Palestinians face discrimination in East Jerusalem: Israeli Knesset committee

By Abdelraouf Arnaout

JERUSALEM (AA) - Israel practices discrimination against Palestinians in East Jerusalem in comparison with Jewish residents, according to an Israeli parliamentary committee on Thursday.

The Knesset (Israel’s parliament) State Control Committee said there is a gap in the services provided to Arab residents of Jerusalem who constitute one-third of its population compared with Jewish residents.

"The neighborhoods of East Jerusalem are burning, and, unfortunately, the Minister of National Security [Itamar Ben-Gvir] is conducting himself like an elephant in a china shop, and is causing uninvolved individuals to become involved,” Mickey Levy, chair of the committee, said.

“His irresponsible behavior is not serving the security of the State of Israel and may bring about severe events," he warned.

In recent weeks, Ben-Gvir, the head of the far-right Jewish Strength party, has decided to expand the scope of Palestinian home demolitions in occupied East Jerusalem.

The parliamentary committee said the poverty rate in East Jerusalem stands at 75%, compared with 29% among the city's Jewish residents, along with a shortage of some 2,000 classrooms in the city.

"If the state does not want to lose the eastern part of the city, the [Israeli] government must provide services to them," Levy said.

*Writing by Ahmed Asmar in Ankara