The controversial initiative is designed to entrench Israeli "ownership"
of East Jerusalem, which was captured by Israel in the Six Day War of 1967
and subsequently annexed - a move that has not been recognised by the
international community.
The bill was introduced by Tzippi Hotovely, a prominent hawk in the Likud
party of Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli
prime minister. It is understood to have the support of a majority in the
Israeli parliament, the Knesset, which has been accused of passing a series
of anti-Palestinian
laws in recent years.
Under the bill, Israeli television channels would be instructed to refer to
the suburbs only by their new Hebrew names.
"The goal of the initiative is to strengthen the connection with
Jerusalem by making it obligatory to give Hebrew names to neighbourhoods in
the capital with Jewish residents," Miss Hotovely wrote in her proposal
for the bill. "It is important that the neighbourhoods no longer be
called by their Arab names."
Several dozen Israeli settlers have managed to gain a foothold in Arab
suburbs, leading to frequent clashes with their Palestinian neighbours.
Earlier this month, a sniper shot dead a Palestinian boy with a bullet fired
from the fourth floor window of a settler building in the suburb of Silwan,
which is to be renamed "Kfar Hashiloah" if the bill is passed.
Sheikh Jarrah, the scene of weekly protests by Israelis opposed to the
occupation of Palestinian territory, would become "Simon the Just",
after a Jewish high priest of antiquity who is said to be buried there.
Most Israeli residents of East Jerusalem live in purpose-built settlements on
the periphery rather than in Arab suburbs like Sheikh Jarrah.
Left-wing Israeli activists denounced the proposed bill as unworkable and
pointed to attempts to rename former Arab suburbs in Jewish West Jerusalem
that have failed to become part of common parlance.
"This is part of the attempt by the right to create a fantasy land that
might go down well in the US Congress but will not be accepted anywhere else,"
said Daniel Seidemann, whose Ir Amim foundation works to further "Jewish-Arab
coexistence" in Jerusalem. "It is another act of desperation."
