Latest update: 22/02/2010

- Israel - Israeli settlements - Israeli-Palestinian conflict - Palestinian Territories

Jerusalem: the battle for land

A new battle for land has begun in East Jerusalem. Religious Jews are buying up land and houses from their Palestinian owners. Their aim: to make any future division of Jerusalem impossible. But for the families who give in to the temptation to sell, the reprisals can end in death. France 24 takes you behind the scenes to meet both sides of a highly controversial property war.

REPORTERS

Behind the scenes of the Jerusalem battle for land, by Marc de Chalvron

A discreet meeting in an upscale Jerusalem hotel, big sums of cash, death threats and financial blackmail…welcome to the behind the scenes story of the Jerusalem battle.

Arieh King is not a man who hides. This is his strategy: saying out loud what everybody thinks in private. "Money will solve the problem", he says calmly. He has just come out of a discreet meeting with a Palestinian. Filmed by a hidden camera, the self-dubbed Zionist real estate broker in East Jerusalem tries to persuade his Arab interlocutor to leave his land. Hundreds of thousands of shekels are offered to convince him. King’s ultimate objective is political: to install as many Jews as possible in Palestinian areas of the holy city. He’ll stop at nothing, as long as it is legal under Israeli law, to make the Arabs leave and make Jerusalem Jewish.

Mohammed Maraji is the hidden face of this murky world. For the first time, he accepts to be filmed, although not without hesitation and equivocation, and he sometimes even threatens us. He is right to be afraid. Today he voluntarily acknowledges that he was a "collaborator", the person who allowed a group of settlers to buy houses; to obtain land in East Jerusalem. A risky affair.

A Palestinian who sells his house to a Jew quite simply runs the risk of death. And everyone thinks so today: even for his family and the few friends he has left, Mohammed Maraji is indeed guilty of this "crime". He denies it with the little force and energy he has left, saying he never signed the papers. Now betrayed, he defends himself and hits back, slamming the settlers’ methods and setting himself a lifetime objective: to kick out those Jews who today live in "his" house. This broken, lonely man wants revenge on the settlers.

For several weeks, Marc de Chalvron and Annette Young, FRANCE 24’s correspondents in Jerusalem, followed these two men with two separate destinies: one spurred on by ideology, the other broken by years of frustration. A world which is neither black nor white, but grey - this is where the future of Jerusalem is being played out.

25/05/2012 - REPORTERS

Egypt after the revolution

Egypt has just held the first free and democratic presidential election of its history. The run-off will take place mid-June. Since the fall of Mubarak, the country has been run by the military, the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces. France 24 went to meet Egyptian voters.

18/05/2012 - REPORTERS

EXCLUSIVE - Sudan: The Blue Nile’s Forgotten Rebellion

Since September, war has been raging between the Sudanese Revolutionary Front and the Sudanese Armed Forces in the Blue Nile State. FRANCE 24's James André, Chady Chlela and Stéphanie Braquehais went to the frontline with the rebels.

11/05/2012 - REPORTERS

No more 'Made in China'?

They’re the worker bees of China’s labour market – the four million poorly paid men and women who drive Guangdong’s massive textile industry. But now they’re demanding higher pay and better conditions, and in response companies are relocating to countries where labour is even cheaper – like Vietnam, Cambodia and Bangladesh. "Made in China" is a worldwide brand, but are we now witnessing the beginning of its end?

04/05/2012 - REPORTERS

Greece's makeshift economy

With wages slashed, companies going bankrupt and mass unemployment, Greece has borne the full brunt of the economic crisis. Like Yannis, everyone has to find a way to feed their family. Throughout the country, hustles, scams and under-the counter payments are fuelling a black economy in which anything goes.

27/04/2012 - REPORTERS

Black gold brings hope to French Guiana

French Guiana, an overseas department bordering Brazil, is one of France's poorest regions, where unemployment is at a record level. But with oil being discovered, locals are starting to hope for a better life. Will they benefit from the black gold?

Comments (2)

Jerusalem should be united

by Anonyme - 08/03/2010 - 06:21

In my opinion, Jerusalem should be united under Palestinian and Jewish people. They both should have the right to live in the land of their ancestors. I understand the Jewish peoples eagerness to obtain some land, but they do it unfarely. As you see in the video, the woman was kicked out of her own house to give way to settlers. This is clearly criminal and very disgusting. They are just doing the exact same thing as Hitler but on a lager time period.

report abuse

Jerusalem is indeed a Jewish

by Anonyme - 21/02/2010 - 19:55

Jerusalem is indeed a Jewish city and i understand the jewish people's eagerness to settle in their city. One should ask a palestinian or an iranian how they would if Jewish people settled in their holy city like mecca which was theirs by right from the the olden times, I am sure they would do everything in their power get rid of the jewish in their holy city, and i must say that is just how the jewish in Jerusalem would be feeling. And the last thing I don't it was a good idea to take the video of the meeting between the palestinian and King.

report abuse