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Israel plans to build a new neighborhood near Atarot in East Jerusalem. (Jini Archives)
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PMO: 'Nothing decided' on new E. J'lem Jewish neighborhood
By Meron Rapoport, Haaretz Correspondent
Tags: Israel, Atarot, U.S. 

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's office distanced itself Wednesday from a Housing Ministry decision to begin planning a new Jewish neighborhood in East Jerusalem.

"Nothing has been decided and nothing has been authorized," said Mark Regev, Olmert's spokesman.

Housing Minister Ze'ev Boim has given the green light for the plan, despite the fact that senior American officials say Israel had promised not to move forward with the project.
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The neighborhood, near Atarot, is slated to contain more than 10,000 apartments, making it the largest Jewish neighborhood in East Jerusalem. Earlier this month, however, the United States objected to a plan to build a mere 300 apartments in another East Jerusalem neighborhood, Har Homa, with U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice saying it did not contribute to the peace process.

Boim met last week with the head of the Israel Lands Administration, Ya'akov Efrati, and asked him for a permit to start the planning process. The neighborhood, which includes the abandoned Atarot Airport, is near the Qalandiyah checkpoint and the separation fence. It was annexed to Jerusalem after the 1967 Six-Day War.

The ILA told Haaretz that Efrati plans to accede to Boim's request, but is awaiting a formal application from the Housing Ministry before issuing the permit. The ministry said it intends "to examine the feasibility of the planning for the site," but that no final decision has been made on how many houses will be built.

The plan to build 10,000 to 15,000 apartments on the site, which Haaretz reported earlier this year, was prepared by the Reches-Eshkol architectural firm. A source involved in discussions of the plan told Haaretz that it was shown to him by the head of the Housing Ministry's Jerusalem District, Moshe Merhavia.

According to the source, a major impetus for the plan was the fact that most of this land was owned by Jews before 1948, when Jordan conquered it in the War of Independence. The remainder is owned by the ILA, private Palestinian landowners and the Custodian of Absentee Property.

Another reason, the source said, was to "create a buffer" between the Palestinian neighborhoods in the area and the Atarot industrial zone, where "a growing proportion of the businesses are owned by Palestinians or Israeli Arabs."

One version of the Reches-Eshkol plan includes digging a tunnel to link the new neighborhood with the settlement of Tel Zion, on the other side of the separation fence.

Asked for a response, the Housing Ministry initially said that it has thus far "not dealt with planning the site at Atarot at all." When informed that Merhavia allegedly had presented the plan, the ministry said that "due to his position, [Merhavia] attended the Jerusalem municipality's meetings on the plan," but that the municipality was the plan's sponsor.

Deputy Mayor of Jerusalem Yehoshua Pollack, who heads the city's planning and building committee, said the city commissioned no plans for Atarot during his five years on the job, and he believes the plan was commissioned by the ministry. Nevertheless, he said he supports the plan, saying that since the Safdie plan to expand Jerusalem westward was nixed earlier this year, eastward expansion is the only solution for the capital's severe housing shortage.

The ministry said its decision to examine the plan's feasibility stems from the same reason: the urgent need to build more housing in Jerusalem.

Reches-Eshkol declined to say who commissioned the plan.

When Haaretz first reported the plan early this year, the U.S. State Department demanded explanations of Israel, and a senior American official later told Haaretz that "senior Israeli officials" had promised him the government would not move forward with the plan. In April, director general of the Prime Minister's Office Ra'anan Dinur wrote MK Meir Porush (United Torah Judaism) that "at this time, there is no justification for building a residential neighborhood on the [Atarot] airport's lands."

But earlier this month, when the diplomatic storm over Har Homa erupted, Boim supported the planned construction, saying: "Har Homa is within Jerusalem's municipal borders, to which Israeli law applies, and therefore, there is no barrier to building there." Since Atarot is also within Jerusalem's municipal borders, the same argument presumably applies.

According to a plan drafted by Vice Premier Haim Ramon, however, Atarot is slated to become Palestinian once a peace agreement is signed.




Related articles:
  • Housing Min. rejects Rice warning against E. J'lem construction
  • Har Homa homes mar new talks
  • Civil Admin:Hundreds of homes okayed for West Bank
  • Three East J'lem neighborhoods petition against separation fence
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      1.   Occupy Israel. 03:18  |  POP 19/12/07
      2.   Once again, Israel is showing true colors 03:24  |  Motti 19/12/07
      3.   Israeli Land 03:37  |  Steven 19/12/07
      4.   Ramon can & will be kicked out, Atarot is & will stay Israeli! 03:37  |  Marabu 19/12/07
      5.   New Apartments 03:37  |  Edifice 19/12/07
      6.   It`s an Apartheid X-Mas for JEWS ONLY 03:50  |  POP 19/12/07
      7.   Apartheid Xmas 04:18  |  Edifice 19/12/07
      8.   Pop your sad. 04:25  |  Levi 19/12/07
      9.   Jerusalem is Eternal, Indivisible Capital-City of Israel 04:25  |  Brod 19/12/07
      10.   End Arab Occupation of Israel 04:26  |  Levi 19/12/07
      11.   Build more and more---one state solution 04:27  |  Ben 19/12/07
      12.   The US moves further to the Arab side 04:36  |  Chick 19/12/07
      13.   People of the book? No, people of the lie 04:38  |  Tim 19/12/07
      14.   Only 10,000? He must be some kind of Leftist! 04:41  |  Dr. L. Brnd 19/12/07
      15.   it was Jewish land pre-`48. so what`s the big deal? 04:42  |  Richard S 19/12/07
      16.   Little Freak POP take a hike 04:46  |  James Kevin O`Leary 19/12/07
      17.   BUILD ISRAEL .. IT`S NOT THEIR LAND AND 04:46  |  GZLives 19/12/07
      18.   no wonder! 04:54  |  Space 19/12/07
      19.   Once again, Israel pisses in the face of America 04:55  |  peacelover 19/12/07
      20.   new settlement - I`m ashamed 04:59  |  Michael 19/12/07
      21.   Brod 05:08  |  Michael 19/12/07
      22.   #11 one state 05:20  |  bri 19/12/07
      23.   Why don`t you build your temple ? 05:23  |  observer 19/12/07
      24.   Testing Patience 05:38  |  Paulo 19/12/07
      25.   after Annapolis..... 06:14  |  rm 19/12/07
      26.   Israel Owns the USA 06:21  |  fred 19/12/07
      27.   Criminals, as always! 06:23  |  Niva dos santos 19/12/07
      28.   When will you losers realize... 06:28  |  ramzey 19/12/07
      29.   #24..you are spot on... 06:34  |  ramzey 19/12/07
      30.   You Guys Don`t Get It 06:39  |  Tony 19/12/07
      31.   #3, STEVEN, who`s knowledge? 06:52  |  VIPER 19/12/07
      32.   Continue building 07:06  |  Shekel 19/12/07
      33.   Land 07:06  |  Bill 19/12/07
      34.   New Homes in Jerusalem 07:15  |  Issam 19/12/07
      35.   Making peace impossible 07:17  |  Leser 19/12/07
      36.   POP "A twisted gross society" 07:49  |  POP !! 19/12/07
      37.   Good, keep building in Yerushaliem. 08:13  |  Avraham 19/12/07
      38.   #15 Richard S can`t see what the fuss is.... 08:16  |  Johnboy 19/12/07
      39.   More thievery 08:20  |  Steve the Pals. 19/12/07
      40.   G-ds lying people 08:55  |  muslim 19/12/07
      41.   Dear Israel, if you feel like having too many friends..... 08:55  |  Swiss (Dino) 19/12/07
      42.   Avraham get a clue...just cause you want it dont make it yours 09:01  |  muslim 19/12/07
      43.   #28 ramzey the sf pharoah knows less than f all 09:05  |  victor hardman 19/12/07
      44.   Jerusalem IS ETETERNALLY ONE CITY! 09:16  |  ILI 19/12/07
      45.   Tony dreaming: all bets are off for sure 09:20  |  mohammed 19/12/07
      46.   victor hardman or little putz? 09:24  |  mohammed 19/12/07
      47.   Mr Magoo Israel still can only see its backyard 09:25  |  Clickfool 19/12/07
      48.   # 11 Chick 09:30  |  Baruch Hashem 19/12/07
      49.   LAND SWAP way to go.Starting with Um Al Fahm 09:50  |  PETER SM 19/12/07
      50.   The ARABs get their 90+% of the West Bank.They do not dictate 09:55  |  PETER SM 19/12/07
      51.   Lebensraum Redux 09:56  |  Yaakov Sullivan 19/12/07
      52.   The gauntlet is cast, America! IN YOUR FACE! 09:58  |  Ivar 19/12/07
      53.   POP is so right!!! 09:59  |  ERIK 19/12/07
      54.   What is up with all Liberal, Self-Haters here? 10:00  |  The Crusader 19/12/07
      55.   No "Jewish State" will be acceptable... 10:02  |  Erik 19/12/07
      56.   And People wonder 10:05  |  Mike McKenna 19/12/07
      57.   Oh Little Town of Bethlehem 10:06  |  Clickfool 19/12/07
      58.   2-faced America 10:06  |  Chanalau, Tova 19/12/07
      59.   2-faced America 10:06  |  Chanalau, Tova 19/12/07
      60.   What Would It Take for the US?? 10:15  |  Yaakov Sullivan 19/12/07
      61.   Israel`s pyromania 10:21  |  musi 19/12/07
      62.   #41, Dino 10:22  |  Cipora Julianna Kohn 19/12/07
      63.   Motti, they really do know what they`re doing 10:24  |  Yaakov Sullivan 19/12/07
      64.   Marabu feels invincible 10:28  |  Yaakov Sullivan 19/12/07
      65.   rm, it has guarantees 10:44  |  Yaakov Sullivan 19/12/07
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      69.   #47 clickfools cracked crystal ball !! 10:59  |  victor hardman 19/12/07
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      72.   business is business as usual 11:14  |  ofer yu can`t refuse 19/12/07
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      74.   # 68 Nepthaly 11:36  |  Swiss (Dino) 19/12/07
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