A member of the Knesset (Israel’s parliament) for the ruling Likud party, Anat Berko has presented Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu with plans to change the status of 300,000 Palestinians in Jerusalem.
If implemented, Jerusalem would be formally divided and a group, similar in number to that of Wollongong would suddenly find itself stripped of permanent residency within Israel’s formal borders, as well as associated rights. The 300,000 would instead be considered residents of the Occupied Palestinian Territory of the West Bank.
Berko is hoping to use some underhanded cartography and extremely rubbery figures — changing is actually counted as a resident of Jerusalem — to magically increase the Jewish population in the city that Israelis and Palestinians both claim as their capital.
At the same time, Israel would free itself of any responsibilities towards the Palestinians in question.
Read the full article by Lisa Gleeson at Green Left Weekly.