Commemorating the Palestinian Nakba at 66,
we are sharing — attached — the Fact Sheet entitled:
From Diversity to Racial Segregation and Domination:
Palestinians in Jerusalem (1948 – present)
(Civic Coalition for Palestinian Rights in Jerusalem, 15 May 2014)
This fact sheet revisits the experience of Palestinians in Jerusalem (West and East) since 1948 until the present, including available quantitative data, illustrative examples, legal analysis, and references and links to relevant resources.
It begins with the Jerusalem that was lost as a result of the Nakba: it reminds of the fact that – despite considerable inter-communal conflicts due to Zionist colonization and British Mandate policies – Jerusalem was a cosmopolitan city until 1948, shaped by ethnic diversity and the coexistence of diverse religious and secular trends, and with considerable social mobility, in particular for Palestinians in the western neighborhoods and villages.
The fact sheet shows how the comprehensive ethnic cleansing of the city’s western Palestinian neighborhoods and villages by Israel in 1948 resulted in the establishment of Jewish-Israeli West Jerusalem and the division of the city along racial lines. It also outlines the steps whereby Israel, based on the occupation and illegal annexation of the eastern parts of the city in 1967, has expanded its regime of racial segregation and domination into occupied East Jerusalem and the adjacent West Bank.
The final section provides an overview of the consequences and effects of this Israeli regime in occupied East Jerusalem for Palestinians. It shows, among other, that East Jerusalem's Palestinian population today is a population of multiply displaced persons, and that Palestinians have been subjected since 1967 to systematic and severe deprivation of human rights and forced transfer, mainly:
- Deprivation of land, homes and heritage,including home demolitions and forced evictions;
- Deprivation of civil status and rights as nationals in their city, including revocation of residency rights, exclusion from legal status and access, and forced separation of Palestinian families;
- Deprivation of adequate public services, including housing, education and health; and,
- Persecution for resisting De-Palestinization.
With these Israeli policies and practices continuing since the Nakba 66 years ago, the fact sheet emphasizes that persecution of Palestinians through systematic and severe deprivation of human rights, as well as forced transfer, are serious violations of international humanitarian and human rights law, in addition to the Israeli annexation, Wall and settlement enterprise in occupied East Jerusalem. Carried out with the intention to maintain and expand Jewish-Israeli domination, they are indicative of a system of colonialism and apartheid.