Watan-The Jerusalem Municipality has initiated a plan to build a Jewish neighborhood in Sheikh Jarrah, East Jerusalem. According to the plan, dozens of Palestinian families may be evicted from their homes to make way for 316 housing units and public buildings for Jewish residents.
The Jewish neighborhood is planned to be built on land that has been at the center of a legal dispute between neighborhood residents and settler organizations in recent years, accompanied by protests and violent clashes. Residents and civil society organizations say that the goal of the plan is to push Palestinian residents out of the neighborhood.
The “Nachalat Shimon” plan, as the neighborhood is called, has been promoted by the Jerusalem Development Authority over the past two years. This authority is an official body tasked with initiating and encouraging economic development projects in Jerusalem, though it typically does not plan residential neighborhoods.
The new neighborhood is expected to be built in the center of Sheikh Jarrah, in an area known to Palestinians as “Umm Haroun,” covering approximately 17 dunams. The area currently contains about 40 buildings, a large parking lot, and an open space.
Some of the buildings in the neighborhood are historic homes built in the late 19th century. As a result, the plan raises questions about preserving these buildings, a topic recently discussed by the city’s preservation committee. Many neighborhood residents currently live as protected tenants and cannot be evicted. However, approval of the plan would allow the Custodian General to carry out the eviction process, and the state may be required to find alternative housing for them.
The land designated for the planned neighborhood was registered in recent years under the Custodian General at the Ministry of Justice, which is responsible for managing properties located beyond the Green Line whose owners are unknown. The land registration under the Custodian General was carried out as part of a five-year government plan to reduce disparities in East Jerusalem.
However, neighborhood residents and civil society organizations dealing with East Jerusalem and urban planning—including the organizations “Bimkom” and “Ir Amim”—argue that the true goal of the five-year plan is to Judaize Arab neighborhoods in East Jerusalem. So far, the Custodian General has been involved in four Jewish neighborhoods in East Jerusalem. The plan in Sheikh Jarrah would be the fifth.
This plan is part of several Jewish construction projects that Israel has initiated in East Jerusalem beyond the Green Line, coinciding with the change of administration in the United States. Previous plans include the establishment of a large neighborhood with 9,000 housing units in “Atarot,” the expansion of a Jewish neighborhood near Beit Safafa, and another plan in Sheikh Jarrah to build a large religious school in an open area. According to the plan, 15 new buildings will be constructed in the neighborhood. In the historic part of the neighborhood, construction will be limited to buildings of four to six stories. However, in the area near Route 1, where the light rail passes, two buildings of up to 30 stories are expected to be built.
“A plan for 30-story buildings in a 19th-century neighborhood, alongside single-story buildings, is a crazy plan,” said Laura Wharton, a member of the Jerusalem Municipality Council from the Jerusalem Unity List.
Mahmoud Saou, a resident of the neighborhood, said: “All the families here are fighting for their homes. They don’t allow us to make repairs, and even whitewashing is prohibited. This is not a life.” Dr. Khalil Tufakji, a Palestinian geographer representing a coalition of Palestinian human rights organizations working in Jerusalem, said the plan aims to divide the neighborhood into north and south. “They want to establish the ‘Or Simcha’ religious school in the second part of the neighborhood and take control of the entire area. The ultimate goal is to make it impossible to establish a Palestinian capital in East Jerusalem.”
The Jerusalem Development Authority stated: “As part of its legal role and as the executive and planning arm of the Israeli government and the Jerusalem Municipality, the authority works to develop the city economically, all in coordination with state and municipal institutions. In this case, the authority was asked to advance a plan on behalf of the State of Israel to establish a residential neighborhood and hotel apartments in ‘Nachalat Shimon.’”
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