RAMALLAH, West Bank, 24 January 2008 — While local, regional, and international observers are focusing on the deteriorating situation in Gaza Strip, the Jerusalem Municipality said that it is planning 40,000 new apartments throughout the city over the next decade, including several thousand apartments in various Jewish settlements of East Jerusalem that have already been approved.
The city’s announcement of the proposed building, which includes 8,000 apartments that are currently being marketed ahead of construction, and an additional 30,000 apartments that are in various planning stages, comes a day after confusion emerged over the Israeli government’s building policy in East Jerusalem following a radio report, subsequently denied, that all buildings in the city have to be approved by Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Defense Minister Ehud Barak.
The municipality said that Mayor Uri Lupolianski has given the signal for the construction of 3,000 housing units in Gilo, 1,700 in Pisgat Zeev, 1,000 in Har Homa, 400 in Neve Yaakov and 1,200 in Ramot, areas that Israel built after the June1967 War in eastern Jerusalem.
The apartments already being marketed include the roughly 300 in the southeastern Jerusalem settlement of Har Homa, which sparked international condemnation, and a rare US rebuke. Israeli sources said more than 200,000 Israelis live in such settlements, which Israeli government wants to remain part of the Jewish under any peace treaty with Palestinians.
The municipality said that the building projects already approved would not need the authorization of Olmert and Barak — even if there is going to be a new government policy on building in east Jerusalem, which is uncertain. Until now, only building in the West Bank settlements requires their authorization.
Lupolianski said Monday that a reported government freeze on construction in East Jerusalem settlements was “illegal,” and vowed to keep building throughout the city. A spokesman for the Israeli Construction and Housing Ministry said that Israel was continuing to build in Jerusalem.
Nabil Abu Rudeina, spokesman for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, said in response that “approving settlement schemes is only to avoid any serious negotiations, thus destroying everything resulted from the Annapolis peace conference.”
