Jerusalem between the present and future A lecture held by the Institute of Community and Public Health at BZU
The Institute of Community and Public Health at BZU held on 24 March 2011, a lecture entitled "Jerusalem between the present and future", delivered by Professor of History at BZU, Dr. Nazmi Al-Jubeh. This lecture is the tenth of the annual series of public lectures organized by the Institute.
Dr. Jubeh asserted that the city of Jerusalem is not lost and still remains, as many people believe, supporting his argument with statistical data, in terms of 300,000 Palestinians are still living in Jerusalem.
Dr. Jubeh explained that what the Israelis are trying to do is to impose their presence in Jerusalem by turning their relations into a relations of dominance of Jerusalem, adding that this has led to an increase in the vicious attacks on Jerusalem, especially in the recent period.
At a later stage, Dr. Jubeh overviewed the history of Jerusalem by using a set of maps and illustrations,, where he started from the Ottoman period, passing through the British Mandate, and moved to 1948.
He pointed to the settlements in Jerusalem, saying: that there are three central stages of settlements: the settlement in order to separate Jerusalem from the rest of the West Bank, development of settlements in the empty areas in Jerusalem, and settlements inside Arab neighborhoods in Jerusalem, aiming to settle inside Arab homes with more restrictions on the Palestinians to make them leave Jerusalem.
He added that these Israeli policies have narrowed the space available for housing in Jerusalem to become the narrowest since 120 years, despite the fact that naturally it should be the opposite. This has led to transforming the majority of neighborhoods into poor neighborhoods, where many problems have accumulated, in which the highest percentage of drug addiction , the highest rate of domestic violence, and the highest drop-out rate from schools.
At the end of the lecture, Dr. Jubeh pointed out that the comprehensive Israeli plan is the "Buraq scheme" to change the area of the Wailing Wall, and to add a new Israeli identity for the region. But there is little hope in light of the presence of 36,000 Palestinians in the old city of Jerusalem versus 4000 Jews
