Sunday, April 18, 2010

Meir Margalit, the angry prophet of Jerusalem City Hall, could no longer stay silent

Haaretz, 29 October 2009, by Nir Hasson

Meir Margalit, the angry prophet of Jerusalem City Hall, could no longer stay silent

The member for Meretz on Jerusalem’s City Council resigned from Nir Barkat’s coalition because of the intensifying demolition of houses in the city’s eastern section: I live in fear that a huge explosion will erupt in East Jerusalem

When Meir Margalit, a member of Jerusalem city council, announced his resignation yesterday from the coalition put together by Nir Barkat, he was on his way to be photographed in front of a demolished house in East Jerusalem’s Silwan neighbourhood. As he stood there, some Palestinian kids threw stones at him and the camera and one stone hit Margalit in the back. “It’s mischief by 6-7 year-olds, he said “but symptomatic of events in East Jerusalem. Today every Jew is considered hostile, and everyone from children to adults seeks a way of expressing their rage”. Margalit maintains that the prevailing anger is strongly connected to the municipality’s continuing policy of demolishing houses – a policy that impelled his resignation from the city coalition.

Margalit is an odd bird in local politics, and in politics altogether. Arnan Yekutieli, the doyen of secular politics in Jerusalem, described Margalit as devoting most of his time to “people who will never vote for him” – that is, Arab citizens of East Jerusalem. The latter, who constitute 35% of the entire population, are hardly represented in city politics, among others because of their choice not to vote in its elections. Instead, the inter-religious dispute fills out local politics. “The haredi-secular dispute is sexier, it’s easier to get voters to rally round its banner, but people make demagogic use of it”, Margalit points out, “it’s been blown out of proportion. Just open the ‘City Mouse’ culture and events guide and you’ll see that the situation of secular Jerusalemites is far better than described”.

Yesterday evening (October 28th) Margalit returned from a visit to Spain. At the airport, on hearing that the municipality had performed one of the largest house-demolitions of previous years – six buildings, where nine families lived – he decided to leave the coalition. In his letter to Barkat, Margalit described his disappointment with the mayor’s conduct: “I know today that in terms of the city’s eastern half, you’re no better than your predecessors who headed the city - and sometimes you outdo them. You have no interest in the city’s eastern half, and a third of Jerusalem’s citizens are simply a burden for you; not entitled to any city services apart from bulldozers”. And in a conversation he added “I would love to have to apologise to Barkat for my words…”

At Jerusalem city hall, the explanation is that there’s no new policy requiring more houses to be demolished – simply an accumulation of cases and the police’s assessment that the street is quiet enough to effect the demolitions. Yakir Segev – in charge of the East Jerusalem desk at city hall - says that in fact the intention is to examine a new policy of granting more building permits and even “pardoning” houses built without permits.

From right to left

Strangely enough, Margalit, 57, started out on the political right. He came to Israel from Argentina as member of a Betar movement core-group, and was among the founders of the Netzarim settlement in the Gaza Strip. His progression leftwards began, he says, after his injury during the Yom Kippur War, and ended on the left edge of the Meretz movement. The Jerusalem branch of Meretz and the faction’s two others members, do not appreciate Margalit’s step and have no intention of following him into the opposition. “I understand Meir”, said Yossef Allalo, deputy-mayor, “this is a very important issue for us, but with all due respect there are other important issues where we are alone in the struggle”. Yesterday the mayor threatened that if Margalit left the coalition, the position of deputy-mayor would be removed from Meretz and transferred to Shas. Following Barkat’s announcement, Margalit is considering resigning completely from the municipality.

In tandem with his position as city council member, Margalit is also a senior member of the Israeli Committee against House Demolitions. His critics on the right-wing accuse him of using his position in the municipality to leak information to left-wing organizations and – more seriously – to international organisations. “The time has come; he should have gone previously” remarked Elisha Pelleg, a Likud member of the council, adding that “he may have been part of the municipality, while working against it and its policies. It’s been said of him that he discredits the city’s name”. Pelleg also said that he respects Margalit’s step, in personal terms.

Margalit's resignation from the city’s management is not expected to endanger Nir Barkat’s coalition in any way, since it consists of 30 out of the 31 members of the council. However, Margalit feels that he had no alternative. “I live in fear that a huge explosion will erupt in East Jerusalem. Various processes are piling up – the separation fence, the confiscation of identity cards, the end to family unifications, the demolition of houses, and the economic recession. The explosion won’t start on the Temple Mount, but with something minor, a soldier who places his hand where he shouldn’t, or shoves someone needlessly. It will break out because of the anger that’s building up. There’s nothing new in what I’m saying, anyone who’s familiar with East Jerusalem is aware of it”.

The response from Nir Barkat’s office was: “The Mayor invited Councillor Margalit to a discussion and made it clear that the city’s policy is to advance solutions in the field of building permits, and the municipal effort to upgrade services provided to the city’s residents as a whole – in the west and the east, alike – alongside the city’s duty to implement court rulings and to help the municipality to perform them. The combination of promoting solutions and implementing court rulings will improve law and order – for the well-being of all citizens. It was agreed that Margalit will consider revoking his resignation and will announce his decision within 48 hours”.