להורדה - מכון ירושלים לחקר ישראל

כל הזכויות שמורות למכון ירושלים לחקר ישראלA Vision for Jerusalem:Plan for Revitalizing Jerusalem, the Capital of IsraelGur Ofer and the team of "A Vision for Jerusalem" 1AbstractJerusalem, the capital of Israel and of the Jewish people, encompasses withinits borders precious assets and sites of world heritage, including historical,cultural and religious places holy to Jews, Christians, and Muslims. The HebrewUniversity and other major medical centers have created an agglomeration of topinstitutions of higher education, scientific research, and learning in all fields. Theconcentration of most government bodies of Israel and of the Jewish people addsto the centrality and economic status of the city. Yet despite all this, we have beenwitness to a process of serious deterioration in the social and economic standingof Jerusalem, and with them its image and status.In recent years Jgrusalem has been ranked among the cities of Israel withthe lowest level of income per capita. Having been almost equal to Tel Avivback in 1980, it is now down to 60 percent of Tel Aviv's level. According to asocioeconomic index compiled by the Central Bureau of Statistics, since 1995Jerusalem deteriorated from the 59 th to 111 th place among towns in Israel leavingabove it former development towns like Dimona and Beit Shean. Over the lastthree decades the flow out of the city of young and economically strong populationhas grown and the number of new immigrants choosing to settle in Jerusalem hasdwindled.A primary cause of the retreat of Jerusalem is its special demographic structureand its dynamics over time. The re-unification of Jerusalem in 1967 incorporatedinto it a large Palestinian population that has since grown rapidly both becauseof a high fertility rate and inward migration from the West Bank. At the same1See the Table of Contents for a list of participants. Shimon Livshitz coordinated the work on theproject.v