On the left side of the Khan al-Zayt market, in the middle of Bab al-Amoud road in the Old City of Jerusalem, the Arab Hotel, one of the city's landmarks, is surrounded by antique houses and shops, famous for its archaeological architectural domes, receiving local visitors, Arab and foreign tourists who have been arriving since 1984.
The hotel, which dates back to the Ottoman period, has narrow archaeological stairs that are not only used by tourists and visitors. Israeli settlers' associations and real estate brokers are always frequented by foreign investors or investors and express their desire to invest in the hotel through renting or buying it. The author has fictional sums in return, but he categorically refuses.
What is witnessing «Arab Hotel», is a series repeated in the hotels of the old city, including «Hotel Mount of Olives», «Zahra», «Hashemi» and «Golden Dome», which dates back to long decades, and in various forms, It is under the spotlight of the settler associations, for their control, because they are located near the Al-Aqsa Mosque and in important historical areas in Jerusalem.
Settlement under the pretext of investment
Despite the rejection of offers by hotel owners, the settlement associations have not stopped their plan to control them and are making every effort to do so. In June of this year, the Israeli Supreme Court recognized the health of the hotels «New Imperial» and «Petra», To the left of the main western entrance to the Old City through the Hebron Gate in favor of the "Ateret Cohenim" settlement.
The two hotels are located at the front of Bab Al-Khalil, with a great view of Omar Bin Al-Khattab Square, opposite the ancient Jerusalem Citadel, and in a location that leads smoothly to the Western Wall. The Old City and Al Aqsa Mosque.
Emad Abu Diab, owner of the Arab Hotel in the Old City of Jerusalem, which he inherited from his grandfather and father, says that members of the settlement associations are always hesitant under the mask of investors. As foreign tourists, sometimes as investors from outside Palestine.
Abu Diab confirms that all investors and brokers who visit the hotels of the Old City are sent by Israeli settler associations, most notably Ateret Cohenim and Elad, as part of its efforts to expand its settlement around the Old City and achieve a Jewish majority.
expansion
Ziad Hammouri, director of the Jerusalem Center for Economic and Social Rights, asserts that Ateret Cohenim and Elad are working non-stop and are expanding in all the alleys of the Old City, adding that the two associations are an extension of Israeli settlement policies. With the work of official Israeli bodies, including the Antiquities Authority and the Nature Protection Authority.
He points out that Elad and Ateret Cohenim have large staff in various disciplines, and have committees with different responsibilities to reach their goal of controlling Palestinian real estate and annexing it to the interests of settlement expansion.
Hammouri tells Emirates Today that hotel owners in the Old City of Jerusalem categorically refuse to sell them to settlement associations, but that these associations are developing new ways to include them in their control, where they are keen to form an extended chain of brokers, visiting hotels as Investment.
Taxes and harassment
The Old City of Jerusalem has 10 hotels distributed among its neighborhoods, and these hotels have great historical value, gained from the ancient construction and old, but they suffer high taxes and multidisciplinary, imposed by the Municipality of Israel in Jerusalem, and more than suffered by hotel owners tax arnona, which is collected regularly without Receive any services in return, according to owner of the Mount of Olives Sufian Abu Ghannam.
In addition, the Israeli incitement against hotels in the Old City, and to convince tourists that it is a dangerous war zone.
The owner of the «Mount of Olives Hotel», that the hotels of the Old City, suffer from the accumulation of taxes imposed by Israel, pointing out that the one hotel taxes imposed on it to about one million shekels, while not being able to provide needs, due to the high volume of taxes, And Israeli practices.
Abu Ghnam stresses the need for hotel owners to continue to work, defying all the harassment, to preserve the identity of the Old City, and to thwart the plans of the settlement associations in controlling the hotels of the Old City in Jerusalem.