The Israeli occupation authority (IOA) has recently started to build 176 housing units in the illegal settlement of Nof Tzion in Jabel Mukaber neighborhood southeast of Jerusalem.
According to Haaretz website upon completion of the expansion project the settlement will be the largest Jewish settlement within a Palestinian neighborhood in the holy city.
Nof Tzion was established by Jewish investors in the early 2000s and the residents moved in eight years ago with currently 96 settler families living in two compounds.
The settlement face the Old City of Jerusalem and is surrounded on all sides by the Palestinian neighborhood of Jabal Mukaber.
The area slated for expansion was the subject of a lengthy legal dispute Haaretz explained in a report. About 10 years ago a Palestinian businessman Bashar al-Masri tried unsuccessfully to purchase the land to prevent the Jewish neighborhood’s buildout.
The land was eventually purchased by two Jewish investors — Rami Levy a Jerusalem supermarket mogul and Kevin Bermeister an Australian businessman and one of the founders of Skype. About two years ago permits were issued for the construction of additional 176 apartments.
According to settlement activist and Jerusalem councilman Arieh King the current expansion is only the first phase with another 300 housing units expected to be approved.
Nof Tzion is already the second largest Jewish settlement in a Palestinian neighborhood. The first is Ma’ale Zeitim on the Mount of Olives in the Palestinian neighborhood of Ras al-Amud which is home to 106 Jewish settler families.
“The expansion of the settlement into the neighborhood of Jabel Mukaber is a symbol of the Israel government’s choice to prevent the possibility of an agreement in Jerusalem and to continue to impose its rule on the residents of East Jerusalem without equal rights and with increasing oppression” Aviv Tatarsky a researcher with the NGO Ir Amim said in response to the construction.
“Jerusalem is a binational city and therefore it will be good for the Israelis here only if it is good for the Palestinians” he added.
In a similar context Israel’s construction and housing ministry is preparing a plan to build up to 11000 housing units for Jewish settlers on the land of the defunct Atarot Airport the Israel Hayom daily reported Thursday.
The plan had been repeatedly stalled in the past due to diplomatic considerations but then-housing minister Yoav Gallant ordered it be revived immediately after US president Donald Trump was elected to office in 2016 Israel Hayom said.
The plan is to be presented to the Jerusalem district planning committee within a few months.
