Last night, Israel Hayom reported Deputy Mayor Meir Turgeman’s announcement that Prime Minister Netanyahu had ordered the immediate promotion of 7,000 housing units in East Jerusalem, on the same day Netanyahu met with US envoys Jared Kushner and Jason Greenblatt to discuss revival of the peace process.  Turgeman, who also chairs the Local Planning and Building Committee, referenced the settlements of Gilo, Har Homa, Ramat Shlomo, and Ramot.

While we are unable to confirm the veracity of his statements, based on Ir Amim’s regular and ongoing monitoring of plans being promoted in the planning system, these are the plans in neighborhoods cited by Turgeman that are actually poised to advance:

• In May of this year, Ir Amim reported that 770 units under a reparcelization plan for Gilo Southern Slopes (TPS 175505), designed to expand Gilo toward Beit Jala, had received final approval.  As the land in question is privately owned, no tender process is required. This is the only plan in the named settlements ready to advance toward awarding of building permits.  Any other additional pending plans in Gilo are in much earlier stages of the planning process.

• A plan for 500 units in Ramat Shlomo (TPS 11094) could be deposited for objections by the District Committee. This plan, an initiative of Israeli developers who claim private ownership of the land, will expand Ramat Shlomo to the north in the direction of Beit Hanina. In November 2016, just two weeks prior to President Trump’s victory in the US elections, the Jerusalem Municipality joined the plan promoters in order to enable the expropriation of Palestinian-owned land the developers aim to convert to public land for the benefit of the expanded settlement. The plan was approved for deposit in the District Committee in early 2015.

• The 100 units in Ramot could refer to several small plans that have been approved (TPS 291419) /deposited (TPS 192815) in the last two years.

• While it has yet to be initiated in the planning system, the plan for Har Homa West (TPS 13308) is among the most alarming potential developments.  The plan is intended to expand Har Homa to the northwest, thus serving as a corridor between Har Homa and the approved Givat Matos plan. It would complete the continuum of Israeli settlements along the southern perimeter of East Jerusalem intended to sunder East Jerusalem from the West Bank. In early 2015, Israeli government authorities declared their intention to promote the plan as part of a push to advance 1,500 housing units but as yet, the original plan for 400 housing units has not yet reached the planning committees and according to the Jerusalem Municipality, it was shelved in 2009.

It is noteworthy that Givat Hamatos, a long recognized red line for the international community, was not one of the plans mentioned in Turgeman’s announcement and that in a Reshet Bet radio interview on Monday, Minister of Jerusalem Affairs and Minister of Environmental Protection, Ze’ev Elkin, declared that there is no building freeze in Jerusalem but for Givat Hamatos.

​The local and district planning committees are scheduled to meet this coming Wednesday.  Ir Amim will continue to monitor and alert on any agenda items related to these or other related plans.

Please refer all inquiries to:

Betty Herschman

Director of International Relations & Advocacy

Ir Amim (City of Nations/City of Peoples)

Jerusalem

betty@ir-amim.org.il

054-308-5096

www.ir-amim.org.il

Facebook: www.facebook.com/IrAmimEng

Twitter: @IrAmimAlerts