Israel is using tourism and infrastructure projects in order to legitimize its illegal Jewish-only settlements in Jerusalem and the West Bank and erase the Palestinian culture, warned an EU report leaked to The Guardian Thursday.
National parks and tourism projects being built by the Israeli government and private settler-run organizations have been spreading throughout occupied East Jerusalem which are being used “as a political tool to modify the historical narrative and to support, legitimize and expand settlements,” the report said according to the British newspaper.
The Washington Post says the administration of President Donald Trump is preventing the United Nations from publishing a "black list" of companies operating in the colonies#BDS #BoycottIsrael #MB #GroupPalestine #قروب_فلسطيني pic.twitter.com/p4JFOExE41
— alQuds (@palestine_bs) February 2, 2018
More than 130 demolitions took place in East Jerusalem, while hundreds of Palestinians were displaced last year, according to the report written by heads of EU missions in the city.
Israel has also been using a strict permit system to marginalize Palestinian residents in Jerusalem which means “the city has largely ceased to be the Palestinian economic, urban and commercial centre it used to be.”
Jewish terrorists torch 100 of the world's oldest olive trees in an effort to further cripple Palestinian economy and livelihoods.https://t.co/2s3nriPmb9
— CJ Werleman (@cjwerleman) January 25, 2018
The report identified a government-sponsored archeological park that has been constructed on the urban Palestinian neighbourhood of Silwan, providing tours in the ancient ruins in East Jerusalem, which is internationally-recognized as an occupied territory the Palestinians hope to be the capital of their future sovereign state. Silwan has 10,000 Palestinian residents.
“East Jerusalem is the only place where Israeli national parks are declared on populated neighborhoods,” the document warned adding that park is operated by a local settler group representing about 450 settlers and “promoting an exclusively Jewish narrative, while detaching the place from its Palestinian surroundings.”
Another project identified by the EU officials is a cable car project that was approved by the Israeli government in May last year, which would connect West Jerusalem to the Palestinian Old City.
As #Netanyahu cuts ribbon opening a Jewish-only road for #Israeli settlers cut thru occupied #Palestinian land, #Netanyahu calls it “Our return to our Homeland in the heart of Israel”. Sounds like he’s not leaving. Ever. Creating an #Apartheid state. #BDS https://t.co/9Bxvd7jBgu
— James J. Zogby (@jjz1600) January 30, 2018
The document called the project, expected to be finished and operational in 2020, “highly controversial” as it will serve to consolidate the idea of “touristic settlements” with a Jewish-only narrative.
“Critics have described the project as turning the World Heritage site of Jerusalem into a commercial theme park while local Palestinian residents are absent from the narrative being promoted to the visitors,” it added.
Also such projects would lead to further insecurity and conflict within the city as such sites are either significantly close or actually within the complex of Al-aqsa mosque, considered holy by the majority Muslim Palestinian residents of the city.
The bleak report comes as the European Union allocated more than US$17 million to support Palestinian projects in occupied East Jerusalem, a 40 percent increase from the previous amount, the Palestinian state-run Wafa agency reported Thursday.
This is the real face of Israel that some blind people defend.
"Don't forget to go back to the jungle in #Africa!!"#BDS #ZIONIST #FreePalestine #MB #GroupPalestine #قروب_فلسطيني pic.twitter.com/pOrdroVyQb
— alQuds (@palestine_bs) February 1, 2018
The projects are intended to preserve “the Palestinian existence and identity in the holy city,” Wafa quoted EU officials as saying.
The news comes as the West Bank and Gaza have been rocked with unrest over the past two months over the Dec. 6 decision of the U.S. administration to recognize Jerusalem as the undivided capital of Israel, breaking with international accords stating that the fate of the city should be decided as part of a final peace agreement between Israel and Palestine.
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I am from Vancouver,Canada and I wanted to say that Israel has been using Tourism to legitimize Illegal Settlements for a long time.The western Gov’ts knows that but since they are supporters of Israel they won’t do anything about it.Anyone who supports Palestine won’t go to Israel as a Tourist.Anyone who goes to Israel as a Tourist should be condemned.
“TripAdvisor” – one of the UN “blacklisted” companies – solicits travelers’ reviews. After tracing a magnificent “Ottoman Jerusalem”, I also experienced – in contrast – the warped historical revisionism & distasteful “City of David” Hasbara by the “Eliod” colonial settler-enterprise. My review -“traveler up-voted”- was eventually censored & pulled … “Palestine & Heritage Significance”, UNESCO is our friend!