Decreasing and Obstructing the Arab Palestinians’ Right of Access to al-Quds/ Jerusalem City

الملخص

The Israeli state built a separation wall between the Palestinians in the occupied West Bank and areas that include al-Quds, East Jerusalem and Israel. This wall adds another mechanism of control and limitation on the Palestinians’ access to East Jerusalem; it separates the city from its natural surroundings and from its urban and rural hinterland. Since Israel occupied and appended East Jerusalem in 1967, the Palestinians have a special status as "Permanent Residents," not citizens, and they suffer from a bad situation which decreases and obstructs their right to the city. This paper aims to throw light on the shadows of the implications and consequences that originate from the building of the separation wall in the City of Jerusalem, and on the right of the Palestinians to the city. Our approach in presenting and discussing these implications and the consequences of building the wall is strongly shaped by the Lefebvrean conceptualization of the idea of city citizenship. The paper was written with an awareness of the deep geopolitical conflict over Jerusalem. This conflict and the construction of the separation wall have a direct negative impact on the possibility of securing, or even enabling, the Palestinians’ right to the city.