Municipal officials on Wednesday pushed forward a housing plan for a Jewish neighborhood in East Jerusalem to be located in an area that was at the center of an international controversy a quarter-century ago.
The project, which was given initial phase approval by the local planning committee in the Jerusalem Municipality, will be located beyond the Green Line, against the largely Palestinian neighborhood of Beit Safafa. But while Arab residents of the latter neighborhood have requested municipal leaders for additional housing, the new, segregated neighborhood called Givat Shek, with many of its planned synagogues, appears to have been designed for Jews.
Former Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin also envisioned a Jewish neighborhood there and ordered the authorities to confiscate 134 acres of open land near Beit Safafa in April 1995 to advance the process. But news of the plan immediately caused an international uproar as it was the first such occupation of East Jerusalem in more than a decade. It also came against the backdrop of the Oslo Accords, which was flying in the face of building momentum for Israeli-Palestinian peace.
A resolution was introduced to the United Nations Security Council demanding that Israel stop the seizure. The US, which also condemned Robin’s move, nevertheless vetoed the resolution.
After initially giving his side – vowing that the controversial forfeiture would be the government’s last – Rabin sealed The plan comes days after the Security Council vote. In more than 26 years, no Jewish neighborhood had ever been built on that land; Nor was there any other such transfer in East Jerusalem.
Jerusalem expert Daniel Seidemann noted that future attempts to seize land to expand East Jerusalem’s Jewish Har Homa neighborhood were stalled as Israeli officials were handcuffed by Rabin’s commitment.
In this Thursday, February 28, 2013 photo, the construction site of the Begin Highway is seen in the Arab neighborhood of Beit Safafa in Jerusalem. (AP/Sebastian Skinner)
A former official in Rabin’s government involved in the case told The Times of Israel on condition of anonymity that while Clinton’s offer of a US veto on the Security Council was apparently in return for Rabin’s promise not to proceed with the controversial project, “It was clear that the two were linked.”
When asked for comment on the re-emergence of the Beit Safafa field construction plan, a US State Department official referred The Times of Israel to remarks made by spokesman Ned Price.
Price said on Monday, “We believe it is important for Israel and the Palestinians to avoid steps that escalate tensions and otherwise undermine efforts to advance a negotiated two-state solution.” “
The new project rests on an area about a third the size of the neighborhood promoted by Rabin. The Jerusalem Municipality said in a statement that the Givat Shaked plan is not necessarily aimed at a specific demographic.
Monday’s approval is one of the first steps in the process, and the project will still need to be decided in several hearings by the district planning committee before construction begins – a process that often takes months, if not years.
Remarkably this progress has been made after a few days by the District Planning Committee. delayed Another controversial housing project in East Jerusalem amid biden administration setbacks.