Since the 1967 war between Israel and the Arabs, East Jerusalem has been occupied. The inhabitants of the city are Palestinians who are not allowed any kind [singlepic id=235 w=320 h=240 float=right] nationality and are suffering from hard conditions once talking about the community, political and economical situation. The Palestinian residents of the holy city hold Israeli permanent residency and are allowed to participate in the Palestinian presidency and parliament elections. Israel does not recognize them as Israeli citizens and give them traveling document to use instead of passports.

The education situation in the city is bad since many Palestinian children are not given a chance to study under fair and human conditions. Drugs, theft, and community problems are all part of the daily life of the Palestinian resident of the city. The Israeli policy minds any interfering to stop crime and refuses any activity which the Palestinian authority try in order to fix problems which the Palestinians face in the city. In other words, the city is facing a chaotic situation where law is not taking place once talking about community, health service, education and safety. On the other side the Israeli security forces prevent any kind of leadership in the city.

Any Palestinian that appears to be active as a leader is hunted by the Israeli security forces and threatened. The reason is that Israel is not interested in facing any kind of Palestinian leadership in the city. While the Palestinians continue to suffer daily from economical difficulties, community problems and a lack of any kind of freedom of speech or expression, the Israeli governments continue to work in the field to change the picture of the holy city and turn it into a Jewish city. The Israeli plan insists on turning the land to become completely Jewish and pressuring the Palestinians in order to make them leave the city. One example is the Israeli racist separation wall that resulted in separating Palestinian Jerusalemite families from each other.

The Israeli law states that any Palestinian Jerusalemite who lives outside the separating wall borders will lose his permanent residency and is forbidden from entering the city. This resulted in bringing thousands of Palestinians to live in small areas under bad circumstance. It is important to mention that the International Law and community insists on considering East Jerusalem under occupation and this means that the Palestinian Jerusalemites should be treated as people under occupation, given their rights, and assure Human rights.

Although Israel insists on considering itself a democratic and modern state it does not apply any of the mentioned while talking about Palestinians. Instead it establishes special units to follow and hunt Palestinians so they would leave the city and surrender to the Israeli pressure on them.

Ziad Khalil Abu Zayyad

A Palestinian-Arab living in East Jerusalem, Ziad graduated from College Des Freres in Jerusalem in 2003. Ziad finished his major in International Relations and English Literature from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Ziad is a former President of the Watan student movement at the university. He is interested in Middle Eastern political issues and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Founder of the Middle East Post and MEL (Middle East Future Leadership Network), he represents Palestinian youth at several international conferences.

Website - More Posts