Today, while attention has been focused on the removal of 618 building permits (some already approved earlier this week) from today’s Local Committee agenda, the committee proceeded to approve a controversial project in one of the most flammable neighborhoods in East Jerusalem.

Under the radar, the committee approved a four-story building located on a vacant plot in Batan Al-Hawa, Silwan, the site of a massive takeover campaign by the Ateret Cohanim settler organization which has put 100 Palestinian families – roughly 600 residents – at risk of eviction.  The request was issued by MALIH 73, a company managed by members of Ateret Cohanim.  The building is to be erected on a plot sold to the settlers by the Israeli General Custodian – which failed to promote the sale through a public tender process – on a plot located across the street from Beit Yonatan, the original settler stronghold around which Ateret Cohanim is steadily expanding its settlement.  Some fifteen Palestinian families in Batan al-Hawa were evicted by Ateret Cohanim during 2015 and dozens of other Palestinian families are threatened with eviction.

According to an earlier assessment by Ir Amim, the permit request was made despite its evident failure to meet building regulations.  One part of the building under consideration appears to be located on a plot not owned by Ateret Cohanim and a story of the building, designated for storage, is actually intended for residential use.  Despite these problems, the Local Planning and Building Committee approved the permit last June, after which residents of Batan Al-Hawa turned to the Appeals Committee of the District Committee.  The Appeals Committee referred the decision back to the local level for further discussion. Now, amid mounting international pressure against continued Israeli settlement and just hours before US Secretary of State John Kerry is scheduled to deliver new remarks, the Committee has issued its approval.

For an extensive description of the Israeli authorities’ role in advancing the largest settlement project in a Palestinian neighborhood since the annexation of East Jerusalem, see Ir Amim’s and Peace Now’s joint report, Broken Trust: State Involvement in Private Settlement in Batan al-Hawa.

Please direct all inquiries to:

Betty Herschman

Director of International Relations & Advocacy

Ir Amim (City of Nations/City of Peoples)

betty@ir-amim.org.il

054-308-5096

www.ir-amim.org.il

Facebook: tinyurl.com/IrAmimEng

Twitter: @IrAmimAlerts