| Ir Amim together with Ma'an-Workers Association (WAC-MAAN) have formally released its English monitor report: Three Years since the Implementation of Government Decision 3790 for Socio-Economic Investment in East Jerusalem. As part of an ongoing project designed to monitor the implementation of the decision, this comprehensive report provides an overview and interim analysis of the first three out of five years designated for its implementation.
In May 2018, Israel announced Government Decision 3790 for Narrowing Socioeconomic Gaps and Promoting Economic Development in East Jerusalem. Constituting the government’s largest ever investment in the area since Israel’s annexation of East Jerusalem in 1967, the decision allotted a 2.1 billion NIS investment over the course of five years. The decision included the following sectors: education, economy/employment, services/quality of life, transportation, and promotion of settlement of land title procedures.
While such a decision was the first significant step by the Israeli government to acknowledge and attempt to rectify the longstanding neglect of East Jerusalem, the plan was effectively presented from the outset as an initiative to further apply Israeli sovereignty over the eastern part of the city. Implementation of some sections of the decision would seem to indicate a practical and beneficial approach, yet overall, it is largely being driven by political considerations. Despite the dire housing crisis, which constitutes the most pressing issue facing Palestinian residents today, the advancement of urban planning and building was conspicuously absent from Decision 3790. Instead, as we have widely reported on, the decision contains the promotion of settlement of land title procedures, which are ultimately being exploited to further undermine Palestinian rights to their homes and lands.
As this report indicates, movement along the axis between risks and opportunity and between political versus professional motives, largely tells the story of Government Decision 3790—from its inception through its final formulation to its implementation. The decision’s dual implementation underscores the difficulty in improving the socio-economic status of the Palestinian population in East Jerusalem within a discriminatory framework of life under occupation and devoid of any sustainable aspiration for substantive equality. Nevertheless, it is also fitting to advance the socio-economic aspects within the Decision in order to reduce the considerable gaps, while addressing the broader political and community-wide context, despite its complexity.
A summary of conclusions and recommendations in the areas which have been monitored thus far are presented at the end of the report.
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