Jerusalem’s Planning and Construction Committee approved Oct. 13 the expropriation of land across the Green Line for the construction of new residential complexes in East Jerusalem. These complexes are slated to contain tens of thousands of new housing units.
According to information appearing in Israeli media, most of the land slated for new construction is in an area on or adjacent to the Givat HaMatos neighborhood. In 1991, Israel built on the Givat HaMatos site a caravan neighborhood for Ethiopian immigrants. But for the past 15 years, Israeli authorities have been promoting controversial plans to construct a permanent neighborhood there. On top of the expropriation, the committee approved the advancement of a plan to expand the existing East Jerusalem neighborhood of Pisgat Ze’ev. Next week, the committee is set to discuss objections submitted against the construction of a new settlement neighborhood in the controversial E1 zone. A few weeks later, it will discuss plans for housing units in Atarot. Like Givat HaMatos, Atarot is yet to be constructed.
For decades, the development of these areas has been a red line for the international community, the United States and the Israeli left. The reason for this is that Jewish construction in these areas across the Green Line would sever the Palestinian neighborhoods of East Jerusalem from the West Bank and turn them into tiny enclaves, surrounded by Israeli neighborhoods. This would make it even more difficult to implement a two-state solution, since that would also require the partition of Jerusalem.
If constructed, Givat HaMatos would be the first new neighborhood built in the city in over 20 years. The last neighborhood to be built was Har Homa, at around the time of the Oslo Accord. It was the source of several protracted crises between Israel and the international community that considered it an intentional effort to sabotage a two-state solution. Since then, every US administration — Democrats and Republicans alike — kept an eye on attempts to implement Israel’s plans for construction in East Jerusalem and took steps to block them, when necessary.
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