by Nadav Shragai
Hat tip: Dr. Jean-Charles Bensoussan
A new Jerusalem Institute of Strategy and Security report lifts the lid on Palestinian activity that aims to undermine Israeli authority in east Jerusalem, and effectively turn its Arab residents into "citizens" of Ramallah rather than Israel.
The Orient House, a Palestinian national symbol, remains closed
Photo: Lior Mizrahi
The Orient House, a grand estate built in the Bab a-Zahara neighborhood of east Jerusalem in the 19th
century, has been empty for over 17 years. Two days after the deadly
suicide bombing at the Sbarro pizzeria in Jerusalem during the Second
Intifada – on Aug. 11, 2001 – police special forces rappelled down from a
helicopter and raided the building, which was being used as the PLO and
Palestinian Authority's headquarters in Jerusalem. The occupants were
arrested and interrogated. Tens of thousands of documents were
confiscated, and the offices were padlocked.
The villa, which would become a Palestinian
national symbol in Jerusalem, is now locked and barricaded. For years,
orders to keep the Orient House closed have been reissued every six
months. The last such order was signed a few days ago, and Public
Security Minister Gilad Erdan extended it to include other Palestinian
institutions that operate in Jerusalem. But the quiet at the Orient
House is deceptive.
Only a few weeks ago, Israel arrested 32
members of the PA security services, including Adnan Ghaith, who is
called "the governor of Jerusalem." The reason for the arrests: Activity
of governance in east Jerusalem, which is illegal under a 1994 law
which bars the PA from any governmental activity anywhere in the city.
The arrests came after Jerusalem resident Issam Akel was arrested by PA authorities.
Akel, who is also an American citizen, was suspected of helping
transfer property in the Old City to Jewish purchasers, an unforgivable
sin in Palestinian society. He was tried in Ramallah and a PA court
sentenced him to life in prison and hard labor. A few weeks ago, with
U.S. intervention, Akel was released.
In Akel's case, Israel did not make do with
arrests. "Governor" Ghaith, a resident of Silwan – who Israel believes
has taken part in the PA's arrests of Palestinian residents of Israel –
has had his movements restricted. He is not allowed to enter Judea and
Samaria, including territory under PA control. Ghaith has also been
prohibited from meeting with Majid Faraj, head of the Palestinian
General Security Service, a darling of the Israeli security
establishment and one of the architects of Israeli-Palestinian
cooperation on security matters. The security establishment has also
barred the PA's Minister of Jerusalem Affairs Adnan al-Husseini from
traveling abroad. Al-Husseini has also been fingered as a part of the
PA's "government activity" in the capital against Palestinians who sell
land to Jews.
The 'Jerusalem Unit'
But the Ghaith affair and Akel's arrest in
Ramallah are turning out to be only the tip of the iceberg of the PA and
other foreign organizations' activity in Jerusalem. Israel is gradually
lifting the lid on what is going on in the eastern part of the city,
and the pact of silence about that activity appears to be breaking down.
Dr. David Koren, a researcher with the
Jerusalem Institute for Strategy and Security who served as an adviser
to former Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat on east Jerusalem issues, has
discovered that the PA invests 64 million shekels ($17.6 million) in
activity in east Jerusalem. Six million shekels ($1.65 million) goes to
activity by "Governor" Ghaith, and another 58 million shekels ($16
million) to al-Husseini's work. The budget for the office of the
governor includes support for "tsumud" (retaining land) and "remaining
steadfast in the face of the crimes of the Israeli occupation," as well
as "oversight of illegal weapons," – an actual act of governance, in
light of the fact that thousands of weapons are owned without licenses
or permits by residents of the east Jerusalem neighborhoods.
Another item in the governor's budget is
"hosting foreign delegations" – another official diplomatic governmental
act. The budget also covers aid to Palestinian refugees, families of
security prisoners and terrorist martyrs, to the community, and to women
who want to enter the workforce.
In a paper for the JISS, Koren reveals some
of the heaviest expenditures of the minister's office, to whom the
governor answers. These include support for institutions in Jerusalem
that are linked to the PA, many of which Israel has repeatedly tried to
shut down; legal and financial aid to Palestinians who built homes
illegally that are in danger of being demolished; financial aid for
tradesmen; and funding for cultural, social, and sports activities. But
Israel frequently discovers that the PA starts investing in the
community as a response to Israeli attempts to expand services to Arab
neighborhoods.
The PA, Koren explains, has made it a goal
to control as many aspects of the lives of the residents of east
Jerusalem as possible. It actively seeks out donations, both from
international entities like the EU and from Arab countries. That
activity, Israel Hayom is the first to report, is mainly concentrated in
the hands of the Jerusalem Unit in PA President Mahmoud Abbas' office.
The Jerusalem Unit works with the PA's Ministry of Jerusalem Affairs and
the office of Governor Ghaith.
 |
| Dr. David Koren says the PA's goal is to control as many aspects of the lives of the residents of east Jerusalem as possible. |
A green warning light
The PA budget might be small compared to
the Israeli budget – over the past few years Israel has invested
hundreds of millions of shekels in roads, cleaning, education, welfare,
leisure and sports in east Jerusalem – but while the Israeli money is
focused on providing municipal services, the Palestinians are investing
in political consciousness.
Fatah is busy in the east of the city and
operates several sports clubs there. One of the most prominent is the
Mount of Olives club, based in the A-Tur neighborhood, where it is vying
with the city-run neighborhood administration for the hearts of the
local youth. Fatah has integrated its people in PTAs and on community
boards and is behind both rioting and the organization of marches to
commemorate Palestinian events and holidays.
Koren's report for the JISS reveals how the
Northern Branch of the Islamic Movement under Sheikh Raed Salah (who
spent years stirring up trouble on the Temple Mount until his
organization was outlawed in 2015) gets around the ban against it. The
group has been replaced by a nonprofit organization called "The Islamic
Nation's Waqf for Jerusalem and Al-Aqsa," which operates out of Turkey.
The Islamic Nation's Waqf seeks donations from governments,
organizations, and businesspeople. The group locates bank accounts into
which the donations can safely be deposited and then invests the money
in projects in Jerusalem, mainly at the Al-Aqsa compound and Muslim
Quarter of the Old City. In effect, it is another Turkish arm that is
reaching into the Old City and the Temple Mount.
The Turkish activity is prompting
countermeasures by Jordan and Morocco. Just last week, residents of the
Jewish Quarter of the Old City, who regularly park in the quarter's
main parking lot, were amazed to see green lights flashing from the
tower of a mosque at the edge of the quarter that has been abandoned for
years. When Lt. Col. (res.) Baruch Yedid (a former advisor to the IDF's
Central Command on Arab issues) looked into the matter, it turned out
that for months the Jordanian Waqf had secretly been renovating the
mosque. The Al-Quds Committee, headed by King of Morocco Mohammed VI,
helped the project. The project seeks to renovate and reopen six more
defunct mosques in Jerusalem.
The newly renovated mosque, which lies
flush on the border of the Jewish Quarter, is known as the Disi Mosque
or the Olive Oil Mosque. Yedid explains that the mosque's adjacency to
the Armenian Quarter caused concern in Jordan that Turkey, which has
already refurbished over 100 buildings in the Old City, including
mosques, would wind up wresting another Waqf property from Jordan's
hands.
The Al-Quds Committee, Yedid recently wrote
on his Arab affairs blog, is also working to renovate a giant
historical building in the Muslim Quarter, not far from the Temple
Mount, known as Beit Morocco. This, too, he says, appears to be part of a
battle against Turkey forcing its way into the Old City.
Saudi Arabia close to the Mount
The Koren report maps out the various
foreign players who have a finger in the east Jerusalem pie. Many of
them challenge Israeli sovereignty in the capital. Other than the
activity by the PA and the Northern Branch of the Islamic Movement, he
details Hamas' strong grip on neighborhoods in southeast Jerusalem: Zur
Baher, Umm Tuba, Jabal Mukaber, and Umm Lisun. In Jabal Mukaber, for
example, there is an influential PTA, some of whose members were senior
Hamas officials recently released from prison in Israel.
In east Jerusalem and the Temple Mount, and
the Muslim Quarter in particular, Hizb ut-Tahrir (The Party of
Liberation) is active. Hizb ut-Tahrir has already been outlawed by
European countries, but Israel has thus far refrained from doing the
same. Ideologically, it is a twin of Islamic State – a fundamentalist
Islamist movement that aspires to eradicate political structures and
establish international Islamic caliphates in their place. But unlike
ISIS, Hizb ut-Tahrir operates through dawa – the concept of
strengthening religious faith by persuasion and preaching rather than by
violent jihad. However, the organization runs "modesty patrols" in the
east of the city and has acquired influence in a few mosques in the Beit
Zafafa and Beit Hanina neighborhoods.
Besides the Turkish activity, which has
been extensively reported in Israel Hayom, the report unveils growing
attempts by Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates to strengthen
their hold in east Jerusalem. Saudi Arabia recently donated $150 million
to various projects in east Jerusalem, and with the UAE has even
purchased property in the Old City, near the Temple Mount.
Another foreign actor that is investing vast sums in the capital is the EU.
"The EU is involved in funding political
NGOs identified with the left wing of the Israeli political map," Koren
tells Israel Hayom.
The EU funding goes to support position
papers and execute projects in two main areas: questioning Israeli
sovereignty in east Jerusalem while tarnishing Israel and the Jerusalem
Municipality in international public opinion; and promoting civil
projects for the benefit of Palestinian residents of the city, while
battling Israeli authorities on their behalf.
EU involvement is particularly noticeable
in the planning and construction field, in the form of legal advice to
families and organizations that are facing trial for building illegal
homes. But the EU also helps businesses; it is trying to reopen the
Palestinian Board of Trade, which Israel closed down. The board of trade
is now asking to re-launch as the PA's business branch in Jerusalem.
Koren, who currently directs the Education
Ministry's five-point strategic plan for east Jerusalem, describes how
Fatah operatives put heavy pressure on parents who register their
children in schools that offer the Israeli curriculum, hoping to keep
them on the Palestinian matriculation track. He says the PA is also
sowing disinformation about the confiscation of land for projects meant
to benefit the Arab population, such as paving roads. These steps by
Israel are misrepresented as attempts to steal the Palestinians' land
from them.
Koren also discusses the physical assaults
and violent discourse that the PA and its envoys employ against leaders
of Arab neighborhoods who don't even identify as pro-Zionist, but who
work with the Israeli authorities to improve the residents' quality of
life.
A short hop to Syria
About two weeks ago, police raided
Al-Makassed Islamic Charitable Society Hospital in A-Tur. They were
informed that a ceremony hosted by the PA to mark the hospital's 50th anniversary would be taking place and that Governor Ghaith and al-Husseini would both be participating.
Last weekend, police learned that Shadi
al-Matour – identified as one of the leaders of Fatah in Jerusalem – had
gone to Syria with a delegation on behalf of Abbas to discuss the
matter of Syrian refugees. The police wanted to arrest al-Matour so they
could question him as an Israeli citizen who entered an enemy state and
was suspected of contact with an enemy agent. Jerusalem Magistrates'
Court Judge Daniel Dembitz ordered his release, but the police do not
intend to give up and have appealed the decision.
"Overall, we can say that the PA is working
assiduously, aggressively, and violently to prevent the Arab residents
of Jerusalem from acting like residents who implement their rights under
the Israeli authorities," Koren says.
"The PA is unceasingly undermining the
foundations of Jerusalem's unification and seeking to create a de facto
division of the city, in which the Arab residents are linked more
strongly to Ramallah than to Jerusalem," he says.
Koren suggests establishing an
inter-ministerial committee that will work with everyone involved. It
would take action to eradicate illegal activity by the PA and other
foreign entities with particular emphasis on the financial side. He
suggests amending the Implementation Law to constrain the steps the PA
is taking in Jerusalem, and in particular setting up a good Israeli
alternative for the civil services that the foreign groups currently
offer east Jerusalem residents.
Nadav Shragai
Source: http://www.israelhayom.com/2019/02/08/a-different-way-of-dividing-the-city/
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