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Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat.
 (Daniel Bar-On / Jini)
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Last update - 09:47 29/06/2009
After U.S. pressure, Barkat to halt 70% of East Jerusalem demolitions
By Nir Hasson, Haaretz Correspondent
Tags: israel news, palestinians 

Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat is set to announce a plan to freeze demolition orders on around 70 percent of unauthorized construction in the east of the city, Haaretz has learned. The municipality would also negotiate compensation terms with families evicted from the remaining 30 percent.

The plan represents a departure from earlier statements, in which Barkat spoke out against illegal construction by Palestinians in East Jerusalem.

According to various estimates, Jerusalem has some 20,000 unauthorized buildings, home to around 180,000 people. The demolition of each house requires considerable legal efforts and a heavy police presence, amid fears that protests by residents and housing activists can escalate into riots. In recent years, the municipality did not have the time or resources to demolish more than 100 houses a year.
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"Since the mayor took office, the municipality has been working on housing planning in the east of the city, which includes increasing construction opportunities in some areas, expanding housing in others and stopping illegal construction in areas where no construction is allowed," the mayor's office said in a statement.

"The reality on the ground is being taken into consideration in the planning process when possible. City Hall will present the plans when the time is right."

Upon taking office in November, Barkat spoke out several times against unauthorized construction, which soon provoked a clash between him and U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. In March, Barkat told reporters that Clinton's statements against house demolitions in East Jerusalem were "air" and that avoiding demolitions could "send the wrong message out to lawbreakers."

He was quoted by The Associated Press as saying he rejected "the claims we're throwing people out of their homes. If you're building a house without the appropriate permits you need to be prepared to suffer the consequences." Sources close to Barkat said they were "astonished" at the forcefulness of the American reaction to what they perceived to be a purely municipal matter.

The deputy mayor for East Jerusalem affairs, Yakir Segev, who is preparing the plan with Barkat, said it was the permits policy that pushed residents to build illegally, as only 18 permits were issued in 2008.

"To get a construction permit in East Jerusalem you have to be more than a saint," said Segev. On the other hand, he said the municipality simply did not have the means to enforce all the demolition orders, and that there was no formal way to resolve the crisis.

Gray houses

Sources at City Hall told Haaretz that these two factors prompted the municipality to begin working on a new solution. The program was inspired by the Goldberg Committee's report, which recommended the legalization of certain unauthorized Bedouin villages in the Negev.

In the Jerusalem plan, retroactive construction permits will not be handed out, but homes will be listed as "gray houses" - they will stay illegal but all legal actions against them will cease. Their new status will allow City Hall to collect municipal taxes, which will be invested in a separate municipal company to improve East Jerusalem, while the residents will be able to legally sell their houses if they wish.

Owners of houses that do not receive formal status will have the chance to take part in negotiations on voluntary eviction with compensation. Barkat is currently seeking a project manager for the program. Sources in the municipality said the role had been offered to former Meretz MK Ran Cohen, but Cohen declined.

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  • Jerusalem publishes plan to boost housing for city's Arabs
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      1.   Totally unacceptable 04:18  |  Frank 29/06/09
      2.   Illegals 04:25  |  howiej 29/06/09
      3.   Jerusalem 05:06  |  John 29/06/09
      4.   hey howie..EJ is OCCUPIED territory 05:58  |  jake 29/06/09
      5.   :( 06:42  |  Matitiyahu 29/06/09
      6.   how about the gush katif familes? 07:14  |  RogerL 29/06/09
      7.   compensate lawbreakers, subversion: is olmert mayor now? 07:38  |  dante 29/06/09
      8.   Barkat, hurrah! In the nick-of-time! But wish it were 100%... 07:40  |  Esther 29/06/09
      9.   to howiej #2 08:16  |  zeev 29/06/09
      10.   Just to point out the obvious to `Frank` et al 08:23  |  Colin Wright 29/06/09
      11.   What about the settler rabble and their antics? 08:35  |  Maureen Ann 29/06/09
      12.   Barack, Barkat, Barak and Mubarak 09:03  |  Chin-barackshang 29/06/09
      13.   Democratic voters 09:10  |  Frank Too 29/06/09
      14.   18 building permits in all of east Jerusalem last year? 09:15  |  Apa 29/06/09
      15.   This prevents outrage & protests outside Israeli embassies 09:35  |  Dutch 29/06/09
      16.   #4, zeev 09:47  |  Cipora Julianna Kohn 29/06/09
      17.   DIVIDE JERUSALEM INTO 3. THAN LETS FACE PROBLEMS AS 1. 09:50  |  Atilla Karagözoğlu 29/06/09
      18.   Good Decision 10:06  |  J 29/06/09
      19.   Housing for families and Single mothers 10:22  |  Nofia Shem Tov 29/06/09
      20.   #1.frank.No Ennemy Pressures but LEGAL PRESSURES 11:35  |  Hamzah 29/06/09
      21.   #4 Zeev. Thank you for an honest assessment. 11:44  |  Adam 29/06/09
      22.   #1 Frank, Is that the enemy who gives you 3 billion 11:55  |  Labhras 29/06/09
      23.   Leftists not demanding that the Rule of Law be followed? 11:57  |  Binyamin Dissen 29/06/09
      24.   East Jerusalem 12:05  |  Nili 29/06/09
      25.   The injustice of Israel`s existence 12:14  |  Matty Groves 29/06/09
      26.   Two steps backward, one step forward, is still retrograde, Barak! 12:14  |  Ivar 29/06/09
      27.   So only unauthorized Jewish homes will be evicted 12:33  |  IW 29/06/09
      28.   Cipora #16... do you really think we should build our future... 12:56  |  Esther 29/06/09
      29.   #23 Matty Grove (It`s a Fairport Convention song) 14:03  |  Mike B 29/06/09
      30.   clinton 14:29  |  patriot 29/06/09
      31.   I AM DISAPOINTED WITH BARKAT HE STARTED OFF SO WELL 14:38  |  zionist forever 29/06/09
      32.   Mike B 15:10  |  Matty Groves 29/06/09
      33.   housing 15:39  |  me again 29/06/09
      34.   to CJ Kohn #16 - 2nd try 15:39  |  zeev 29/06/09
      35.   23 15:43  |  zionist forever 29/06/09
      36.   CJK # 16 15:47  |  American in NY 29/06/09
      37.   poor Arabs 16:10  |  oz 29/06/09
      38.   East Jerusalem =Israel 16:17  |  Tarzan 29/06/09
      39.   #22 Labarse Any comment on the Romanians 16:24  |  Ari ben Yisrael 29/06/09
      40.   the irish is back 17:19  |  patriot 29/06/09
      41.   to Tarzan #38 17:52  |  zeev 29/06/09
      42.   Ari Ben Israel--Suggest you ask G Brown-- 18:00  |  lABHRAS 29/06/09
      43.   Ari Ben Israel--Suggest you ask G Brown-- 18:01  |  Labhras 29/06/09
      44.   i don`t care 18:27  |  ehud 29/06/09
      45.   The irony of a half-way measure 19:10  |  Mark Lincoln 29/06/09
      46.   Ari Ben Israel: they clean their sins here, in Israel, Europeans 19:18  |  Israeli citizen 29/06/09
      47.   Labhras : to give? To give what? 20:01  |  Marco Mauas 29/06/09
      48.   Just accept as a given 20:21  |  RfaelMoshe 29/06/09
      49.   70% 21:15  |  OZ 29/06/09
      50.   The Jews make the laws that Arab houses are "illegal" 23:13  |  james 29/06/09
      51.   To people like matty groves.Please learn history.The pals had no 23:29  |  ks 29/06/09
      52.   Response to Comment #1 23:51  |  Charles H Nadler 29/06/09
      53.   Representing Jerusalem 00:23  |  Mizrahi 30/08/09
      54.   #44: Ehud 00:25  |  Mizrahi 30/06/09
      55.   Earthquake will settle this dispute 00:40  |  Dean Blake 30/06/09
      56.   to RfaelMoshe #48 02:04  |  zeev 30/06/09
      57.   #48 RfaelMoshe 03:53  |  Space 30/06/09
      58.   #23 Where you go wrong, Binyamin Dissen 08:09  |  Johnboy 30/06/09
      59.   #16 A pointless point, Cipora 08:21  |  Johnboy 30/06/09
      60.   to RfaelMoshe #48 - 2nd try 09:44  |  zeev 30/06/09
      61.   mayor attended Ramadan festival 18:19  |  stan squires 24/08/09
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