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Photo: Mahmoud Illean / Associated Press
A trader is waiting for his clients on July 11 in the Muslim neighborhood of the old town of Jerusa
lem. Palestinians are skeptical about Israel's half-billion-dollar project to develop East Jerusalem
A trader is waiting for his clients on July 11 in the Muslim neighborhood of the old city of Jerusa.
lem. Palestinians are skeptical about a half-billion-dollar Israeli plan to develop East Jerusalem.
Photo: Mahmoud Illean / Associated Press
East Jerusalem plan raises fear of Arab residents
JERUSALEM – Israeli half-billion dollar project to develop Palestinian areas in East Jerusalem and lift people out of poverty receives a warm welcome Israel hopes the program will improve living conditions in impoverished Palestinian neighborhoods and allow residents to access Israel's robust economy. But the long neglected Palestinian community in the city sees the project with deep skepticism and mistrust, fearing that this will be a way to consolidate Israel's control over the eastern sector after more than 50 years of occupation. . Said Ziad Hammoury, who heads the Jerusalem Center for Social and Economic Rights, an advocacy group. "It's more and more controlling in East Jerusalem."
The "Leading Change" program, opened in May, aims to reduce the huge social gaps between Palestinian neighborhoods and the western part of the city. After years of neglect, Palestinian neighborhoods suffer from poor infrastructure and poor public services, and nearly 80 percent of Palestinian families in the city live in poverty.
The program will invest 2 billion shekels, or $ 560 million Palestinian women enter the labor market. The money will be spent on a variety of programs over five years in order to attract other government and private investments.
The program was instituted by the nationalist government of Israel. He opposes any division of the city but seems to have concluded that the strengthening of the Palestinian areas of Jerusalem is also in the interest of Israel.
"All who truly believe in a unified Jerusalem and aspire to full sovereignty must act with determination and take responsibility for developing the infrastructure of the other," said Zeev Elkin, the Minister of Jerusalem Affairs. Elkin's ministry should play a leading role in the implementation of the program.
Israel captured East Jerusalem in the 1967 Middle East War and annexed it in a movement that is not internationally recognized. Israel considers East Jerusalem as an indivisible part of its capital, while Palestinians seek the region as the capital of a future state.
Tia Goldenberg is an author of the Associated Press.
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