On the participation of Jerusalemites in the elections for the municipality of "Jerusalem" again

With the approaching date of the elections for the municipality of "Jerusalem" on October 31 of this year, the controversy, discussion and tensions were renewed about whether or not to participate by the Palestinian Arab residents of Jerusalem, who hold the "blue" Israeli identity, or who hold Israeli citizenship from the residents of Jerusalem and the Arabs of the Palestinian interior. - 48 - They live in the city of Jerusalem...although Jerusalemite participation in those elections, candidacy and voting, did not exceed 2% at its best during the 56 years of occupation of the city, in compliance with the Palestinian national, religious and popular position, which criminalizes, calls and demands the city's residents not to participate in those The elections are based on principled, national and political principles, because such participation would legitimize the entity’s occupation of that city, recognizing its sovereignty over it, and marketing and identifying with the American position, which moved its country’s embassy in May / 2017 from Tel Aviv to the city of Jerusalem, which means recognizing the city’s annexation For the state of the entity, and in violation of all norms, laws, agreements and decisions of international legitimacy, which considers the city of Jerusalem an occupied city, and that all procedures and what the entity is doing in it in terms of settlement, Judaization and Israeliization, and the enactment of laws and legislation in it are null and void and have no value.

Likewise, it must be said that the entity’s municipality in Jerusalem is one of the most important arms of the entity’s state in implementing racist policies, procedures, decisions, and projects, aimed at uprooting the city’s residents from their land, expelling and displacing them, and practicing all forms of ethnic cleansing against them, not to mention the demolition of their homes, the imprisonment of their education, and the exile their existence and identity.

The traditional Palestinian national, religious and popular position is fixed as it is, and there has been no change or change in it, although some of those who seek to run in the entity municipal elections are from the Arab residents of the city of Jerusalem or from our people in the Palestinian interior - 48 - who hold Israeli citizenship, and who Some of them held several interviews and meetings with Jerusalemite personalities, to seek their opinion and point of view, about the possibility of participating in these elections, under the pretext and pretext that there are civil, economic, social and service rights, for which Jerusalemites pay taxes in various forms, the most important of which is the roofing tax "Arnona", and they do not receive services For example, they pay between 28-30% of the taxes that the entity municipality collects from the city's residents, and they receive only 6-8% for it.

Civil rights are services, economic and social. It is possible to engage in a popular and institutional struggle in order to obtain them, by forming bodies and committees for these goals and objectives. However, it is forbidden to skip the national political reasons and positions, for the reasons that were mentioned previously, as well as those who fabricate arguments and pretexts to justify their participation in the Those elections, that they realize well, that issues with a strategic dimension such as security, settlement, land ownership, structural planning, education and others, are not decided by the municipal council, but rather the decision-maker here in these issues that are considered national security, is the deep state, the security and military institutions and those who control the economy Men of money and business, and therefore participation in those elections from the gate of the demand and its predominance over the national politician is harmful and harmful. Regardless of the position on it, it has not and will not prevent the settlement and Judaization operations that are taking place in full swing against the land of our people there, and for which huge budgets are allocated from the government of the extreme right and Jewish fascism, which seeks to Judaize the Galilee and the Negev and expel and displace our people there, as well, and also is this participation, It affected or changed the position of the state of the entity and its security services that fuel the crimes committed against our people there, where the crime escalates, not as a result of criminal gangs and mafias. These murderers are prevented from reaching them, arresting them, and holding them accountable.

Within this vision, I say that there have been no developments or changes that necessitate a change in the national and political stance regarding participation in the entity’s municipal elections in Jerusalem, for candidacy and election. With the national political position, it must be hardened and strengthened by refusing to participate in the elections for the entity's municipality.

And I believe that some people put forward alternatives to confront the entity’s municipal projects and plans in the city, such as working to revive what is known as the Jerusalem Trust, which existed before the completion of the occupation of the eastern part of the city. , and mental exercise.

The alternative must have solid supports, and the masses must rally around it, and there must be the ability and will to translate it into action on the ground, for which budgets and capabilities are monitored, and we do not need formal alternatives or formal bodies, as this would deepen the state of frustration and despair among Jerusalemites, a large part of whom basically lack confidence in authority, and do not see it as an expression of their aspirations, concerns, and rights, or as a real title for them.

The circumstances and conditions in the city of Jerusalem, and the total war waged by the entity against it, obligated everyone to move away from the quarrels, tensions and internal conflicts, and the theorists or enthusiasts to participate in the entity’s municipal elections, from the gate of the rights of the Jerusalemites, they must review their position and their choice in this direction, the political and national dimension More important than the human rights dimension is the civil claim, and they must not allow the entity to exploit them to say that the Jerusalemites have reached a conviction of the need to change their position on the issue of Jerusalem, and they are moving towards integration into the Israeli economy and society as citizens of this state.