| Confidential Report by
the Israeli Ministerial Committee for Jerusalem Affairs
The major section of the
13 page report presents official confirmation of data and criticism for
decades by Israeli mayors and mainstream politicians: “A great number of
[Arab families] suffer from serious economic problems ... the level of
physical infrastructure and social services in the non-Jewish neighborhoods
are ... far below that of the Jewish neighborhoods.” Other major problems
listed are: shortage of housing, roads, the deficient water and sewage
system, and the lack of basic services for children, youths and the elderly.
According to the report, only 13 of the city’s 30 Arab neighborhoods have
zoning plans (which are a precondition for infrastructural improvements).
While the report thus admits
many of the disastrous results of 27 years of Israeli annexation of East
Jerusalem, the authors are not motivated by a new Israeli concern for the
needs of the city’s Palestinian population. “The lack of proper social
services in Jerusalem’s Arab sector has created a vacuum being filled by
Palestinian groups, largely Hamas and Fatah ... Those groups today operate
a wide range of leisure activities, training courses, and community activities.”
In order to eliminate the threat represented by these groups, the report
recommends to the Israeli government to invest approximately US $ 100 mil.
in the improvement of infrastructure and services in East Jerusalem (Jerusalem
Post, 3/11/94; unfortunately this report is not available to the public). |