Hebrew media sources revealed on Friday that dozens of members of the Israeli Knesset have signed a petition to the Israeli construction company United Jerusalem Fund which calls for supporting a marketing project for the lands owned by the company near Ma’ale Adumim settlement.
According to the Hebrew media the company is planning to establish a new settlement on the site based on a government decision issued in the 1980s.
The United Jerusalem Fund is a private company headed by Gad Gabriel that seeks to build a new settlement named Mitzpe Yehuda or Giv’at Adumim on a hill adjacent to Ma’ale Adumim settlement.
Practically there are no specific plans for the construction of the settlement so far. Besides the government decision mentioned is not valid at the present time.
Some members of the Knesset who have signed the petition said that they do not know what is going on. “I do not remember signing such petition” minister Ayoob Kara stated “But if I did I must have not been the only one.” The member of the Knesset Miki Zohar gave similar statements.
The Israeli deputy minister Yaron Mazuz said that he knows nothing about the project adding that the company’s representative asked him whether he supports the construction in Jerusalem and he responded positively. According to Mazuz the company’s representative told him that this is what is mentioned in the petition.
Sources from the company said that “contrary to what was reported in the Hebrew media the United Jerusalem Fund is not a construction company”. They added that “the culture and knowledge of the 41 Knesset members and ministers who have signed a document calling on the government to implement a decision issued in 1984 resolution should not be underestimated”.