Planning illegality: The roots of unauthorised housing in Arab East Jerusalem

This paper investigates the role of Israeli residential policies in the Israeli–Palestinian conflict over East Jerusalem. The focus is specifically on municipal housing policies for Arab neighbourhoods; the thesis is that Arab residential illegality is primarily a direct consequence of Israeli urban policies, and is a tool for achieving the (political) aim of the containment of Arab demographic growth and of Arab urban expansion. The text is divided into four sections. The first section underlines the spatial dimension of the Israeli–Palestinian conflict over Jerusalem and its connection with the demographic question; the second section describes in detail the phenomenon of illegal housing in Arab neighbourhoods and the demolition policies which are enforced by the Israeli authorities; the third section investigates the roots of illegal housing, explaining its close connection to some specific municipal urban policies; the fourth section includes some considerations about the role of space and planning in Jerusalem.