Jerusalem Mayor postpones building plan after Netanyahu plea - Summary

Jerusalem - The mayor of Jerusalem on Tuesday postponed plans to demolish a number of Palestinian houses in East Jerusalem following a rare last-minute intervention by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Mayor Nir Barkat put off implementing the plan to demolish the houses -and give retroactive building permits to others - in order to build an archaeological park.

Barkat's scheme would reportedly see 22 of the 88 homes built without permits in Silwan, in East Jerusalem, demolished, and their residents rehoused in new buildings. The remaining homes would be retroactively legalized.

The area earmarked for the plan, known in Arabic as al-Bustan (the Garden) and in Hebrew as Gan Hamelekh (King's Garden), is believed by some to be the spot where King Solomon wrote the "Song of Solomon" 3,000 years ago.

Barkat hopes to turn the area into a tourist attraction by building a commercial zone, art galleries and restaurants.

But according to a statement from Netanyahu's office, the premier contacted Barkat and asked him "to allocate more time to attempts to reach an understanding with Silwan residents."

The residents of the neighborhood, located adjacent to, and south of, Jerusalem's Old City, had reacted angrily to the plan, with their spokesman saying the scheme was a pretext to drive Palestinians away, and warning of violence if it went ahead.

"This is a political decision. It has nothing to do with just building a biblical park. They want us out of Silwan and Jerusalem for political reasons," Fakhri Abu Diab said.

"They cannot come now and say we should leave because they want to take our homes and build a park in their place," he told the German Press Agency dpa.

"This will not happen. We will never leave. If they insist on this, I believe there will be trouble and it could get violent," he warned.

In his request to Barkat, Netanyahu noted that while he had no intention of intervening in municipal affairs, "there are elements which are interested in sowing strife and discord and in presenting a distorted picture to the country and the world."

Barkat told a news conference in Jerusalem on Tuesday that he intended bringing the plans to local and regional committees for discussion.

"We have no intention of stopping the public discussions with the residents; we want to integrate new ideas into the plan," he said.

There are currently 88 buildings in Silwan built without permits. Some 22 of them would be relocated from the western section of the neighborhood to the eastern, where the evacuated residents will receive permission to build up to four stories. Other homes built without permits will be retroactively legalized.

"Those living in the area today now live in inhumane conditions ... the place was not planned to be a residential area," Barkat said.

"To continue with demolitions is not as good as the new plan that we are proposing," he maintained.

Israel captured East Jerusalem in the 1967 Middle East War, and incorporated it into the municipal boundaries of West Jerusalem.

In 1980 the Israeli government formally declared East Jerusalem to be a part of its "eternal and undivided" capital, a decision rejected by Palestinians, who see it instead as the capital of their future state.

Netanyahu has generally kept aloof and not interfered in decisions regarding construction in East Jerusalem.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/312138,jerusalem-mayor-postpones-building-plan-after-netanyahu-plea--summary.html.