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