Police revive plan to build complex on beloved Jerusalem hill, angering residents
Activists ask why law enforcement waited until day after municipal elections to inform court that examination of alternative sites had come up with nothing
Sue Surkes is The Times of Israel's environment reporter

South Jerusalem residents are gearing up to renew their campaign against the building of a large police complex on a hill renowned for its seasonal flora and stunning views after the Israel Police announced that an examination of alternative sites had come to nothing and that the hill was the only option left.
The location, known as Mitzpe-Tel (a portmanteau of the Hebrew words for lookout and hill, which, when put together, also means “raspberry juice”), stretches between the Jewish neighborhood of Armon Hanatziv and the Palestinian neighborhood of Jabel Mukaber in southeastern Jerusalem.
It affords panoramic views toward the Temple Mount, Herod’s tomb at Herodium, the Judean Desert, the Dead Sea, and the Mountains of Moab in Jordan.
It serves as an outdoor community center most of the year round. But it is the spring carpets of blue lupines that bring in the crowds.
A year ago, the Jerusalem District Planning Committee approved the building of a 5,000-square-meter (54,000-square-foot) police station on the lower part of the hill.
This would replace a roughly 2,000-square meter (21,000-square-foot) temporary facility at the entrance to Jabel Mukaber that was built in 2014 at the request of Armon Hanatziv residents following the 2014 Gaza war.
The current site of the police station belongs to the supermarket magnate Rami Levy, who wants to build a hotel on it as part of a new neighborhood called Nof Zahav (View of Gold).
In August, following a long campaign by residents from both neighborhoods against building on the hill, and a petition to the Jerusalem District Court, the state announced it would freeze the plan and examine integrating the new police complex into the hotel.

A protocol from a meeting of the Jerusalem District Planning Committee that same month quotes the architect of the hotel, Yoel Feigin of Feigin Architects, welcoming the integration idea and presenting initial drawings.
The municipality said in a statement that the attempt to integrate the station into the hotel compound had not succeeded. It insisted that building on Mitzpe-Tel would affect neither the blossoms nor the view.
Armon Hanatziv activists rejected these claims.
Activist Gadi Dahan, a tour guide who lives in Armon Hanatziv, said the campaign, which has raised more than half of its NIS 180,000 ($48,000) target, was forced to resort to the courts.
“The police’s approach from the start has been ‘This is where we’re building the station, and that’s it,'” he claimed.
He said events aimed at raising awareness about the importance of the hill would resume.
“Our approach has always been to find a proper solution because the residents deserve both nature and security,” he said. “I met with the police in November, as part of a small group with our community managers, and their view hadn’t changed. But they only submitted their response to the Jerusalem District Court on February 28, the day after the municipal elections, which is bizarre timing.”

The district court will discuss the issue on April 30.
A statement from the Israel Police said that it had “checked a number of alternatives and in the end, the appropriate location was chosen which meets all the planning and operational aspects.”
The force chose not to provide any details about those alternative sites.
The new police station will serve both regular police and the Border Police, which focuses on fighting terrorism.

Reaching a maximum height of 791 meters above sea level, it is to include offices, living quarters, a parade ground, detention cells, a 30-meter (98-foot) high antenna, high voltage electric lines, weapons storage, and perimeter fencing with lighting and security cameras.
Before the plans were temporarily frozen, the district committee rejected most of the arguments against it and insisted that the building’s dimensions were related to “security needs in the area,” which is located over the Green Line.