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del.icio.us Digg It!  new Last update - 12:00 05/12/2007 Yet another decision about Jerusalem By Nadav Shragai Tags: Jerusalem, Israel, Zionism What happened to the more than 330 decisions on Jerusalem that Israeli governments have made over the past 30 years? With the Annapolis conference behind us and negotiations on Jerusalem in the offing, along with the big dispute over the division of Israel's capital, there seems to be particular interest in a new study by the Jerusalem Institute for Israel Studies, which attempts to answer this question. Reuven Merhav, a former Foreign Ministry director general, and Guy Galili, a research assistant, visited the government archives to find all such decisions from the years 1975-2005. Not surprisingly, they found that alongside the decisions that were implemented, many other decisions that could have changed Jerusalem's status were left to gather dust on the shelves. Who, for example, remembers a series of decisions and budget allocations from the late 1990s, designed to significantly improve the infrastructure in East Jerusalem? Then-prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and then-mayor Ehud Olmert wanted to use these decisions to prove that East Jerusalem was also part of Israel's capital. Little was actually done. Advertisement Demography was a frequent catalyst for decisions aimed at making Jerusalem more attractive to the Jewish population and preventing Jews from leaving the city. Merhav and Galili found, however, that many budgets for industry, tourism and urban renewal were frozen for years. About 10 years ago, the government decided to establish a municipal umbrella council to manage greater Jerusalem, effectively, even if not formally, bringing peripheral communities such as Ma'aleh Adumim and Givat Ze'ev inside the city's boundaries. Theoretically an administrative decision, this bore vast diplomatic significance, but never was implemented. The record-holder for decisions on Jerusalem was the first government led by the late Menachem Begin, which served from 1977 to August 1981. It made 74 such decisions, averaging 17.5 a year. The second Likud-led government (August 1981-October 1983) made fewer decisions on Jerusalem than any other government during the period examined, averaging only five per year. Even so, numbers are no indication of content, importance or implementation. In order to analyze the 330 decisions, Merhav and Galili divided them into sub-categories: declarative decisions; decisions on the status of Jerusalem; decisions on the Old City and East Jerusalem; decisions on land development, construction, industry, financial incentives, tourism, education, culture and welfare; and decisions on security matters. The most decisions in any category - 122 - concerned development, land use, construction and incentives. Another 97 decisions addressed the status of Jerusalem. These hovered between being declarative and having a practical impact, such as transferring budgets or setting clear objectives. Several decisions in this category concerned the transfer of government offices to Jerusalem. These ostensibly could have affected hundreds of employees, who would then live in Jerusalem, strengthen the population and improve the Jewish side of the demographic balance, but Merhav and Galili call these decisions a "continuing saga." In January 1977, for example, the government decided to bring all national ministry offices to Jerusalem. In late 1977 and early 1978, the Begin government demanded a timetable for the move, which would include shutting down Hebrew University dormitories in order to turn them into offices. Students are still living there to this day. In February 1983 the second Begin government voted to act immediately to implement previous decisions on transferring national government ministries and government company offices to Jerusalem. In 1997 Netanyahu's government made similar decisions, even extending them to include the offices of the Israel Defense Forces and the security establishment. In 2005, the defense minister declared he intended to move several military academies to Jerusalem. Little was done in this regard. Brigadier General Gershon Hacohen, now commander of the military academies, is promoting this decision. Asaf Vitman, director general of the Jerusalem Development Authority, says that from his experience, these kinds of decisions must be accompanied by a plan for implementation and oversight. Otherwise, they often remain only on paper. Vitman believes that the key to making these decisions a reality lies in understandings with workers' committees. Merhav and Galili say they found a consistent tendency throughout the political spectrum toward strengthening Jerusalem. The two researchers mention the establishment of the Jerusalem Education Authority and the Jerusalem Development Authority as examples of actions that positively impacted the city. On the other hand, they also cite the frequent changes in government as problematic for promoting long-term plans. This observation is supported by the numbers. "Since 1975 there have been 21 ministerial committees, directors general and representatives who focused on one issue: Jerusalem. These committees were assembled, dissolved and reconvened, in many cases due to political or coalitionary needs to provide jobs. Such committees were often established to address the very same issues, time after time," the researchers state. The story of the office of the Jerusalem affairs minister is one example among many. Jerusalem is the only city that has a government ministry established to deal with its interests. The ministry was first established in November 1990 (under the government of Yitzhak Shamir), and its role was defined as coordinating and promoting the development of Jerusalem. The ministry was granted a NIS 3 million budget. Less than two years later, when the late Yitzhak Rabin was prime minister, he did away with the ministry. Eight years later it was reestablished under Ariel Sharon. Today the minister in charge of Jerusalem affairs is Pensioners Affairs Minister Rafi Eitan. Throughout the history of this ministry, its head has functioned only as a coordinating official, and has had no operational authority or substantive operating budget. Jerusalem today has two main populations: ultra-Orthodox Jews and Arabs, who together form a majority that some call "non-Zionist." According to the Central Bureau of Statistics, about one-third of Jerusalem families live below the poverty line. Half of Jerusalem's children are considered poor. Only 45 percent of adults participate in the labor force, below the national average of 55 percent and Tel Aviv's 66 percent. In addition, 50 percent of workers in Jerusalem are employed in the public service, where average wages are low. The number of wage earners is also low, and they are responsible for sustaining large families. This problematic situation ties the fate of the city to the government's policies and decisions. The government passed the Basic Law on Jerusalem, the Capital of Israel, and determined that Jerusalem is the seat of the president, the Knesset, the administration and the Supreme Court. This law also stipulates the holy sites must be protected and states that Jerusalem is eligible for a development grant. Even so, the new JIIS study, to be published in a book summarizing 40 years in the capital since the Six-Day War, shows that the words, the grandiloquent proclamations and the declarations of loyalty to the city and its residents are one thing, while reality and everyday life are entirely another. Bookmark to del.icio.us Hostile environment Arab states reject a proposed UN environment center due to inclusion of Israel. Poverty report A study shows the number of poor asking for food has doubled in the last 5 years.   1.   But the ethnic cleansing on the east side goes on 21:17  |  Charlie 05/12/07   2.   Sure, when Moshiach comes! 00:02  |  Realist 06/12/07

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