned construction violations were in the eastern part of the city.104
As another example of such discrimination, Palestinians can build maximum
three floors, while in the western part Jewish-Israeli are allowed to build up
to 300% or more.105
Jerusalem Municipality presents Master Plan 2000 as a tool to outline the
city’s development in the next decades, ensuring the urban quality of life to all
101 BADIL Resource Center for Palestinian Residency and Refugee Rights, Israeli Land Grab and Forced
Population Transfer of Palestinians, A Handbook for Vulnerable Individuals and Communities, 7.
102 Khamaisi, “Barriers in Achieving Urban Planning Rights in Jerusalem’s Socio-Cultural Conflict,” 7.
103 BADIL Resource Center for Palestinian Residency and Refugee Rights, Israeli Land Grab and Forced
Population Transfer of Palestinians, A Handbook for Vulnerable Individuals and Communities, 106.
104 Nathan Marom for Bimkom and Ir Amim, The Planning Deadlock, 4.
105 Khalil Tufakije, , the head of the Mapping and Geographic Information Systems Department of the
Arab Studies Society in Jerusalem. Interview, 30 October 2014.
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