Israel deprives East Jerusalem of services

Israeli Minister of Jerusalem Affairs and Environmental Protection, Ze’ev El-Kin, has excluded Palestinian neighbourhoods in East Jerusalem from a plan he prepared to improve hygiene and the quality of environment in Jerusalem, Israel’s Haaretz newspaper reported yesterday.

The decision came in spite of El-Kin’s previous acknowledgement, during the Knesset Interior Committee meeting, that the conditions in the Palestinian neighbourhoods behind the Separation Wall – where some 140,000 Palestinians live – are very difficult.

The Israeli government approved a plan to reduce epidemics and develop infrastructure in Jerusalem during a meeting held on Sunday.

Read: Israel to separate Arab neighbourhoods from Jerusalem

Meanwhile, the Palestinian Water Company said the Israeli company, Mekorot, does not supply the Palestinian neighbourhoods behind the wall with enough water, while the municipality refuses to issue licences for the establishment of new water networks. A member of the Kofr Aqab Municipal Committee, Mounir Abu Ashraf, said the water cuts in his neighbourhood have continued for five days prompting the residents to place 1,500 litre tanks on their roofs to fill them with water whenever it is available.

Image of Palestinian children carrying bottled water [File photo]

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A few days ago, Israeli sources revealed an Israeli plan to separate the Shuafat refugee camp and the neighbourhood of Kafr Aqeb, north of Jerusalem, from Jerusalem in order to preserve a Jewish majority in the city.