ILLEGAL CONSTRUCTION IN JERUSALEM: A Variation on an Alarming Global
Phenomenon

by Justus Reid Weiner, Adv. * [New book released by Jerusalem Center for
Public Affairs]

NGOs assert that Arab Jerusalemites have no choice but to build their homes
illegally since the municipality systematically rejects their applications
for building permits. They must then contend with municipal inspectors who
send bulldozers to demolish their homes.

Human rights lawyer Justus Reid Weiner, a scholar-in-residence at the
Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs - an independent, non-partisan policy
studies center, has just completed the first systematic study of illegal
construction in Jerusalem. Weiner's book breaks new ground in explaining
how the political struggle for Jerusalem has obscured an urban planning
dilemma of enormous and enduring significance - indeed, one with multifold
global implications. As in various cities abroad, illegal building threatens
to become the norm. That is, in recent years Jerusalem's building inspectors
have reported thousands of violations of the Building and Planning Law
(1965) in all parts of the city.

Conventional wisdom, now widely accepted, posits certain causes and effects
to explain the situation and to narrate what is at stake. Based on scores of
interviews, original documents, and on-site inspections, Weiner's heavily
illustrated new book discredits the conventional wisdom about the causes and
effects of illegal building, and documents a pattern of
politically-motivated behavior and criminal profiteering that characterizes
much of the construction in the Arab sector of the Holy City:

+ Illegal construction has reached epidemic proportions. A senior
Palestinian official boasted that they have built 6,000 homes without
permits during the last 4 years, of which less than 200 were demolished by
the city.

+ This frantic pace of illegal construction continues despite the fact that
the city has authorized more than 33,000 permits for new housing units in
the Arab sector, more than enough to meet the needs of Arab residents
through legal construction until 2020.

+ Arab residents who wish to build legally may consult urban plans
translated into Arabic for their convenience and receive individual
assistance from Arabic-speaking city employees.

+ Both Arabs and Jews wait 4-6 weeks for permit approval, enjoy a similar
rate of application approvals, and pay an identical fee ($3,600 U.S.) for
water and sewage hook-ups and a building fee on the same size living unit.

+ The same procedures for administrative demolition orders apply to both
Jews and Arabs in all parts of the city, as a final backstop to remove
structures built illegally on roadbeds or land designated for schools, the
roads, highways, health clinics, and the like.

+ The Palestinian Authority and Arab governments have spent hundreds of
millions of dollars in an intentional campaign to subsidize and encourage
massive illegal construction in the Arab sector, seeing this as part of
their "demographic war" against Israel.

+ Many large, multi-story, luxury structures have been built by criminals on
land they do not own, frequently land belonging to Christians living abroad.

+ More than any single factor, the 35-year-long boycott of municipal
politics by the Palestinian leadership has resulted in the continued
imbalance in municipal services in Arab neighborhoods.

+ Despite accusations that the city's planning policy seeks to "Judaize"
Jerusalem, the Arab population of the city has increased since 1967 from 26%
to nearly 32%. Moreover, since 1967 new Arab construction has outpaced
Jewish construction.

Who will ultimately bear the burden of chaotic development, environmental
degradation, and an eroded quality of life in the Arab neighborhoods? Does
the Palestinian Authority's "demographic war" or the profiteering of land
thieves serve their long-term interests? How does the epidemic of illegal
construction in the Arab neighborhoods compare with similar problems
elsewhere in the world?
===
* Justus Reid Weiner teaches courses on international and comparative law
and business in the Rothberg International School of Hebrew University. He
previously taught as a Visiting Associate Professor at Boston University Law
School and has lectured widely in Israel and abroad. His publications have
appeared in leading law journals and magazines. Weiner received his B.A.
from Colgate University and his J.D. from the University of California at
Berkeley School of Law. He has been a scholar-in-residence at the JCPA
since 1994.