Seminar for Government Ministries and the Jerusalem Municipality on the subject of East Jerusalem

On June 23, 2022, a seminar was held for government ministries and the Jerusalem Municipality on the subject of East Jerusalem, at the Tantur Ecumenical Institute – University of Notre Dame.

The seminar was a kick-off for drawing up the next government plan for investment in East Jerusalem. The next five-year plan is being led by four partners – the Ministry of Jerusalem and Heritage, the Jerusalem Municipality, the East Jerusalem Development Co. Ltd. and the Jerusalem Institute for Policy Research.

The aim of the seminar was to learn lessons from the current five-year plan now coming to a close, on narrowing socio-economic gaps and economic development in East Jerusalem (3790), and group thinking toward drawing up the upcoming five-year plan. Representatives of relevant government ministries, the municipality and additional parties related to the decisions were invited.

The conference opened with greetings by Assaf Yazdi, Deputy Director General of the Ministry of Jerusalem and Heritage; Yaron Toren from the Jerusalem municipality’s Division of Policy and Strategic Planning; Dr. David Koren, CEO of the Jerusalem Institute for Policy Research; Avraham Burg, former Speaker of the Knesset, who enlightened the audience on the venue where the event was taking place.

What have we learned from research on 3790?

After the opening words, four short lectures were held, presenting test cases for various topics, and lessons learned from the current five-year plan (3790) – 

• Quality of life survey results | Yaron Toren, Division of Policy and Strategic Planning, Jerusalem municipality
• A view of employment and employees | Benny Fefferman and Netta Porzycki, Jerusalem Institute for Policy Research
• What have we learned about integration into quality employment? | Efrat Saar, Jerusalem Institute for Policy Research
• Provision of health services | Dganit Levi and Maliha Zugair, Jerusalem Institute for Policy Research

Planning process for the upcoming government resolution

The main focus of the seminar was the guidelines for drawing up the next five-year plan.

Assaf Yazdi, Deputy Director General of the Ministry of Jerusalem and Heritage, opened by presenting the leading points which, in the ministry’s view, must guide formulation of the new plan. 

Ehud Prawer, head of the Society and Populations team at the Institute and Moshe Kaptowsky, head of the Five-Year Plan team at the East Jerusalem Development Co. Ltd., detailed the outline of the work plan. They strongly emphasized the need not to copy what appears in the previous plan, but to open everything up to renewed thought, and the need to bring in the voices on the ground into the plan – through consultation and collaboration that is as broad and as professional as possible. 

Immediately after presentation of the work plan work outline, the participants broke up into round-table discussions on different areas – school and higher education; economics, commerce, tourism and employment; Hebrew language; transportation and infrastructure; quality of life and services to residents.

At each table, background material was handed out to participants by topic, as well as fact sheets presenting a general picture via a collection of statistical data on Jerusalem, and in particular on its Arab population.

• School and Higher Education | Dr. David Koren, Director General Jerusalem Institute for Policy Research

The discussion was accompanied by a document on the school system in East Jerusalem

Read Document (Hebrew)

• Economics, Commerce, Tourism and Employment | Benny Fefferman, Senior Economics Researcher at the Jerusalem Institute for Policy Research & Masada Jabar, head of the employment domain in the five-year plan team, East Jerusalem Development Co. Ltd.

  The discussion was accompanied by two documents –
  One on employment and barriers to integration from a neighborhood perspective Read Document (Hebrew)

  The other on employment of academic women in East Jerusalem Read Document (Hebrew)

• Hebrew Language | Moshe Kaptowsky, head of the five-year plan team, East Jerusalem Development Co. Ltd.

The discussion was accompanied by a document on Hebrew proficiency among East Jerusalem residents Read Document (Hebrew) 

• Transportation and Infrastructure | Yaron Toren, Division of Policy and Strategic Planning, Jerusalem Municipality

The discussion was accompanied by a document on transportation in East Jerusalem Read Document (Hebrew) 

• Quality of Life and Services to Residents | Hagit Shayovitz & Racheli Nebenzahl, Division of Policy and Strategic Planning, Jerusalem Municipality

The discussion was accompanied by a document on quality of life in East Jerusalem Read Document (Hebrew)

Many additional discussions are being planned as a follow-up to the seminar, on topics that have not yet been delved into, such as planning and construction, or youth, where the goal is to include as many voices as possible of relevant parties in the eastern part of the city – public representatives, civil social organizations, security entities, government ministries not involved in implementation of 3790, and more. 

The purpose is to place a well-formed decision on the government table, formulated after in-depth thought, at the beginning of 2023.