Committee advances plans for new Jerusalem homes beyond Green Line

The Jerusalem District Planning Committee advances a 1,465-unit plan for a new neighborhood in the capital, half of which would be over the Green Line.

The new neighborhood is being planned for the land between the Jewish neighborhoods of Givat Hamatos and Har Homa, both of which are located beyond the Green Line.

Left-wing Israeli groups and Palestinians oppose Israeli construction in East Jerusalem, which they hope will one day become the capital of a Palestinian state. Right-wing Israelis, who oppose Palestinian independence, support an undivided Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.

According to Peace Now, the planned units would “conclusively prevent territorial contiguity between East Jerusalem Palestinian neighborhoods and Bethlehem.”

“This is another way in which Israel is erasing the Green Line in Jerusalem, ending Palestinian contiguity, and expropriating the lands of Palestinians. When Palestinians tried to plan construction there, it was rejected — and now the territory will be confiscated,” says Aviv Tatarsky, a researcher at the left-wing Ir Amim nonprofit.