The town of Al-Ezariya is located to the east of the city of Jerusalem, and it

is only 3 km away from the city center. It has a population of 35,000 people, and it

is adjacent to the city of Jerusalem and was historically part of the city. After the

occupation of the city and the West Bank in 1967 and the annexation of

Jerusalem by the occupation authorities, the town was separated from the city

and became affiliated to the Bethlehem Governorate, which is about 20 km away.

Al-Ezariya town is the status of a first-class municipality according to the

classification of the Palestinian National Authority due to its large population.

The citizen Ibrahim Mahmoud from the town says, “In the past, we used to

walk to Jerusalem, and it is very close. We take our agricultural products and sell

them in the city of Jerusalem, and buy what we need. The town is administratively

located in the Bethlehem governorate, which is about 20 km away, and we have

to cross the Knutiner barrier that separates the north of the West Bank from its

south, and this has increased our suffering in effort and costs.”

With the construction of the separation wall around Jerusalem, the town

was completely separated from Jerusalem, and citizens were no longer able to

enter Jerusalem except with a permit from the Israeli Civil Administration, as is

the case with the rest of the 3 million residents of the West Bank.

The peculiarity of Al-Ezariya is that throughout history it was part of the city

of Jerusalem, as it has special relations with the city on the economic, social and

life levels etc. With this racial isolation, the town is facing great suffering that

casts a shadow over all aspects of life. Citizen Laila Saeed says, "Throughout

history, relations have developed between the residents of our town of Al-Eizariya

and Jerusalem, and this was accompanied by many cases of intermarriage. The

separation of the town from Jerusalem, communication between families was cut

off, which means suffering, there are many families, part of which became in

Jerusalem and the rest in Al-Azariya, this social separation causes suffering in the

ability to communicate. This is an unbearable situation and there is nothing like it

in any country in the world. I cannot visit my sister who is only meters away from

my house because of the separation wall and the separation procedures.”

To the east and adjacent to the town, the extensive settlement project

began with the construction of Ma’ale Adumim settlement in the early 1980s, and

with time, this settlement expanded with other settlements such as Kedar 1 and

Kedar 2, to form a separation and besieging barrier for the town. Confiscating

most of the town’s land in favor of the settlement project and the settlements’

infrastructure through a network of roads and the water and electricity networks

that come with the settlements, which tightened the siege of the town with the

wall and the settlements.

Confiscation of land, reducing the town’s lands, and considering a large part

of it as Area C, in which Palestinians are prohibited from building, led to a state of

great overcrowding in the town. The administrative area of ​​the town before the

occupation in 1967 was about 12 thousand dunams (a dunam is a thousand

square meters). With the confiscation of lands for the benefit of settlement, the

area of ​​the town was reduced to only 3,000 dunams. This means significant

overcrowding in the reality of population growth in the town. In an interview with

Khalil Salem from the town, he said, "It is clear from these confiscations and the

expansion of settlements that the goal behind this is to displace people after

making their lives difficult through the restrictions imposed by the occupation

authorities on citizens to confiscate their land, build settlements, and prevent

urban expansion in the town." This racist policy is practiced by the occupation

authorities in most areas of the West Bank and Jerusalem, and it creates a difficult

life reality in favor of pressure on citizens to emigrate. This policy is more evident

in the city of Jerusalem and its suburbs, as is the case in the town of Al-Eizariya,

the idea followed by the occupation authorities is more settlements and settlers

and few Palestinians.

               

As part of the restrictions on the town, the occupation authorities followed

a policy of demolishing homes and displacing the communities surrounding the

town, such as the village of Jahalin and the Jabal al-Baba community to the east of

the town. This increased the overcrowding and confiscation of lands, and on the

other hand, the confiscation of lands and the construction and expansion of

settlements, as is the case in the settlement of Ma'ale Adumim, located east of

the town. Hundreds of homes have been demolished at various stages in recent

decades and thousands of citizens have been displaced from their lands. The town

was besieged by these settlements and settlement roads that are adjacent to the

homes of citizens, which means a restriction on the movement of development,

construction and expansion in the town, and the effects of this siege on their daily

lives by restricting movement and isolating them from the rest of the West Bank.

The displacement and demolition of homes in the communities of the town

of Al-Eizariya, has led to hundreds of families losing their source of livelihood,

which depends mainly on agriculture and animal husbandry, which led to the

increase of unemployment for thousands of citizens.

What is happening in the town of Al-Ezariya is not unique, as many towns

and villages surrounding Jerusalem are subjected to the same policy by the

occupation authorities, which aims to separate and isolate Palestinian

communities from the city of Jerusalem in order to reduce the Palestinian

presence in favor of the settlement demographic density in the city to make the

settlers a majority and the Palestinians a minority. These racist measures violate

the rules of international humanitarian law and all international conventions, and

violate the rules and norms of human rights.

Written by Ahmad Jaradat – Alternative Information Center – Palestine