US Ambassadors Residence in Jerusalem Reveals Prejudice on Future Status of the City

While President Clinton issued a last minute waiver to postpone the transfer of the US Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, the Clinton Administration has edged closer to recognizing Israeli sovereignty in the city with the opening of a second Ambassadorial residence in Jerusalem. Officially, the US has denied that the new residence is related to a change in its policy on Jerusalem, but the US Ambassador, Edward Walker, has already hosted several US Jewish groups at the residence. There are signals from the Clinton Administration and Congress, including comments from US officials requesting anonymity, that more official visits may follow.

The Ambassador's residence is located in the condominium section of the recently completed Hilton Hotel, which was built in the formerly mixed neighborhood of Mamillah, now renamed the "Village of David." Israeli forces depopulated this area, along with other Palestinian neighborhoods west of the Old City, in 1948. Palestinian refugees from these areas have been prevented from returning to their homes and lands, which were subsequently expropriated by the Israeli government. According to Palestinian refugees from the western areas of Jerusalem, the property, owned by the Greek Orthodox Church Patriarchate, was sold to the Israeli government. Palestinians, mong them Greek Orthodox Christians, have demonstrated against and condemned sales of Palestinian property in the past by the church's Greek Patriarch, Diodoros.

Documentation completed by the UN Palestine Conciliation Commission in 1964 lists approximately 80 units of land (ranging in size from one half to four dunums) registered to Palestinians in the urban tax assessment parcel (33) where the Hilton is located. The proposed site for the construction of a US Embassy in Jerusalem is also known to be land expropriated from Palestinian refugees. The Conciliation Commission records show 37 units of land registered to Palestinians in this area (parcel 113).

While the Clinton Administration has taken a clear stand against ethnic cleansing in Kosova and for the right of Kosovar refugees to return to their homes and lands, it is inconceivable that the US government would consider any move which would grant legitimacy to policies of ethnic cleansing in Jerusalem. While Congress has adopted numerous bills over the last several years supporting the right to restitution of peoples in various parts of the world, it should not at the same time support the transfer and construction of an embassy in Jerusalem, which infringes on the Palestinian right to restitution.n
(based on press release by the Lobby for Human Rights in Jerusalem, 10 June 1999)