Special to APN from Daniel Seidemann and Lara Friedman
Two "new" East Jerusalem settlement projects have hit the news in the wake of the Biden debacle - one for the Shepherd's Hotel and the other for the Shimon Ha-Tzaddik neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah (Click here for a larger map of the area).
Shepherd's Hotel: As is now being widely reported in the Israeli and international press, Israel has issued permits for new settler construction in East Jerusalem.
The details are as follows: on March 18, 2010 the final permits were issued for the construction of 20 units for settlers at the site of the Shepherd's Hotel (a pdf of the actual permit is available here). According to the Municipality, the settlers applied for and paid the fees for the permits on March 15, 2010.
It should be recalled that the Shepherd's Hotel project was approved (final approval) in July 2009. Thus, barring intervention from the government of Israel, the project could have moved forward at any time since then - all that was needed was for the settlers to pay the fees and the issuance of the permits would be automatic.
That said, it is clear that the timing of the settlers' decision to move on this project at this time was neither coincidental or nor innocent. This is why we have been asserting for some months that the day after indirect talks were announced, there would be a provocation in Jerusalem, and it could well be bulldozers knocking down the Shepherd's Hotel.
Two "new" East Jerusalem settlement projects have hit the news in the wake of the Biden debacle - one for the Shepherd's Hotel and the other for the Shimon Ha-Tzaddik neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah (Click here for a larger map of the area).
Shepherd's Hotel: As is now being widely reported in the Israeli and international press, Israel has issued permits for new settler construction in East Jerusalem.
The details are as follows: on March 18, 2010 the final permits were issued for the construction of 20 units for settlers at the site of the Shepherd's Hotel (a pdf of the actual permit is available here). According to the Municipality, the settlers applied for and paid the fees for the permits on March 15, 2010.
It should be recalled that the Shepherd's Hotel project was approved (final approval) in July 2009. Thus, barring intervention from the government of Israel, the project could have moved forward at any time since then - all that was needed was for the settlers to pay the fees and the issuance of the permits would be automatic.
That said, it is clear that the timing of the settlers' decision to move on this project at this time was neither coincidental or nor innocent. This is why we have been asserting for some months that the day after indirect talks were announced, there would be a provocation in Jerusalem, and it could well be bulldozers knocking down the Shepherd's Hotel.
This was thus entirely foreseeable and preventable. Stopping it after
the last approval (or even now) is still possible, but would require
extraordinary measures. Informally, this could have come in the form of
the Prime Minister or Mayor engaging the settlers and their supporters
directly (bearing in mind that Netanyahu has a long and close
relationship with Irving Moskowitz, the American millionaire who is
bankrolling the project). Formally, the government of Israel could
expropriate the site based on "raisons d'etat" (considerations of the
state). There is a decade old official legal opinion by Israel's
Attorney General that recognizes and sanctions the government authority
to expropriate it cases like this (just as since 1967 Israel has
expropriated some 35 percent of East Jerusalem for settler use, it could
expropriate this area for non-settler use).
Instead, the government of Israel elected not to intervene and in doing so, either by negligence or by design left the veto-by-provocation in the hands of the settlers.
This also raises another important - with respect to Jerusalem settlements (if you listen to Israeli officials) there is no "window of opportunity" to act. With something like Ramat Shlomo, the argument is that the construction won't start for years, so there is no need to intervene to stop it. With something like Shepherd's Hotel, the argument is that it is too late to stop it. And in the end the result is predictable in advance and devastating to the prospects for peace.
For excellent analysis of the story from Washington, see here.
Shimon Ha-Tzaddik: As has been reported in the Israeli Hebrew-language press, on March 2, 2010, a three year-old, dormant plan -Plan 12705, which involves the demolition of all the existing (Palestinian) homes in the Shimon Ha- Tzaddik area of Skeihk Jarrah and the construction of 200 settler homes in their place - was reopened in the Municipality. According to the Municipality's website the plan has fulfilled all the preliminary requirements of the District Planning Board. Plan 12705 was opened by the settlers in June 2007 and was shelved (i.e. officially classified as "archived") in June 2009. However, in an unusual twist, it appears that a number of actions have been taken to promote the plan since it was shelved. It is these actions that enabled it to now be classified as fulfilling the basic requirements of the District Planning Board.
Lest their any doubt about the goal of Plan 12705, a verbatim translation of the "Essence of the Plan" page on the public Jerusalem Municipality website reads: "Establishment of a residential project in the area surrounding the Tomb of Shimon ha-Tzaddik. Total: appx. 200 residential units, appx. 45,000 sq. meters. Demolition of existing buildings".
This is still the very early stages of the planning process. That said, all of this is highly irregular - the sporadic opening and closing of the file, the rapidity of its preliminary approval by the technical staff of the Regional Planning Board (on the same day that the plan was reopened), and the timing are all highly suspicious.
Instead, the government of Israel elected not to intervene and in doing so, either by negligence or by design left the veto-by-provocation in the hands of the settlers.
This also raises another important - with respect to Jerusalem settlements (if you listen to Israeli officials) there is no "window of opportunity" to act. With something like Ramat Shlomo, the argument is that the construction won't start for years, so there is no need to intervene to stop it. With something like Shepherd's Hotel, the argument is that it is too late to stop it. And in the end the result is predictable in advance and devastating to the prospects for peace.
For excellent analysis of the story from Washington, see here.
Shimon Ha-Tzaddik: As has been reported in the Israeli Hebrew-language press, on March 2, 2010, a three year-old, dormant plan -Plan 12705, which involves the demolition of all the existing (Palestinian) homes in the Shimon Ha- Tzaddik area of Skeihk Jarrah and the construction of 200 settler homes in their place - was reopened in the Municipality. According to the Municipality's website the plan has fulfilled all the preliminary requirements of the District Planning Board. Plan 12705 was opened by the settlers in June 2007 and was shelved (i.e. officially classified as "archived") in June 2009. However, in an unusual twist, it appears that a number of actions have been taken to promote the plan since it was shelved. It is these actions that enabled it to now be classified as fulfilling the basic requirements of the District Planning Board.
Lest their any doubt about the goal of Plan 12705, a verbatim translation of the "Essence of the Plan" page on the public Jerusalem Municipality website reads: "Establishment of a residential project in the area surrounding the Tomb of Shimon ha-Tzaddik. Total: appx. 200 residential units, appx. 45,000 sq. meters. Demolition of existing buildings".
This is still the very early stages of the planning process. That said, all of this is highly irregular - the sporadic opening and closing of the file, the rapidity of its preliminary approval by the technical staff of the Regional Planning Board (on the same day that the plan was reopened), and the timing are all highly suspicious.