The Jerusalem municipality is blocking construction of tens of thousands of housing units in East Jerusalem, according to a draft report by the Ministry of the Interior Jerusalem District Planning and Construction Committee for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The report was written for an Israeli delegation that will attend a UN hearing on the state of construction in East Jerusalem. Construction sources told “Globes” that the delays were politically motivated.
The document indicates that in the 1990s, the municipality initiated a series of large-scale plans for the East Jerusalem, amounting to tens of thousands of housing units. The report cites the figure of 10,430 units, but the updated document reported tens of thousands of additional units. The reports determined that even though the plans had been approved for deposit, the municipality was not fulfilling the deposit terms, and was preventing progress in the matter.
Examples include a plan to build 4,500 housing units in Kfar Akab, approved in March 2002; a plan for 900 units in Beit Safafa, approved in August 2001, and a plan for 200 units in Beit Safafa, approved in May 2002. Even though all the plans were approved, failure to fulfill the deposit terms is preventing them from going forward.
The report cites a series of substantial difficulties in granting building permits for the Arab population in East Jerusalem. The main problem is the absence of orderly registration of land ownership. The report states that in this situation, planning institutions are unable to approve actions involving land for people unable to prove a buyer’s interest. The report adds that granting permits in East Jerusalem is hampered by legal problems. Two years ago, the legal department issued guidelines against the issuing of building permits, unless a land registration extract was presented. Furthermore, after 1967, the government of Israel froze land arrangements in East Jerusalem. Senior sources noted that this condition indicates that the municipality intends to prevent construction in East Jerusalem. They said, “The professionals may prepare plans, but the municipality has no reason to carry them out. The plans are being prepared in the knowledge that they cannot be implemented.”
Jerusalem district planner Binat Schwartz, who authored the report, believes that national action on land arrangements is requiredin order to solve the planning and construction problem in East Jerusalem, followed by a detailed plan. Schwartz is proposing the establishment of a joint planning unit, to include representatives of the East Jerusalem public and the municipality. She says that statutory progress on these plans should be given priority.
Schwartz told “Globes”, “The report is a draft, and I greatly regret that it has reached the press before going through professional hands. It would therefore be improper at this stage to comment on the substance of the document.”
Municipality spokesperson Haggai Elias said in response, “The Jerusalem municipality utterly rejects hints of supposedly political motives for the delay in approval procedures for plans in East Jerusalem. The municipality greatly regrets have to respond to a superficial draft document, particularly in view of the fact that verbal explanations were supplied to the editors of the report, before it was leaked.”
Published by Globes [online] - www.globes.co.il - on May 4, 2003