Dorit Biton
Photo: Yaron Brenner
Young women in east Jerusalem
Photo: Haim Zach
62 percent of east Jerusalem residents poor
Israeli capital one of country’s poorest cities. Majority of east Jerusalem residents, children under poverty line
Thirty-two percent of families in Jerusalem are poor; the situation in east Jerusalem is particularly dire, with 62 percent of its families living under the poverty line.
In total, 56.6 percent of children in the capital live below the poverty line. In east Jerusalem, this number reaches a whopping 75.8 percent.
According to data obtained from the city’s Municipal Welfare Department, 22 percent of east Jerusalem residents, some 31,600 people, are receiving social services.
“The needy population in the eastern part of the city is getting bigger, and we are allocating many funds there in an attempt to even out conditions. That leaves less for the western part of the city,” explained Dorit Biron, head of Research, Planning and Development at Jerusalem’s Municipal Welfare Department.
The city’s budget for the department is NIS 388 million ($98 million). “This may sound like a big budget, but since Jerusalem is a city with a special population, it isn’t enough to answer everyone’s needs,” Biron said.
Sources in the municipality put partial blame for the situation on the second Intifada, which broke out in October 2000. Since then, many of Jerusalem’s Arab residents have lost their jobs in the travel industry, and can no longer provide for their families.
“I’m worried that the government isn’t aware enough of the processes occurring in Jerusalem – both with regards to the different populations, and with regards to the increasing distress,” Biron said.
“The government needs to promote a policy that develops equal conditions in the city for the entire population. That’s when we’ll really see a massive change, an attraction of the strong population, and the true unification of the city,” Biron concluded.
