“Following years of hard work and with the help of God,” wrote settler and rabbi Aryeh King on Facebook, hailing the historic Sept. 5 decision by Jerusalem planning authorities to license the construction of 75 housing units for Jews in the Palestinian neighborhood of Beit Hanina. The decision, announced with little fanfare, lays the foundation stone for the recently adopted nationality law, which anchors the Jewish nature of the State of Israel. For instance, it encourages Jewish-only communities and codifies the “national value” of Jewish settlement in the homeland of the Jewish people. After all, what is more of a national value than Jewish settlement in Jerusalem, the city enshrined by the controversial legislation as the capital of Israel?
The move by the city’s Planning and Building Committee will allow the construction of 150 apartments in Beit Hanina. Half of these apartment are destined for Jews and half for Palestinians. The housing units for Jews are to be constructed on Palestinian land bought by Jews.