التجديد، التأهيل والاستبدال الحضري في محيط القدس القديمة

Abstract

The Israeli authorities continue to take governmental and municipal decisions and allocate resources to expand the matrix of regulation and control of Jerusalem, especially the Old City and its surrounding. A part of the components of this matrix is the employment of the components of planning, renewal, gentrification and adaptation of the concepts and tools of these components in order to achieve their geo-politic, demographic, and urban goals.  

This study aims to introduce a critical review to the goals and tools of the policies of renewal, rehabilitation and gentrification that the Israeli authorities conduct in the surroundings of the Old City of Jerusalem versus the Palestinian effort that is made to face these policies and protect the nature and the urban texture of the Old City that surrounds al-Ḥaram al-Sharīf

The study also tries to deal with the specificity of the renewal and urban rehabilitation in the reality of the city of Jerusalem in the shadow of the Palestinian Zionist conflict in comparison with the condition of other cities that undergo urban renewal operations.  

The study reaches the conclusion that despite the Israeli urban policies and practices that aim to change the Palestinian reality and presence in the Old City, the current and expected reality still confirms the particularity of the Old City and the Arab Islamic presence in its texture. This reality needs support and empowerment in order to face the policies and practices of renewal, rehabilitation, and gentrification that the Israeli authorities conduct.