Jerusalem: Not as free for Palestinians as Israel claims
Palestinian residents of the city endure systematic discrimination.
Despite the fact East Jerusalem remains, under international law, an occupied city, many Israeli officials, including West Jerusalem’s Jewish Mayor Nir Barakat, profess that Jerusalem is a city open for all to live in and move around freely within, including Arabs.
Israel claims even Palestinian residents of the city (who endure systematic discrimination, home evictions, demolitions, land confiscation and other forms of state and non-state duress and oppression) are free to live where ever they please.
But a new report by two Israeli human rights organizations says that the real estate market in Jerusalem is not free and that “80% of lands in Jewish neighbourhoods in Jerusalem cannot be purchased by Palestinians”.
So Palestinians in East Jerusalem whose homes and lands are constantly confiscated, destroyed, demolished or given to Jewish settlers are not even allowed to buy homes in other parts of the cities.
Doesn’t seem to me that Israel’s Jerusalem is as free for all as it likes to claim?