The official reason for building the barrier is security, but in Jerusalem most parts of the fence do not separate the Israeli from the Palestinian population, but rather Palestinians from other Palestinians. When we examine the route of the separation fence in Jerusalem, it is clear that other considerations informed its delineation:
1. Legitimizing the municipal boundaries of Jerusalem: the official reason the government of Israel gave for the separation barrier was to guarantee the security of the citizens of Israel, but in certain areas, the purpose of the barrier is to legitimize the municipal boundaries of Jerusalem. A substantial part of the route of the fence runs more or less along the municipal boundaries of Jerusalem, and includes 235,000 Palestinians on the Israeli side of the barrier. In this context it is important to remember that the municipal boundary of Jerusalem was drawn unilaterally by the government of Israel 17 days after the end of the Six-Day War; this is not recognized by the international community, which views all of East Jerusalem as occupied territory for all purposes. Furthermore, since 1967 all of the governments of Israel have been declaring that the future borders of Israel would be determined by negotiated agreement. In one of the petitions (by the Association for Civil Rights in Israel) to the High Court of Justice about a segment of the fence in the al-Ram area, then-Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz admitted that the current route was built on the municipal boundary of the city and it is well within Israel's rights. That is an admission that the consideration in building the wall in Jerusalem was not security-driven.
2. Territorial expansion: the route of the barrier in the Jerusalem area draws a new map -- albeit unofficial -- of "Greater Jerusalem," which includes the three large settlement blocs to the south (the Gush Etzion area), the east (the Maale Adumim bubble) and northwest (the Giv'at Ze'ev – Giv'on bloc). These three areas cover a total of 164 km² of West Bank land.
3. Demographic considerations: the separation barrier has left several Palestinian neighborhoods, that were included in the municipal boundaries of Jerusalem, on the other side of the barrier including: Kafr Aqab, Semiramis, Ras Khamis, the Shuafat refugee camp and the Dahiat al-Salam neighborhood in Anatot. As a result, tens of thousands of Palestinians (there are no exact figures) living on the eastern side of the barrier have been disconnected from the city. The residents of those Jerusalem neighborhoods have to go through checkpoints every time they want to enter the city and go back to their homes. The route of the barrier also raises questions about the future connection of these Palestinians to Jerusalem. Extracting these Palestinian neighborhoods from Jerusalem, while attaching the Maale Adumim bloc, Gush Etzion, Giv'at Ze'ev and Neve Yaacov to the city, indicates that the route of the barrier has a role in changing the demography of Jerusalem in favor of the Jewish population. It is worth mentioning the Greater Jerusalem draft law, which clarifies that the motivation is indeed demographic and that there are some who are already thinking of anchoring these boundaries of the Greater Jerusalem in law.
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