Of the 300 or so civil society organizations operating in east Jerusalem, 188 vigorously oppose any dialogue with Israel, Ben Avrahami of the Jerusalem Institute for Policy Research reveals in a new study.
Avrahami, who formerly served as an advisor on east Jerusalem issues in the Jerusalem Municipality, mapped the activity of some 300 civil society groups operating in the east of the city. He determined that 244 of the groups actively operate, and another 60 or so others provide support or funding for, activities in the fields of community service, sports and education, as well as projects focusing on employment, economic issues, culture, health services, and urban planning and development.
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Avrahami sought to identify groups that could be brought into dialogue with Israeli officialdom, with emphasis on the Jerusalem Municipality and the government ministries that are involved in the implementation of a five-stage plan to improve conditions in east Jerusalem.
However, Avrahami found that of the approximately 300 organizations he surveyed, 188 vigorously oppose any cooperation with Israel, and that another 79 officially oppose dialogue with Israel but work with Israeli authorities on the quiet. Only 34 of the groups are prepared to hold any degree of dialogue with Israeli authorities.
"As the local dimension to a certain extent overtakes the national dimension, the residents of east Jerusalem find themselves freer than they were in the past from ties to the political establishment in Ramallah and more willing to form an independent civil society with a clear east Jerusalem agenda," Avrahami writes.
"Today, the young generation in east Jerusalem is more willing than in the past to accept support from the Jerusalem Municipality and other Israeli institutions, to be in contact with these institutions, and even ask them for rights and services," he notes.
According to Avrahami's findings, EU nations – along with Switzerland and Britain – serve as the largest source of these groups' funding, providing some 20% of the money for their work.
The second-largest source of funding, Avrahami found, comes from the Palestinians, who supply about 15% of the total funding. The Palestinian money comes mostly from institutions based in the West Bank.
Turkey, a non-Arab Muslim country, provides about 10% of these groups' funding.
Wealthy east Jerusalemite donors contribute additional funds to the civil society operations, as do various UN agencies.
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