Israel advances plans for 1,400 settlement units in East Jerusalem
The Israeli settlement of Har Homa in the West Bank
Yumna Patel reports in Mondoweiss:
The Israeli Jerusalem Municipality advanced plans for 1,400 new settlement units in occupied East Jerusalem, in a move that would make it virtually impossible to maintain a continuum of Palestinian neighborhoods and areas in the city.
The plans, advanced on Monday, would see the 1,400 new units built in an area northwest of the occupied West Bank city of Bethlehem, bordering the East Jerusalem towns of Beit Safafa and Sur Baher.
The new settlements would be built on both sides of the Green Line, effectively creating a link to the existing Har Homa settlement northeast of Bethlehem, and further sealing off the southern perimeter of East Jerusalem from Bethlehem, and the rest of the southern West Bank. Of the 1,400 units, 750 are slated for the new Givat Hamatos settlement, and would be built on the last remaining land of the Palestinian neighborhood of Beit Safafa, boxing in the residents, and quashing any hopes of growing and developing their neighborhood.
Spanning around 46 acres, the plans would also will cut off the last remaining corridor to connect Beit Safafa and the Palestinian neighborhood of Sharafat to the rest of East Jerusalem.
“Politically, this is a strategic plan that will strike a blow at the possibility of a Palestinian urban continuum in East Jerusalem,” settlement watchdog Peace Now said in a report.