Summary
Mayor of Jerusalem quoted by Makdisi on the demographic purpose of the city’s 1978 Master Plan, and, after leaving office, on what his administration actually did for East Jerusalem: nothing, beyond the sewerage and water installed for fear that Jews would catch cholera (Palestine Inside Out: An Everyday Occupation, PDF p.152, p.162).
Details
- On the 1978 Master Plan, which proposed promoting the growth of the Jewish population while squeezing and limiting the growth of the non-Jewish population to preserve the ratio of 72 percent Jews to 28 percent non-Jews, Kollek, then mayor, says the plan holds that “it is necessary to make life difficult for the Arabs, not to allow them to build”; the point is that “we are giving expression to our control throughout the entire city and are affirming principles for the continuing intensification of the city’s unification” (PDF p.152).
- Kollek became forthright about Israeli planning principles in Jerusalem only after he left office; asked by a questioner who thought he had done a great deal for the Palestinians of Jerusalem, he replied: “Nonsense! Fairy tales! The mayor nurtured nothing and built nothing. For Jewish Jerusalem I did something in the past twenty-five years. For East Jerusalem? Nothing! What did I do? Nothing. Sidewalks? Nothing. Cultural institutions? Not one.” (PDF p.162)
- On the one thing done: “Yes, we installed a sewerage system for them and improved the water supply. Do you know why? Do you think it was for their good, for their welfare? Forget it! There were some cases of cholera there, and the Jews were afraid they would catch it, so we installed sewerage and a water system [to protect] against cholera.” (PDF p.162)
Related pages
Palestine Inside Out: An Everyday Occupation, Judaization, Demographic problem, Ehud Olmert