Sixty thousand residents of Al-Quds under threat of losing identity

As part of ongoing efforts to convert Al-Quds into an Israeli city that include the Wall, settlements and land confiscation is the withdrawal of the blue Israeli-issued identification from Al Ram residents and the closing of the Beit Hanina gate.

This is the only passage left in and out of the suburb for Palestinians. The Israeli administration assigns ID to all Palestinians, including "blue" for Al-Quds and "green" for the West Bank.

President of the Al Ram local council, Slaima Sarhan reports that the Israeli administration has declared the area around the Wall in the suburb as a “military zone,” beginning with the month of February. That comes in addition to the closure of the gate which means that the only movement between northern and southern Al-Quds is now closed.

Sarhan warned of the repercussions of the unilateral Israeli decision to impose an additional fait accompli on the city. “In this case entry or exit to the town of Al Ram and the other northern suburbs are pushed through the Qalandiya military checkpoint or Hizma only, thus isolating residents from their home city, shops, and the main commercial sector of Beit ul moqaddas, their schools, doctors, etc.”

The Qalandiya Checkpoint is in southern Ramallah which is West Bank necessitating green ID. If the Al Ram is rerouted this way, this major suburb will be entirely isolated from its city of Al-Quds. The Wall was built years ago, and prompted the International Court of Justice to issue its decision that it must stop, on the center line of the town’s main road. Many thought the Israelis would stop building in Al Ram after the ICJ ruling.

With the closure of the only route left, some 5,000 students will be forced to spend more time en route in order to pass the checkpoints and what has been imposed as a de facto “border crossing” that further isolates Al-Quds. The financial strain of the additional travel will be impossible for many families while others will not be able to handle the strain it will take on studies. While hundreds of students fight these policies daily by continuing to attend their Al-Quds schools, just as many are unable to.

“These decisions come within the framework of ethnic cleansing,” Sarhan told PNN on Tuesday.

He continued to discuss the destruction of social relations caused by the Wall and closures. “Familial and social ties will be eliminated with the closure of the gate.”

The northern Al-Quds official added, “The closure of the portal is primarily a political move. Those living outside what are now the so-called new borders of al-Quds will lose their identity. The campaign is against those who hold the blue identification and this latest threat is against 60,000 people to withdraw their identity, thus draining Al-Quds and fulfilling the Israeli dream of making Al-Quds Jewish.”

He added that residents of Al Ram are mostly displaced from the Old City, Silwan and Ras Al Amud who moved due to the Israeli policies against them there such as the refusal to issue building permits, the destruction of homes, the harassment. Sarhan said that Al-Quds residents were driven out of the center of the city to the northern suburb of Al Ram from where they are now being pushed out entirely.

“There is an increasing need to withstand the policies that aim to drive out Palestinians. We see the Israeli plans to strengthen Israel’s presence inside the city, but we lack an integrated national program for strengthening the resilience of the people. We really do now require an emergency program to support the steadfastness of residents and the provision of meeting their minimum needs in order to stop the Israelis from draining the city of its population.”

After the Wall was imposed along the yellow line down the center of the main street in Al Ram many shops closed and residents faced difficulty of access in reaching health centers and hospitals, and their schools.

Sarhan added that in the Mount Samoud neighborhood there are 300 families who are closed in and forced to use magnetic cards to enter their homes.