Shifting realities: dislocating Palestinian Jerusalemites from the capital to the edge

Abstract

Lefebvre's ‘right to the city’ was an expression of a new politics of citizenship, residency and above all the right to urban life. We thus build our argument in this paper on the Lefebvre concept and through the case study of Kufr Aqab, the northernmost neighbourhood of the occupied city of Jerusalem. In order to systematically displace Palestinian Jerusalemites and to achieve the Judaisation of Jerusalem, the right to urban life and any sort of ‘right to the city’ have been completely denied. In fact, through the spatial–demographic policies practised by Israeli authorities, Kufr Aqab has been aggressively excluded from the central area of Jerusalem (by the separation wall and the military border crossing) and progressively ethnically segregated. Kufr Aqab is highly populated by displaced Palestinian Jerusalemites since it is the only alternative that allows them to maintain their Jerusalem residency and their few civic rights. Ongoing unregulated urban development and deliberate informality has rendered Kufr Aqab a space of legal and civic exceptions and an insecure environment suspended within a notion of ‘permanent temporariness’

Reproductive health and rights in East Jerusalem: the effects of militarisation and biopolitics on the experiences of pregnancy and birth of Palestinians living in the Kufr ‘Aqab neighbourhood

“…These findings must be understood within the larger context of population control carried out by Israel against Palestinian-Arab residents of the city. [7][8][9]21,22 Discrimination becomes evident when comparing barriers permanent residents face to privileges and freedoms afforded to Jewish residents of Jerusalem in relation to movement and birth. Participants' awareness of the political context was central to their motivation to overcome barriers to delivering in a hospital located on the other side of the wall.…”

“…This neighbourhood enables Palestinians with Jerusalem ID and WB ID to live together while simultaneously fulfilling "centre of life" policy. 9,10 Biopolitics in East Jerusalem: Politicisation of pregnancy and birth Residents of Kufr 'Aqab with Jerusalem ID face a major obstacle in relation to pregnancy and birth. Israeli discriminatory policies targeting Arab residents of East Jerusalem begin "literally at birth" [ 7 ,p.545].…”

“…The boundaries of East Jerusalem, for example, have been redrawn by the separation wall to exclude highly populated Palestinian areas while including less populated land. 7,9 The "centre of life" policy caused over 14,000 individual residencies to be revoked since 1967, 23 justified by Israel as mostly due to failure of those involved to prove they live within Jerusalem municipality boundaries. According to Jefferis, the L Hamayel et al Reproductive Health Matters 2017;25(S1):S87-S95…”

“…Our study focuses on Kufr 'Aqab neighbourhood that was excluded from East Jerusalem after the construction of the separation wall starting in 2002. 9,10 Since many of the people living there are Jerusalem residents and because the neighbourhood became separated from East Jerusalem, pregnant women must pass checkpoints close to birth time to deliver in a hospital located in Jerusalem. We aim to explore political determinants of RH in East Jerusalem, in particular access to maternal care, through testimonies of mothers and fathers living in Kufr 'Aqab.…”

Enclosures from Below: TheMushaa’in Contemporary Palestine

“…They have been pushed out of more central parts of the city, towards the edges in “residual spaces”, still within the Jerusalem municipal boundary but on the other side of the Separation Wall, which offers a sense of still inhabiting the city and maintaining their Jerusalem residence (as soon as they move into PA areas, they are subject to lose their residency). This is due to numerous spatial and demographic policies, based on ethnicity and imposed on Palestinian Jerusalemites specifically (Alkhalili et al ).…”