Ten years after Israel’s government pledged in the Supreme Court that it would take care of the Jerusalem residents on “wrong” side of the separation barrier following its construction, the situation has deteriorated dramatically. Garbage lies uncollected on the streets, infrastructure has collapsed and the neglect and isolation has turned these neighborhoods into a kind of “no man’s land.” The Association for Civil Rights (ACRI) in Israel sent an urgent plea to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu demanding that the government fulfill its obligations and stave off the neighborhoods’ continued degradation.

In July 2005, the government of Israel passed Government Decision # 3783 that sought to implement a set of arrangements that would enable the continuation of normal life for residents of occupied Jerusalem neighborhoods that were left on the far side of the barrier. The decision obliged a range of government ministries, as well as the Jerusalem Municipality, to develop services in these neighborhoods including health, education, welfare, employment and postal services. According to ACRI “In the decade that has passed since this decision, the vast majority of commitments have gone unfulfilled and there is currently no government plan to realize them.”

The residents of the Kafr ‘Aqab and Semiramis, Ras Khamis, Ras Shehada, Dahiyat al-Salam, and the Shuafat Refugee Camp, homes to tens of thousands of Jerusalem residents, suffer daily violations of their basic rights. Authorities refuse to take responsibility for their welfare and residents’ repeated requests to the municipality and other official bodies go unanswered. Residents are forced to raise money on their own to take care of basic issues like paving roads, filling potholes, and establishing schools and kindergartens.

Related:

ACRI posting: Ten Years of Unfulfilled Promises in East Jerusalem