Once again, the issue of Israeli building in Jerusalem is making headlines threatening a full-blown crisis. But just how accurate are those headlines?Settlements are not a consensus issue both within and outside of Israel. However, it is incumbent upon the media to present the facts and the necessary context in order for readers to understand the reality of the situation and to allow for an informed judgment. Unfortunately the media has to a large extent failed.
What is "East Jerusalem"?
According to The Guardian:
The East Jerusalem plans cover almost 980 new homes in Har Homa, 320 in Ramot and 32 in Pisgat Ze'ev, all situated on the Palestinian side of the Green Line.
Meanwhile the Daily Telegraph doesn't even bother to add any geographical reference, merely referring to:
new settler homes in East Jerusalem, captured and later annexed by Israel after the Six Day War of 1967.
McClatchy Newspapers speaks of:
Considering the huge number of foreign journalists actually based in Jerusalem, it is misleading to use catch-all terms such as "settlements" or "Arab East Jerusalem" to refer to the geography of Israel's capital city. The uninformed reader is left with the simplistic notion that Jerusalem is clearly divided down the middle between Jews in the west and Palestinians in the east and that the Israeli building is physically encroaching on Arab neighborhoods.
The reality is quite different. Modern-day Jerusalem is a patchwork of both Jewish, Arab and mixed neighborhoods with no restrictions on Arab residents moving into predominantly Jewish neighborhoods in any part of the city. Indeed, there is an increasing number of Arabs moving into Pisgat Ze'ev, one of the locations included in the building plan.
In fact, the only time that the eastern part of Jerusalem was exclusively Arab was between 1949 and 1967, and that was because Jordan occupied the area and forcibly expelled all the Jews.
All three locations where building is proposed are established Jewish neighborhoods located within Jerusalem's municipal boundaries and are not located on "Arab land". The description of "East" Jerusalem is also something of a misnomer. Ramot and Pisgat Ze'ev, built in the 1970s, are in the north of the city while Har Homa is in the south.
Some media did not refer to "settlements", instead offering a slightly more nuanced description:
- "two neighborhoods in West Bank areas annexed to Jerusalem after the 1967 war" - Washington Post
- "disputed East Jerusalem"; "1,300 more Jewish housing units in East Jerusalem" - LA Times