EAST JERUSALEM RESIDENTS AND ACTIVISTS ALARMED AS

C O N F I D E N T I A L JERUSALEM 000341 SIPDIS NEA FOR FRONT OFFICE, SEMEP, AND IPA; NSC FOR SHAPIRO/KUMAR; JOINT STAFF FOR LTGEN SELVA E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/24/2020 TAGS: PGOV PBTS KPAL KWBG IS SUBJECT: EAST JERUSALEM RESIDENTS AND ACTIVISTS ALARMED AS MUNICIPAL INSPECTORS SERVE ILLEGAL CONSTRUCTION NOTICES REF: 09 JERUSALEM 2106 Classified By: Consul General Daniel Rubinstein for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d). ¶1. (C) Summary. Municipality of Jerusalem inspectors, accompanied by Israeli police, served a total of 12 "notices of illegal construction" to residents in the Silwan neighborhood of East Jerusalem on February 24, according to one resident and anti-demolition activist. A municipality official acknowledged that inspectors had entered Silwan, but described their doing so as part of a routine visit, said they handed out only three notices, and stressed that the notices were not demolition orders. Post NGO contacts speculated that the illegal construction notices were part of an effort by the municipality to signal it will impose a cost on Silwan's Arab residents if forced to implement a court ruling to seal Beit Yehonatan, a settler-occupied building in predominantly Arab Silwan. Silwan residents appear not to see a distinction between such "notices" and demolition orders, and expressed concern that demolitions may be imminent. End summary. Municipal Officials Tour Silwan -------------- ¶2. (C) On the morning of February 24, PolOff met with 15 residents of East Jerusalem's Silwan neighborhood, at a protest tent in the Al-Bustan area of Silwan, shortly after municipal inspectors entered and toured their neighborhood. Fahkri Abu Diab, a local resident and activist, told PolOff that a group of about 45 municipal inspectors and Israeli police toured the Wadi al-Hilweh area of Silwan earlier that day. The inspectors took pictures and measurements of houses and handed out "notices of illegal construction" to four families, Diab added. Notices were served on one Arab home within the City of David archeological park (which is located in Wadi al-Hilweh and operated by the Israeli pro-settlement organization Elad),plus three others in Wadi al-Hilweh. Diab said the inspectors remained in the neighborhood for about two hours. They left when media representatives arrived at the scene, he said, only to return several hours later to deliver eight additional notices -- one to a home in Wadi al-Hilweh and seven to houses near Beit Yehonatan, a multi-story building in Silwan occupied by Israeli settlers and named in honor of convicted spy Jonathan Pollard. ¶3. (C) Post NGO contacts described the incident as a "provocative" response by the municipality to pressure to enforce a court ruling ordering the sealing of Beit Yehonatan. Peace Now's Hagit Ofran told PolOff that the notices were "threats" rather than legal demolition orders, and theorized that Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat is trying to show that he will exact a cost (via demolitions) if he is forced to seal Beit Yehonatan. Anti-settlement activist Danny Seidemann called the move an attempt by the municipality to exact a price for the court order against Beit Yehonatan. Municipality Responds -------------- ¶4. (C) Stephan Miller, aide to the Jerusalem mayor, told PolOff that a group of inspectors on a routine tour of "all parts of the city" passed through Silwan on the morning of February 24. Miller said they served three "notifications of illegal construction." "These are not demolition orders, not court orders, (and) not a legal decision," he said. ¶5. (C) Miller claimed that the notices are meant to signal to residents that their homes are illegally constructed, and represent only the first step in a lengthy process that could possibly lead to demolitions. It could take years of legal hearings before demolitions occur. Miller said dozens of similar letters are given out all across the city on a weekly basis. Twenty-three construction notices were given out on February 24, Miller claimed -- three in Silwan and 20 in the Western (and overwhelmingly Israeli) part of Jerusalem. ¶6. (C) Regardless of the meaning of the notices, residents remain anxious, al-Bustan activist Diab said. He claimed that the notices had "scared" local residents, adding, "Bulldozers can come any moment and take down their homes." Diab told PolOff that he, along with Silwan neighbors, feel caught in a political debate that will end badly for them and their families. "Why me?" said Diab (who has received an actual demolition order). "I pay (property taxes). The municipality willingly takes my money but still calls my home illegal." Diab told PolOff that he and his neighbors fear they will be displaced from their homes and communities. RUBINSTEIN