B'Tselem, 19 May 2020

Al-’Esawiyah residents have not forgotten that 90% of their land was taken by the Israeli occupier. This land is now used by the Hebrew University, Hadassah Mount Scopus Medical Center, nearby Jewish neighborhoods (French Hill and Tzameret Habira, both of which are settlements under international law), the settlement of Ma'ale Adumim and military and police bases.  South of al-‘Esawiyah, where the neighborhood’s last remaining land reserve for development is located, the Israeli authorities are planning to declare a national park. Al-’Esawiyah remains trapped in an enclave, with no prospects for development. 

Conditions in the neighborhood are not some sort of inescapable fate. They are the direct result of the policy Israel employs throughout East Jerusalem, a policy that sees Palestinians not as human beings with equal rights, but an unwanted addition to be rid of in order to maintain a Jewish majority in the city.

Eyal Hareuveni, B'Tselem researcher and the author of the new report, "This is Jerusalem: Violence and Dispossession in al-‘Esawiyah"