OP-ED: UN Calumny Regarding Jerusalem’s Demography Easily Exposed

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JERUSALEM (VINnews) — In an egregious display of mendacity coupled with ignorance, the UN claimed in its latest anti-Israel resolution passed Friday night that Israel has “taken measures aimed at altering the demographic composition, character and status of the Holy City of Jerusalem.” The UN called for an investigation of Israel over this issue among others.

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Israel should actually welcome such an investigation which would expose the fact that, if anything, the opposite is the case. Israel has albeit built neighborhoods in East Jerusalem, but despite this there has been a constant decline in the proportion of Jews living in Israel’s capital due to a huge influx of Muslims who have freely built their homes in East Jerusalem, in the process becoming eligible for Israeli citizenship (although only allowed to vote in local elections).

Israel is partially responsible for the growth in the Muslim population of the city, since in 1967 Israel expanded the municipal boundaries of West Jerusalem so as to include approximately 70 km2 (27.0 sq mi) of territory today referred to as East Jerusalem, which included Jordanian East Jerusalem ( 6 km2 (2.3 sq mi) ) and 28 villages and areas of the Bethlehem and Beit Jala region.

Nevertheless, in 1980 Israel still maintained a healthy majority of Jewish people in Jerusalem (72%, similar  to the Jewish majority in Israel of 74%). Yet over the course of the past 40 years, the Jewish proportion of Jerusalem’s population has dwindled to under 60%- far below the national proportion of Jews in the country.

Year Jews Muslims Christians Total Proportion of Jewish residents Original source
1980 292,300 ? ? 407,100 71.8% Jerusalem Municipality
1985 327,700 ? ? 457,700 71.6% Jerusalem Municipality
1987 340,000 121,000 14,000 475,000 71.6% Jerusalem Municipality
1988 353,800 125,200 14,400 493,500 71.7% Jerusalem Municipality
1990 378,200 131,800 14,400 524,400 72.1% Jerusalem Municipality
1995 417,100 182,700 14,100 617,000 67.6% Jerusalem Municipality
1996 421,200 ? ? 602,100 70.0% Jerusalem Municipality
2000 448,800 ? ? 657,500 68.3% Jerusalem Municipality
2004 464,500 ? ? 693,200 67.0% Jerusalem Municipality
2005 469,300 ? ? 706,400 66.4% Jerusalem Municipality
2007 489,480 ? ? 746,300 65.6% Jerusalem Municipality
2011 497,000 281,000 14,000 801,000 62.0% Israel Central Bureau of Statistics
2015 524,700 307,300 12,400 857,800 61.2% Israel Central Bureau of Statistics
2016 536,600 319,800 15,800 882,700 60.8% Israel Central Bureau of Statistics
2017 546,100 328,600 15,900 901,300 60.6%

Jerusalem Institute for Policy Research
2018 555,800 336,700 16,000 919,400 60.5% Jerusalem Institute for Policy Research
2019 563,200 345,800 16,200 936,400 60.1% Jerusalem Institute for Policy Research
2020 570,100 353,800 16,300 951,100 59.9% Jerusalem Institute for Policy Research

1980-2020 Jerusalem Demographic statistics (Wikipedia)

The incongruity of the capital city’s receding Jewish population is in no small part due to US and European pressure which has prevented Israel from constructing neighborhoods even in vacant parts of East Jerusalem, as well as Israel’s reluctance to act against illegal Arab construction in many of these regions.

The current municipality hopes to buck this demographic trend by building upwards, constructing numerous towers in place of low buildings and turning neighborhoods near the light rail into densely populated compounds. Yet Jerusalem’s infrastructure is hardly capable of sustaining such a population growth and most local residents oppose turning the city into a skyscraper jungle.

If the current UN resolution is to have any value, it will hopefully jolt the new right-wing government into action in Jerusalem to increase the Jewish majority and encourage more Israelis to make the capital their home. This could be achieved by building new neighborhoods in East Jerusalem such as Atarot and Givat Hamatos and connecting the capital to Maale Adumim in the strategic E-1 region. Thus it could at least partially fulfill the prophecy that “In the future Jerusalem will spread to Damascus.” (Shir Hashirim Rabba 7)

 

 

 

 


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