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Feb. 8, 2008
Where luxury and poverty meet
The once-divided city of Jerusalem is now becoming segregated along economic lines.
RHONDA SPIVAK
On a clear sunny day, Aviva Shwartzfeld, an archeologist working in Jerusalem, looks out over the city from the top of the bell tower of the Jerusalem YMCA on King David Street.
Skyscrapers and evidence of the construction of upscale projects is everywhere and, in the distance, the naked eye can make out the route of the security wall that winds its way toward Bethlehem. Shwartzfeld looks out onto the prestigious residential King David project that the Azorim Co. is erecting.
"Just what we need, another luxury project for Diaspora Jews that will be another ghost town neighborhood," she said sarcastically. "It's too bad very few contractors are building affordable apartments so young Israelis can find a suitable place to live and stay here," she added.
Anyone who looks through the real estate sections and supplements of the Jerusalem Post over the past year can review the colored advertisements for a plethora of luxury projects, all designed to cater to the needs of overseas English-speaking buyers. The Holyland Park project advertises itself as "Israel's most luxurious residential towers." The Jerusalem of Gold residence advertises itself as "The most sought after address in the Jewish world. A new standard of living the likes of which Jerusalem has never seen before."
The Metzudat Yerushalayim (Jerusalem Citadel) project under construction on the Sherover Promenade, overlooking the panoramic view of the Old City, includes a luxury spa, heated pool and Jacuzzi, a fitness room, leisure activity rooms, a reading room and coffee shop, art workshops, computer rooms, a cinema, synagogue and 24-hour limousine service.
In Rehavia and Talbieh, "For sale" signs are in English or French and the agents don't even bother to add Hebrew, because the average Israeli cannot possibly afford to buy there.
Thirty per cent of the nearly 5,000 apartments that foreigners – mostly affluent Diaspora Jews – bought in Israel last year are located in Jerusalem. In 2007, one out of three new apartments in Jerusalem were sold to foreigners, while 20 per cent of all apartments in the downtown area lay empty most of the year. Since these apartments are bought as second homes, if they are rented out, it is usually for short-term holiday rentals.
Amos Nadan, an economist who is a senior researcher at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and lives in West Jerusalem, said, "The massive purchase of flats and houses by Diaspora Jews is not healthy for the city. This has caused a sharp increase in the prices of houses and flats in the city. The outcome is that every year thousands of young couples and students cannot afford to live in Jerusalem and have to leave.
"This phenomenon is also problematic because it highlights the huge segregation between rich and poor in Jerusalem, which is considered the poorest city in Israel. The gaps can be seen in every realm, from malnutrition and poverty to education and employment."
Nadan rejects the claims by those who believe that the development of the luxury market in Jerusalem serves to strengthen the city economically. "There are many better ways to this.... There are many projects waiting for assistance, such as support for more businesses to come to the city," he said.
According to Nadan, another negative outcome of the boom in luxury apartments "is that there are several neighborhoods – the most extreme case being that of Mamilla – where flats are deserted most of the year. This situation negatively affects everyday life. Think about living in a neighborhood that is half empty. Would you feel safe to live there? Is it cost effective to open a supermarket, a nursery or a school there?"
A new organization of Jerusalem residents in their 20s, called Young Adults in Jerusalem, has been established to find housing solutions for students and post-army young people who want to stay in Jerusalem. The group is promoting ideas such as tax incentives to contractors for building student housing and rent control for young Jewish adults. The group has also criticized contractors for catering to overseas buyers.
Nomi Shneider, a master's student in geography at the Hebrew University, has been looking for an apartment to rent with her boyfriend.
"Since the sale price of apartments has jumped so dramatically, rents have also jumped. We haven't been able to find an affordable apartment. We thought we would rent in French Hill, since it is so close to the university, but everything there is so expensive now."
The neighborhood of French Hill has witnessed another phenomenon in the last couple of years, which is that increasingly East Jerusalem Arabs have seen it as a desirable area in which to rent or buy apartments. For example, Israeli media reported on the sale by Hebrew University of 13 apartments on Etzel Street in French Hill. The highest bid was given by an Arab man, who was willing to pay $230,000 for each, 20 per cent more than the apartments were worth.
Michael, a long-time secular resident of French Hill of Canadian origin, who did not want to give his last name, said he is going to sell his apartment soon.
"French Hill is changing," he explained. "On one hand, the ultra-Orthodox Charedim are starting to move in and, on the other hand, wealthier Arabs who want to be near the Hebrew University or nearby Arab neighborhoods are buying here. This is reason enough for me to want to get out."
The influx of Arabs from East Jerusalem into Jewish neighborhoods of Jerusalem is not confined to French Hill. Pisgat Ze'ev, which was developed in the 1980s as a Jewish settlement in East Jerusalem, has also experienced a similar influx.
In fact, in the last couple of years, construction of the security fence north of Jerusalem has caused tens of thousands of Arabs to flock to Jerusalem's city limits, in order not to be stuck on the Palestinian side of the fence. Fearing that they may be stripped of their Jerusalem residency rights, which give them access to Israeli government social services, they are willing to pay higher prices for small dwellings on the Israeli side of the barrier. In Pisgat Ze'ev, the influx of a few hundred Arab residents caused property values to drop relatively, as the neighborhood became less attractive to Jewish buyers. The lower prices, in turn, have led to more Arabs moving in.
Eli Benakot, an Israeli musician who lives in Lapid – just past the Green Line near Modi'in – recently spent the day in Arab East Jerusalem to get his visa to visit the United States. "I was the only Jew in line at the American consulate and had to go there because the U.S. doesn't recognize where I live as being Israel. Everyone in line, including the guard, was Arab and everyone was speaking Arabic. The Arabs in line made me stand at the back of the line, to let me know that I wasn't wanted there – so I could get the feeling of what it must be like for Arabs to have to stand in line at Israeli checkpoints.
"The Arab East Jerusalemites really don't want to live with Jews and yet, they are rushing to make sure that they keep their residency in Jerusalem so that they can live in a Jewish state rather than a Palestinian one," he continued. "In a Palestinian state, are they going to have civil rights? Will they be able to petition to a Supreme Court? What kind of national insurance and other benefits will they get?
In the months leading up to the Annapolis peace conference, with all of the renewed talk of the Olmert government being prepared to give the Palestinian Authority (PA) the Arab neighborhoods in East Jerusalem, the trend of Arabs buying property in the Jewish neighborhoods has been increasing.
Those Israelis who are against ceding these areas of Jerusalem to the PA are asking themselves how many Palestinians will flock to the Israeli side of the fence if additional Palestinian neighborhoods are to be severed from Israeli Jerusalem? Jewish Jerusalemites who reside near the regions that are proposed to be ceded fear that, if this were to happen, they will end up living in "border neighborhoods." They worry that they, too, would then be under fire from Palestinian militants, as happened to the residents of Gilo (a suburb of East Jerusalem near Bethlehem), not so long ago, during the second intifada.
Rhonda Spivak is a Winnipeg freelance writer.
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