New Jewish development planned for flashpoint Jerusalem neighborhood
Plans call for construction of 316 housing units in Sheikh Jarrah; civil rights group charges proposed development is part of ‘racist policy’ to push Palestinians out of capital
Jeremy Sharon is The Times of Israel’s legal affairs and settlements reporter
Israeli authorities are moving forward with plans to build a new Jewish neighborhood in the Jerusalem neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah, which if implemented would likely result in the current Palestinian residents’ eviction.
The project, which has been advanced by the Jerusalem Development Authority, will see some 316 housing units built in the neighborhood, which has become a flashpoint between Israelis and Palestinians in the capital.
Israeli authorities say the land on which the current homes lie was bought by Jewish families at the end of the 19th century and was confiscated by Jordan following the 1948 War of Independence.
But civil rights organizations argue that plans to build such neighborhoods are discriminatory as Palestinians do not enjoy the same ability to reclaim land in western parts of Jerusalem.
They also note that approvals for Palestinian housing projects in East Jerusalem are almost non-existent, exacerbating a housing crisis for Palestinians in the city in the same neighborhoods designed for the Jewish population to expand.
According to the plans for what has been dubbed Nahalat Shimon, 15 buildings will be constructed, although some of those will be built above existing structures which need to be preserved due to their historic character.
The height of the apartment blocks built on top of existing buildings will be limited to between four and six floors, although one plot has been slated for the construction of a 30-story tower block.
The plans for Nahalat Shimon also include an extension of Dalman Street westward to intersect with the central Bar Lev Street thoroughfare, ostensibly to increase access to the neighborhood.
Ir Amim, an organization that advocates for equitable planning and civil rights for Palestinians in Jerusalem, said it believes the plans that the General Custodian — a body within the Justice Ministry that administers formerly Jewish-owned land in east Jerusalem and the West Bank — is responsible for initiating are based on other similar such initiatives in recent years.
However, the Jerusalem Development Authority, which is under the auspices of the Jerusalem Affairs and Heritage Ministry, is the only named authority on the planning application.
The project is expected to be submitted in March for the first steps of the planning approval process.
The current Palestinian residents are long-term tenants of the properties, and have protected status as a result of various court rulings. But urban renewal projects allow for the eviction of even protected tenants, though the state may be required to provide them with alternative housing arrangements in such a situation.
There are 40 Palestinian families who would be evicted from the section of Sheikh Jarrah where Nahalat Shimon would be built, currently known as Um Harun, who Ir Amim said have contended with eviction efforts by the Jewish associations that have owned the land since 1971.
“For decades and against all odds the Um Harun residents have withstood the aggressive Israeli attempts to evict them from their homes and neighborhood in the name of the Israeli government’s settlements project,” said Aviv Tatarsky, a researcher for Ir Amim.
“The new plan, initiated by the government, is yet another attack on Palestinian Jerusalem and specifically against the Um Harun community which it intends to erase and replace with a new settlement.
“The plan is part of a general racist policy which aims for Jewish supremacy and pushing Palestinians out of Jerusalem.”
A separate project to construct a yeshiva building with 11 floors, three of which will be below ground level, in Sheikh Jarrah was advanced in January.
The building would be built on one acre of land in Sheikh Jarrah which was expropriated from Palestinian owners for so-called “public needs,” according to Ir Amim, and is situated across from the Sheikh Jarrah mosque.
Ir Amim said it believes that efforts to advance projects for the construction of Jewish neighborhoods and institutions in Sheikh Jarrah have been ramped up since the election of US President Donald Trump in November.
In 1970, the Knesset passed the Legal and Administrative Matters Law, which allowed owners of East Jerusalem properties that in 1948 were transferred to the control of the Jordanians to get them back from the General Custodian.
The law, however, was not applied to Palestinian landowners who lost property in the same war, and only Jews are able to reclaim such property that they may have lost. There is no law which enables Palestinians who lost property in West Jerusalem to reclaim their land.
