Judaizing the holy land of Jerusalem and the confiscation of the Palestinian land

By Muhammad Abu Hamdiyeh (8^th Grade), and Muhammad Adeeb Ulayyan (9^th Grade), Jerusalem

Israel has been putting every effort to control Jerusalem and change its features since its occupation to the city of Jerusalem in 1967, by that Israel’s goal is to end the Arab presence in the city by turning it into a Judaism one. To reach its goal, Israel had used a variety of actions and procedures against the city and its citizens, while settlements had been the major procedure followed to empty the city of Jerusalem from its Arab citizens and to control the land around the city.

The Land Research Center declares the presence of 29 settlements in Jerusalem, 14 of those are located in East Jerusalem, and are spread in condensed circles like residents that surround the city and its neighborhoods, additionally, the size of the municipal (based in West Jerusalem) had been expanded by taking over 72 square kilometers of land under legal decision for the expansion which were later used for settlements construction like in the case of “Abu Ghneim’s Mountain”

Lately, the Israeli authorities have declared the expansion of the city of Jerusalem from the East and North, whereby they declared the settlement of Maaleh Adomim which includes around 20 thousand residents and that is located in the East of the city as a main settlement in the Eastern part of Jerusalem in addition to other military settlements around it such as: (Ghitot, Kedar, Kevaat Benyamin and Meshor Adomim) from the East and (Kokav Yacoub, Zeev and Kevat Hadasha) from the North. This act doubled the number of settlers in the city and declined the number of Palestinian Arabs who formulate 1/3 of the population around (220) thousand compared to (380) thousand settlers added with the new city expansion. Taking into consideration; the number of settlers in East Jerusalem is equal to that of the settlers all over the West Bank (80) thousand

The authorities have further enhanced the closure on the city by building the discrimination Wall and installing check points on the roads that lead to the city, which lead to separating the people from their families and land.

Israel has imposed arbitrary policies for the execution of the city’s congress men and x-ministers in the 10th government and who are still standing against all the occupation’s policies and suppressive practices

Judaizing Jerusalem means Judaizing the city’s features, including its Islamic history and transforming it into Judaism. Israel considers its Judaizing acts as legal rights that it can defend. However, the objective of Israel’s Judaizing acts is to make Jerusalem Jewish, and take it by force, by obtaining its houses, historical monuments and places used by Zionists

On the other hand, the tunnels that are being constructed under Al Aqsa mosque and other locations have a supporting objective to the previous acts, the goal is to destroy the mosque, and a part of this plan had been accomplished, the suspected temple, confiscation of houses, attacking Jerusalemites that reside next to Israelis. Also, one of the most indicative violations practiced against the people of Jerusalem was the building of the discrimination wall which aims at separating the people of Jerusalem from their families in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, in addition to the prevention of the West bankers from reaching to Jerusalem and defending it

Furthermore, the objection for issuing permission for the construction of any house construction by Jerusalemites, whereas settles construct massive settlements inside and outside the city

All those actions aim at restricting and oppressing the people of Jerusalem, and therefore, Palestinians in general and the people of Jerusalem in specific have to defend the city and prevent the Israelis from accomplishing their plans by having peaceful demonstrations and visit Jerusalem more often, and learn more and more about the city in order to free it not for anybody’s sake but for the benefit of Jerusalem itself

The city of Jerusalem is beautiful and nice; however, the Israelies have interfered in its presence with the goal of transforming it into a Jewish city following different steps based on a set plan. The Jews buy land in Jerusalem, distribute it among them by taking over the most beautiful lands and the big ones, and to make their pieces even bigger, they even confiscate Palestinian lands and reside it with Jews so they could expand their land. However, The Jews also force Palestinians to immigrate, and that is the reason behind setting check points and settlements, confiscating Palestinian land, they also use the check points to torture Palestinians and imprison them to prevent them from revolting against their actions

To make the Palestinians immigrate, Israel has to take control over the water and food, so it does control our water and prevent us from using it, which drives us to immigrate. Our land turns dry while theirs flourishes. Additionally, they impose high taxes on the Palestinians which people cannot afford to buy, and instead the Jews buy the Palestinian land, and gets between the Palestinians, and if any fight arises between a Jew and a Palestinian, the Palestinian will be tortured and imprisoned while nothing would happen to the Jewish because they discriminate, and the main proof of that is the discrimination wall that they built around the city to separate between Palestinians and Jews. Additionally, they even try to demolish Al Aqsa mosque and erase the Palestinian history, but we will never leave, we will defend our land and we believe in God who will make us win over them