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DTSTART;TZID=Europe/Moscow:20131112T080000
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SUMMARY:Micha Kurz on “Mobilizing Communities in Occupied Jerusalem”
DESCRIPTION:Micha Kurz\, a co-founder of “Grassroots Jerusalem\,” delivered a CIRSMonthly Dialogue lecture ‎on “Mobilizing Communities in Occupied Jerusalem” on November 12\, 2013. Kurz works to ‎support a Palestinian platform for community-based advocacy in Jerusalem\, putting Jerusalem ‎back on the international map as a Palestinian capital. His lecture focused on the high degree of ‎misinformation regarding the political realities experienced by the increasingly segregated ‎Palestinian communities on the ground. Issues of escalating Palestinian impoverishment are often ‎marginalized\, and the daily suffering sanitized\, under the Israeli political narrative of “security ‎and peace.” Even though Israelis and Palestinians share some of the same physical spaces in the ‎city\, their experiences could not be more dissimilar causing ongoing conflict and tension. \n \n \nIn order to understand the history of Jerusalem\, Kurz said\, it is important to understand the ‎bifurcated histories of conflict. For Israelis\, the modern historical understanding of the tensions ‎starts in 1967 and the discussions of a “two-state solution\,” but for Palestinians this begins much ‎earlier in 1948 with the Naqba\, or catastrophe. In Israeli schools\, teaching a history of the Naqba ‎is practically an illegal topic\, Kurz argued. Thus\, many Israelis as well as communities in the West ‎do not have\, nor often care to have\, a full picture of what is happening on the ground. ‎ \n \n \nIf one goes back further in time\, before there were divisions between Israelis and Palestinians\, ‎there was a Jerusalem that was populated by Jews\, Muslims\, and Christians\, Kurz said. ‎‎Jerusalem was a central city in the region connecting the cities of Bethlehem\, Hebron\, and ‎Be’ar Saba’a in the South\, to Nablus\, Nazareth\, and Tiberius in the North. The city also ‎connected Jericho from the East\, through the oldest trade route in the world\, to the port of Jaffa ‎and the Mediterranean sea in the West. The city wasn’t just a spiritual or religious capital; it was ‎also an economic capital in the region. But Israel has detached the city from its suburbs and the ‎West Bank\, isolating Jerusalem\, and treating it as if it were a city in Europe\, not a capital in the ‎Middle East. ‎ \n \n \nIn an attempt to control demographics\, for the last four decades\, Israeli government policy has ‎been to keep Palestinian parts of the city underdeveloped\, while expanding mass Israeli ‎settlement housing projects—illegally according to international law. While Israeli settlement ‎grew on stolen Palestinian farmlands during the 1970s and 80s\, without the freedom to develop ‎their own neighborhoods\, young Palestinian families had no choice but to move out of town\, and ‎to live in the suburbs. Later\, in the 1990s during what was described as “a step toward Peace\,” ‎checkpoints were constructed limiting Palestinian access to the Central Business District and ‎with it access to the main market\, employment\, healthcare\, and education. Palestinians who were ‎caught at checkpoints or Israeli military house-raids and designated as not living within the ‎Israeli-defined borders of the city have had their “residency” status revoked. These no longer ‎have the right to visit their hometown without an Israeli issued permit. Israel finally severed ‎Jerusalem from its age-old suburbs with the construction of the “separation wall.” The “wall” was ‎built during the period known as “the Bush War on Terror\,” and its presence has often been justified under ‎the rubric of “security.” However\, it has been widely proven by many Israeli sources that this is ‎not the case\, and the “wall” has benefited the Israeli economy by segregating Palestinian cities ‎from one another. ‎ \n \n \nToday\, the Israeli government does not allow the Palestinian Authority jurisdiction in Jerusalem. ‎Without the right to vote in proper government elections\, Palestinian Residents of Jerusalem have ‎not been politically represented for the last four decades. Kurz discussed the divisions and ‎segregations that have occurred; Palestinians living in the suburbs of the city are physically ‎isolated and segregated from their communities and from basic amenities. As a result\, over 5\,000 ‎businesses have shut down over the past decade\, bringing unemployment\, poverty\, and rising ‎tensions to peak levels. The age-old character has been cleansed from Jerusalem together with its ‎Palestinian residents.‎ \n \n \nKurz lamented how “Israel has over time gained control of the land between the Jordan River ‎and the Mediterranean sea\, including the economy\, resources\, and the peoples living in it.” He ‎added later\, “I find it difficult to describe Israel either as a democracy or a Jewish state.” In ‎conclusion\, Kurz questioned how “Many people around the world still discuss a Two-State ‎Solution\, expecting ‘Peace\, Dialogue\, and Coexistence\,’ where I feel we ought to be discussing ‎human rights\, justice\, and leading practical conversations about freedom of movement and ‎development in an important regional capital.” ‎ \n \n \nMicha Kurz was born and raised in Jerusalem. During the second Intifada he learned about the ‎Israeli Occupation of Palestinian land and people first hand as an Israeli soldier. In 2004\, he was ‎a co-founder of “Breaking the Silence” and has since focused his work in Al Quds-Jerusalem\, “a ‎forgotten epicenter of the occupation. “Grassroots Jerusalem” has recently opened the doors to ‎Al Marsa (the Harbor)\, a Political Community Center and Legal Clinic built to counter the threat ‎on freedom of speech and assembly in Jerusalem today.‎ 
URL:https://cirs.qatar.georgetown.edu/event/micha-kurz-mobilizing-communities-occupied-jerusalem/
CATEGORIES:Dialogue Series,Distingushed Lectures,Regional Studies
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