Jerusalem's walls
Jerusalem's wallsFlash 90

The State Comptroller, retired judge Yosef Shapira, published a special report on Jerusalem for Jerusalem Day on Sunday.

According to the Central Bureau of Statistics, there are 901,000 people living in Israel's capital, 60.6% of whom are Jews, 37.9% Arabs and 1.5% others.

The comptroller's report shows that in the last decade, Jerusalem has consistently been characterized by a negative balance of internal migration each year. In other words, the number of those leaving it was greater than the number of immigrants moving to it and at a higher rate than other metropolitan areas.

Seam zone and crossings in the Jerusalem envelope area

Last February, a terrorist infiltrated from Hebron to Jerusalem through one of its breaches and brutally murdered Uri Ansbacher, a 19-year-old young woman from Tekoa.

The report raises significant deficiencies regarding compliance with security procedures and security checks at the crossings, the training of commanders, and the operational capability of the security guards at the crossings.

Despite previous comments by the state comptroller, the police do not implement government decisions and refuse to accept Shin Bet instructions at the Jerusalem Envelope crossings, which has authority in the area of ​​security handling.

The state comptroller determined that the continued existence of breaches in the barrier that allow the entry of illegal aliens from Judea and Samaria endangers the security of Israeli residents in general and Jerusalem residents in particular.

Jerusalem city council

The report revealed that the financial security of the Jerusalem municipality is at risk, and its dependence on the government, in order to maintain a budgetary balance, is growing. The resources it has to provide services to its residents are much lower than the average amount of sources available in other metropolitan cities. The demographic and social-economic characteristics of the city may lead to additional burdens on the municipality's budget and its economic weakness. Furthermore, deficiencies were found that do not conform to the savings principle in the city's financial management.

Although the Jerusalem municipality is obligated to provide its residents with proper cleaning and sanitation services and despite its investment of hundreds of millions of shekels in the field, it doesn't do enough to advance its declared policy that the capital of Israel will be clean and well maintained. The report revealed that the city is dirty and is ranked last in the index of satisfaction of residents with cleanliness in their area of residence.

Tourism is an important resource for improving the city's economic situation and the welfare of its residents and strengthening its international standing. Most tourists who visit Israel also visit Jerusalem (74%). However, the comptroller found numerous deficiencies in the management and maintenance of the tourist areas in Jerusalem. The deficiencies may harm the tourism industry as well as the image of Jerusalem and the entire country, and they do not suit Jerusalem's status as an international city.

Numerous faults were found regarding the preservation of buildings and sites in Jerusalem as well. The findings reveal that despite the declared policy of the Jerusalem Municipality and the abundance of buildings and sites worthy of preservation and its historical, religious and cultural status, preservation is far from adequate. A great deal of effort is required by professionals to advance decisions regarding the preservation of sites in danger of destruction or change.

Arab population

The Arab population in East Jerusalem lives in severe poverty and there are deep disparities in all areas of life between it and the rest of the city and the state. The response of the state authorities to the Arab residents of East Jerusalem is inadequate, they do not work sufficiently to improve it, and in some cases do not even fulfill their legal responsibility.

In the field of education, the Jerusalem Municipality and the Ministry of Education did not fulfill their obligation to provide free education for all, due to the shortage of classrooms. Some 23,000 children aged 3 to 18 are not registered and have never been enrolled in any educational framework known to the authorities and there is no plan to locate them. One in four students in grades 9-12 drop out of school - a dropout rate significantly higher than the national dropout rate and the dropout rate among the Arab sector as a whole.

In the area of ​​welfare, in neighborhoods within the jurisdiction of the city located on the other side of the fence (the "Jerusalem Envelope Barrier"), there are deficiencies and delays by state authorities in protecting children at risk. The municipality and the police have not instituted a method of action to enable them to provide quick and suitable treatment for these children.

In addition, in East Jerusalem, there is a shortage of social workers, welfare offices and services for children at risk, people with disabilities and the elderly. East Jerusalem residents are allocated only about 25% of the city's social services, although they constitute about 38% of the city's population and about 61% of the city's poor residents.

The State Comptroller stresses that improving the situation of the residents of East Jerusalem will benefit both the residents and the economy and Israeli society in general, and will also increase the national security of the State of Israel.

The residents' points of view

In 2016 and 2018, the Ombudsman received 3,561 complaints from residents of Jerusalem.

The Jerusalem Municipality received 469 complaints, including free parking for people with disabilities in the Jerusalem municipality building; parking badges for the disabled; and sewage flowing through a neighborhood.

However, the comptroller notes that many complaints also reflected the unique character of Jerusalem, as the capital city of state institutions and government ministries, as a city where different sectors of the population live - separated by nationality, religion and lifestyle - and a city with sacred sites for Judaism, Islam and Christianity.

The report adds that among other things, Jerusalem is characterized by the connection between East and West and serves as an example of the shared lives of people of all denominations and religions who have lived together for many years in a kind of human mosaic, sometimes peacefully and comfortably and sometimes unfortunately in conflict.