Israeli occupation paves way for establishing largest settlement neighborhood in East Quds (Jerusalem)
QUDS, July 13 (YPA) – The so-called “District Committee for Planning and Construction” affiliated with the Israeli occupation municipality in occupied city of Quds (Jerusalem) has approved the deposit of a plan to establish around 450 settlement housing units in the Palestinian neighborhood of Umm Lisoun in East Jerusalem, according to the Israeli anti-settlement rights organization Ir Amim.
The plan, numbered “1049873”, was submitted by the “Topodia” company in 2022. However, the approval procedures remained stalled for more than two years after the so-called District Committee required the expansion of the road leading to the project site.
Ir Amim explained that the obstacle was the inability of private-sector developers to submit plans for expanding public roads that are not under their ownership, preventing the completion of procedures. The process resumed after the Israeli occupation municipality in Jerusalem joined the project as the body submitting the plan, allowing the road expansion project to be incorporated into the same planning scheme.
The Umm Lisoun neighborhood is located between Jabal al-Mukaber and Sur Baher. It currently contains around 800 Palestinian housing units, most of which are buildings of two or three floors. The new plan includes the construction of buildings reaching up to ten floors and the addition of around 450 housing units, which would drastically change the neighborhood’s urban character and demographic composition.
Ir Amim said the project is the largest of its kind in terms of the number of settlement units inside a Palestinian neighborhood in East Jerusalem, compared with the Ma’ale Zeitim settlement neighborhood in Ras al-Amud, which includes around 120 housing units. The organization noted that the new project could accommodate nearly 2,000 settlers in the heart of an existing Palestinian neighborhood.
The organization considered the involvement of the Israeli occupation municipality in Quds and its intervention to rescue the plan after it remained stalled for more than two years as a clear political choice aimed at advancing one of the largest and most influential settlement projects in East Quds in recent years.
@E.Y.M