On the eve of the 2001 prime ministerial election, almost 1,000 people blocked the Jerusalem-Tel Aviv highway to protest the planned annexation of Mevasseret Zion by the Jerusalem municipality. Demonstrators included former General Security Services head Carmi Gilon, IDF spokesman during the 1991 Gulf War Nahman Shai, former Army Radio head Moshe Shlonsky, politicians and media and public figures, all residents of the town.
The border dispute between Jerusalem, the Matte Yehuda Regional Council and Mevasseret Zion local council is one of the most highly charged disputes at the Ministry of the Interior. Now the next interior minister must decide the matter.
History of a land dispute
In May 1998, a directors-general committee headed by then Prime Minister’s Office director general Moshe Leon submitted to the cabinet its recommendations for strengthening Jerusalem. They included expanding the city’s municipal jurisdiction, thereby creating more land for residential construction. The expansion meant, in practice, annexing Mevasseret Zion and areas of the Matte Yehuda Regional Council to Jerusalem.
In June 1998, the Netanyahu government instructed then-Minister of the Interior Eli Suissa to put the recommendations into effect.
In March 1999, then Ministry of the Interior director general Yaakov Efrati appointed an investigative committee to study the issue. In June 2000, the ministry’s new director general, Avi Maoz, appointed a new committee, after the head of the earlier committee died before beginning its work.
In August 2000, the Society for the Protection of Nature in Israel petitioned the High Court of Justice against all the parties involved, appealing the decision to appoint the committee. In December, the Supreme Court rejected the petition, enabling the committee to continue its work.
Jerusalem Mayor Ehud Olmert told the committee at its first session that the municipality wanted to annex 49,000 dunam (12,250 acres) to the west. Olmert claimed the land was essential for the construction of new neighborhoods, in response to the construction of Modi’in, which was attracting Jerusalem residents, and to preserve a 70% Jewish majority in the city.
A forum of environmental organizations formed a united front to oppose the annexation. The forum, headed by Minister of the Environment Tzachi Hanegbi, a resident of Mevasseret Zion, told the Jerusalem municipality that it rejected its argument about the necessity of the annexation of open spaces in the Judean mountains as part of its demographic war. Hanegbi said the city should build toward the northeast and southeast in the direction of Ma’ale Edumim.
Residents of Mevasseret Zion and Matte Yehuda, many of them well-off, object to the annexation because it would mean transferring funds from them to Jerusalem’s growing haredi (ultra-orthodox) generally poor population, while not receiving adequate municipal services in return.
The committee held 14 meetings, at which representatives of government agencies and ministries, experts, public advocates and local residents testified. The committee ultimately decided to recommend expanding the Jerusalem municipality westward and annexing the adjacent towns, including Mevasseret Zion and Motza, whose residents include MKs Benjamin Ben-Eliezer, Matan Vilnai, and Ran Cohen, former Minister of Defense Yitzhak Mordechai, and many top media and public personalities.
Although the committee submitted its recommendations in March 2002, the minister of the interior has not implemented them. The next minister of the interior also may refrain from doing so, since any decision would be appealed to the Supreme Court. Given the balance of power, it is hard to believe the committee’s recommendations will ever be carried out.
Published by Globes [online] - www.globes.co.il - on February 2, 2003