Guardian Sells False Image of an Open Jerusalem

http://dissidentvoice.org/2017/10/guardian-sells-false-image-of-an-open-jerusalem/
Date Written:  2017-10-23
Publisher:  Dissident Voice
Year Published:  2017
Resource Type:  Article
Cx Number:  CX21580

A Guardian essay on a new Israeli open-rooftops project in Jerusalem, part of a Season of Culture, sadly falls into a standard trap for feelgood articles of this kind. It fails to provide the main context for Jerusalem: that the native Palestinians live under a belligerent Israeli occupation that is ultimately trying to evict them from the city.

Abstract: 
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Excerpt:

Israel has even built a wall cutting some Palestinian neighbourhoods off from the rest of East Jerusalem and the services they pay for through their municipal taxes. They do not live apart because of fear, nationalism or religion. They have been cut off from family, friends and services by concrete walls and armed checkpoints.

"While Israelis typically live in the west and Palestinians in the east of Jerusalem, mixed neighbourhoods do exist. In the winding alleys of the old city and the streets of downtown, the diverse inhabitants peacefully cross paths every day."

"Mixed neighbourhoods"? Is the author referring to Jewish settlers who have forcibly taken over Palestinian properties in areas of occupied East Jerusalem like the Old City, Silwan and Sheikh Jarrah in violation of international law and have then turned their apartment blocs into armed compounds? Is that her idea of "paths crossing peacefully" – that Palestinians must live submissively, in terror of armed Jewish interlopers?