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)