Jerusalem Pulse: Recent Research Roundup

Jerusalem Pulse is a periodic digest of the latest research shedding light on the multifaceted issues surrounding the lives of Palestinians of Jerusalem.

Jerusalem Story has curated a selection of key articles, papers, and reports by researchers and relevant NGOs, both local and international, that offer insight into some of the exceptional challenges faced by the Palestinians of Jerusalem.

This roundup aims to monitor and document trends as they unfold over time and will serve as a vital resource for anyone seeking a deeper understanding of the evolving dynamics, geopolitical developments, socioeconomic trends, human rights concerns, and scholarly analysis concerning the Palestinians of Jerusalem.

In its 86th Flash Update on the “Hostilities in the Gaza Strip and Israel,” published on January 7, 2024, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said that 2023 saw the highest number of settler attacks against Palestinians in any given year since OCHA started recording incidents involving settlers in 2006. The report includes data on violence and casualties, settler violence, displacement, and funding in the West Bank (including East Jerusalem) throughout 2023, with a focus on the incidents that took place following October 7.

Based on OCHA’s data, UNICEF further labeled 2023 as “the deadliest for Palestinians in the West Bank,” with 1,229 recorded incidents of settler violence in the West Bank (including East Jerusalem), resulting in a total of 506 Palestinian casualties at the time of publication.

The Diakonia International Humanitarian Law Centre published an account of events of 2023 titled “Hostilities and Escalating Violence in the oPT,” last updated on December 13, 2023. Drawing on available and verified facts, the account presents an overview of the humanitarian situation of Palestinians across the occupied territories, including the West Bank, where it reports an increase in violence and use of force by Israeli forces against Palestinians, as well as arrests, displacement, and other restrictive measures. As for some of the particular challenges faced in East Jerusalem, the report cites closure and restrictions of movement, as well as the increasing rate of arrests over social media posts.

The Palestine Economic Policy Research Institute (MAS) published its ninth Gaza War Economy brief under the title “Palestinian Economy and Community in Jerusalem Facing Israeli Occupation Mounting Violations.” The brief (January 4) provides an assessment of the repercussions of the war on Gaza on the economic activity in Jerusalem, as well as on the health and education sectors, amidst increasing restrictions on Palestinian Jerusalemites. According to the report’s findings, one of the most urgent challenges to the steadfastness of Jerusalem’s economy is its “reduced ability to ensure a degree of self-reliance,” due to restrictive measures imposed by Israeli authorities, which in turn would increase Palestinians’ reliance on the Israeli economy and labor market.

The Arab Center for the Development of Social Media (7amleh) recently released a report titled “Israel’s Surveillance Industry and Human Rights: Impact on Palestinians and Worldwide.” Published on December 19, 2023, the report delves into the Israeli surveillance systems industry, critically examining its model of state surveillance and corporate profit-making, predicated on the oppression and violation of human rights.

Outlining the effects of Israel’s surveillance practices, the report demonstrates that the industry is built and expanded at the expense of Palestinians, who serve as the subjects for testing and application of these technologies. Some of these effects include the intensive policing and militarization of Palestinian communities, erosion of privacy, expropriation of tech users’ data, and the subjugation of Palestinians to invasive and unregulated surveillance.

In “Settler Colonialism and Digital Tools of Elimination in Palestinian Jerusalem,” which appeared in the Jerusalem Quarterly (Issue 96, Winter 2023), Shahd Qannam and Jamal Abu Eisheh examine how the Israeli security apparatus utilizes digital tools to surveil and control Palestinians in East Jerusalem and beyond. The authors argue that such digital tools serve the Israeli settler-colonial goal of eliminating the native Palestinians. They identify three ways in which digital tools contribute to the elimination of “Palestinianness” in Jerusalem: (1) the tracking, and thus criminalization, of Palestinians’ movements; (2) the production of digital maps that deliberately erase the Palestinian identity of the city; and (3) the use of social media as tools of surveillance and censorship that further erase the Palestinian narrative.

On December 13, 2023, various Palestinian prisoners’ organizations jointly released a special document detailing the myriad crimes and violations perpetrated by the Israeli occupation since October 7, as part of its ongoing arrest campaigns in the West Bank, including Jerusalem. 

The document not only presents statistical data regarding the detained individuals but also illuminates the harsh realities of life inside Israeli occupation prisons, which includes exposure to systematic torture, abuse, and retaliatory measures.

In a comprehensive report addressing the “Unprecedented Advancement of Settlements in East Jerusalem amidst the War in Gaza,” Peace Now detailed the legal and administrative developments surrounding settlement expansion in East Jerusalem over the last two months. The report, published on December 18, 2023, underscored the progression of six proposed settlements against the backdrop of increasing demolitions of Palestinians’ homes in East Jerusalem. The identified settlements are Kidmat Zion, the Lower Aqueduct, Givat HaShaked, the cable car to the Old City, the Armenian Quarter, and Givat Hamatos.

Ir Amim reported on recent developments in regard to the intensified settlement expansion in East Jerusalem since the start of the war. These developments involve a plan to build 1,839 housing units in East Jerusalem. According to Ir Amim, three tenders have been published by the Israel Land Authority for the construction biddings, before formal approval of the outline plans, which is contrary to planning regulations. Two of the tenders are for areas around the French Hill, the land for which lies largely beyond the Green Line (see graphic). The first involves 500 units on 24 dunums of land; the second, 1,039 units on 99 dunums. The third tender for 300 units is in East Talpiot. The report, which was published on December 28, 2023, contextualizes this move as part of the “Israeli government’s exploitation of the circumstances to determine more facts on the ground in an accelerated manner.”

Four human rights organizations (Bimkom, Emek Shaveh, Ir Amim, and Peace Now) jointly issued an alert (December 20, 2023) entitled “Wartime Developments in Old City Basin Carry Grave Implications for Palestinian Rights and the Political Future of Jerusalem.” The report sounds the alarm about measures taken by the Israeli government, under the cover of war, to advance settlements and “erode the binational nature and multireligious character of the Old City of Jerusalem.” Among those measures is Israel’s controversial cable car project which is slated to link West to East Jerusalem, and ultimately release passengers in the hub of Elad’s setter operations in Wadi Hilweh, Silwan. The report mentions that expropriation notices have been issued on behalf of the Jerusalem Municipality to expropriate 12 plots of land around Silwan, along the planned route of the cable car, describing these procedures as “another form of land theft in East Jerusalem.”

This report, a joint effort by MIFTAH and the Women’s Centre for Legal Aid and Counseling (WCLAC), was published on November 28, 2023, and is partly grounded in the documentation presented in MIFTAH’s earlier report. Drawing on evidence-based data and testimonials from Palestinian women recorded by both organizations in 2022, the report utilizes a human rights-based approach that examines the impact of Israeli violations on women and girls in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem.

The report examines settler violence, health rights, forcible transfer, demolitions, and mass transfers, as well as the applicable international laws.

While adopting a gender-specific lens to amplify women’s voices in light of discriminatory policies and practices under occupation, the report situates this discrimination within the broader context of “Israel’s institutionalized regime of systematic oppression and dominance over Palestinians.”

The Palestinian Initiative for the Promotion of Global Dialogue and Democracy (MIFTAH) recently published an analytical report on the “Impact of House Demolitions on Jerusalemite Women and the Health Status of Refugee Women in Jerusalem.” The report relies on documentations by MIFTAH, including questionnaires, testimonies, and field reports focusing on home demolitions and the health status of Palestinian Jerusalemite refugee women in Shu‘fat and Qalandiya refugee camps. 

By analyzing these documented human rights violations, the report brings attention to the disproportionate impact of home demolitions on women, who bear the brunt of household and caregiving responsibilities. It further highlights that Jerusalemite women suffer from a lack of access to quality healthcare, attributing this to Israel’s failure, as the occupying power, to fulfill its obligations vis-à-vis the right to health.

Authored by Mahmud Muna, the essay “Colonial Subjugation, Not Organic Integration: East Jerusalemites and the Delusion of West Jerusalem” appeared in Issue 96 of the Jerusalem Quarterly (Winter 2023), which is published by the Institute for Palestine Studies. The article addresses the distinctive status of Jerusalemites amid the Israeli government’s ongoing efforts to solidify its annexation of East Jerusalem. In this context, the author examines the shrinking relationship between Jerusalemites and their fellow Palestinians in the rest of the West Bank, as a consequence of restricted access. Simultaneously, he observes the emergence of a new connection between Jerusalem’s Palestinians and those living within Israel. By analyzing this transformative dynamic and its political implications for the two-state concept, the author approaches the emerging reality in Jerusalem as a combination of individual pragmatism at the bureaucratic level and a strong collective identity at the cultural and political level. He concludes, “Left alone, the Palestinians in Jerusalem are identifying themselves.”

In the essay “Sheikh Jarrah Issue in the Context of the Palestinian Resistance against the Israeli Occupation: A Game Changer,” Samah Karamah explores the question of how the potential dispossession of the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood impacted the dynamics of the Palestinian issue. The author presents developments of the case of Sheikh Jarrah including its origins, Israel’s ethnic cleansing policies, the Palestinians’ steadfastness, and international responses, both formal and informal. Using both primary and secondary sources, the author develops a “case study that relies on historical and analytical perspectives since it seeks to connect the current developments of the Sheikh Jarrah incident with the historical progression of the Palestinian struggle against Israeli occupation. It also tries to assess these developments to see how they affect the bigger picture.” The article appears in the Journal of Islamicjerusalem Studies 23, no. 2 (2023): 213–38.