Following recent reports that the Israeli government would be advancing the planning and building of some 7,000 housing units in East Jerusalem, plans for 1,700+ housing units are now being promoted, including a revival of projects in the highly sensitive Palestinian neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah. Several plans will reach the District Planning and Building Committee for discussion as early as tomorrow, July 4th.

The preponderance of new plans is within the established settlements in East Jerusalem, including:

• 948 units in Pisgat Ze’ev, reported last week
• 200 housing units in Ramot
• 270 in Gilo  

The most problematic of the plans involve those being advanced in Sheikh Jarrah, long a hotbed of radical private settlement activity within the Historic Basin.  In addition to putting new facts on the ground in the most contested area of East Jerusalem, several of these plans call for demolition of Palestinian homes and displacement of Palestinian residents, some of whom enjoy protected tenancy status.  Two plans are being promoted by City Councilman Arieh King, also the founder and director of the Israel Land Fund - according to its website, devoted to the “recovery and preservation of Jewish land in East Jerusalem.”

Of key importance is the Glassman Campus (see map), which has been dormant in the planning system for several years.  The plan (TPS 68858) calls for a new 7-story building at the entrance of Sheikh Jarrah designed to serve as a yeshiva and dormitories. Despite the fact that the master plan for the area designates the plot for public buildings to benefit the local population, the Municipality has demonstrated strenuous support for the plan.  In the version now moving forward, space on the first floor has been allocated for services in an apparent effort to resolve this planning dilemma.

The significance of the Glassman project cannot be underestimated. Creation of a residential compound housing dozens of young religious men at the entrance to Sheikh Jarrah will exacerbate simmering tensions in the neighborhood while strengthening settlers’ hold on this Palestinian neighborhood.  Together with King’s projects, as well as plans for a new Bituach Leumi building and office building, these plans will form a block of settlement from the entrance to Sheikh Jarrah deep into the neighborhood.

The batch of plans for 1,700+ housing units now advancing to the District Committee does not include Givat Hamatos – a long recognized red line for the international community – or Har Homa West, a plan yet to be initiated which would link Har Homa with Givat Hamatos to complete Israel’s consolidation of the southern perimeter of East Jerusalem.  

The simultaneous lack of restraint in the Historic Basin through the revival of plans in Sheikh Jarrah is of paramount concern – signaling, as it does, the government’s continued determination to exert its sovereignty over the Historic Basin in advance of prospective negotiations. 

DETAILS OF PLANS NOW ADVANCING TO THE DISTRICT PLANNING AND BUILDING COMMITTEE

Please address all inquiries to:

Betty Herschman

Director of International Relations & Advocacy

Ir Amim (City of Nations/City of Peoples)

Jerusalem

betty@ir-amim.org.il

054-308-5096

www.ir-amim.org.il

Facebook: www.facebook.com/IrAmimEng

Twitter: @IrAmimAlerts