March 22, 2009 at 6:56 am
Arab identity under threat
Omar Karmi
JERUSALEM // There is one spot in Jerusalem’s Old City that is particularly illuminating. From there, above the spice market and amid the stone cupolas of the surrounding roofs, the modern layout of the city reveals itself and indicates a possible future.
Below are the markets, traditionally three: one for spices, one for oil and one for clothes. Today, of course, with the exception of the spice market, most are mixed and almost anything is available.
East of here lie the Muslim quarter, the largest and most populous in the Old City, and the Christian quarter. West, and up the hill Jerusalem is built on, lie the Armenian and Jewish quarters. The latter is built atop a superstructure to allow archaeologists to excavate the Roman city that lies at the bottom, metres below today’s city.
With its own municipal development plan in place since 1969, the Jewish quarter and its modern buildings are expanding, out and over the city. Another layer is being added on top of the many below. Jerusalem is changing character, yet again, in the hands of new rulers.
“The Israelis want this city to be a Jewish city,” said Yasser Qous, a guide who runs alternative tours around the Old City. “But the history of Jerusalem is far too complex to narrow it down to one people. The city must remain diverse and open, a spiritual centre for three religions and home to dozens of peoples.”
The drive to preserve Jerusalem’s Arab identity is one of the strategic objectives behind the Arab League’s decision last year to name Jerusalem “Capital of Arab Culture, 2009″. The official opening of the celebration was yesterday, delayed because of the war on Gaza. With no official Palestinian presence in Jerusalem allowed by Israel, Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian president, had to give the opening speech in nearby Bethlehem.
Israel has also expanded its police presence, always strong, in the Old City to prevent any official celebrations from taking place. Avi Dichter, the internal security affairs minister, signed a number of injunctions in recent days, banning a series of cultural events scheduled to take place in the city as part of the celebrations.
Under the interim agreements signed by Israel and the PLO, the Palestinians were allowed only one official presence in Jerusalem, the Orient House, which was shut down by Ariel Sharon’s government in 2001 and has not been allowed to reopen.
Mr Qous, an Old City resident who has been arrested 12 times since he was a teenager, was not surprised that Israel would seek to prevent the cultural events from taking place.
“I think we [Palestinians] need to realise that we have lost the military and political battles. What is left now is the cultural battle. The Israelis realise this and we must, too, before it is too late, before the multilayered history of Jerusalem is buried by an Israeli sovereignty that recognises and explores only Jewish history.”
But before engaging that battle Palestinians need to get their house in order. Two committees were set up to organise events across historic Palestine to mark Jerusalem’s status as capital of Arab culture, one by the PA under Mr Abbas and one by the Hamas government in Gaza.
Ossama al Issawi, the Hamas minister of culture, proposed they work together in the hope that “culture might unite that which politics have divided”. But with unity talks floundering in Cairo, it has not happened, and Hamas will stage its own events in Gaza, the PA in the West Bank, while Israel has banned celebrations in Jerusalem and Nazareth.
Such divisions reflect themselves negatively among the younger generation in Jerusalem who are in danger of losing their identity, Mr Qous said.
“They have Israeli IDs, and most go to schools where they teach an Israeli curriculum that does not teach them about their own history. They are losing their identity and we are forgetting our history.”
The focus, Mr Qous said, should be on sustainable development of different sectors for Jerusalem’s Palestinian residents. He would like to see investment first and foremost to ensure that Palestinians can afford to stay in their houses. Israeli taxation law has made property expensive and Palestinians belong to the poorest sector of Israeli society, and risk eviction if they cannot pay.
He recognises, however, that this could be tricky. First, he said, it would have to be done through private hands, since Israel would not allow any official outside funding for such a purpose. Second, it would be hard to persuade official Arab or Palestinian sources to fund taxation for an Israeli municipality of Jerusalem whose jurisdiction over the Old City and the eastern part is illegal under international law.
“It’s like the issue of voting [in municipal elections]. If you do, you are implicitly recognising an illegitimate authority. If you don’t, you have no voice. It’s complex.”
The population of the Old City is still overwhelmingly Palestinian. Of about 35,000 residents, 92 per cent are either Muslim or Christian. But the Israeli municipality has long been mulling a development plan that seeks to decrease population numbers there in an effort, officials say, to preserve the city.
It is a plan that Mr Qous has nothing but disdain for.
“Everything here is political. The Israelis want Palestinians out to erase Jerusalem’s Arab history. This city is a living city. They want to turn it into a museum, where the only exhibits are the ones they want to show.”
The Arab League’s decision to designate Jerusalem as the capital of Arab culture was partly prompted by such concerns and intended to raise awareness of the matter in the Arab world and among Palestinians.
The PA committee in charge of the celebrations has secured funding for 11 projects in the Old City to rehabilitate and restore cultural centres, community clubs, public theatres and Arab housing.
Critics worry that it is too little too late.
“I do not like seasonal events or celebrations,” said Albert Aghazarian, an Armenian historian and Old City resident. “Jerusalem needs concerted and continued support and development in order to preserve its character. With this [capital of Arab culture], the danger is Arab countries can say in 2008 that they will do something in 2009, and in 2010 that they did something last year.”
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