The Israeli occupation authorities (IOA) in Jerusalem approved on Tuesday a plan to build thousands of settlement units and towers for administrative technical and office jobs. These settlement units will be built on the area extending from the lands of Beit Safafa al-Maliha Baqa’a and the new industrial zone Talpiot to the Walaja village.
According to the settlement plan submitted by the so-called Planning and Building Committee (PBC) in the municipality last Friday 8300 settlement units will be built. These settlements will change the boundaries of the city and expand the boundaries of the new industrial zone Talpiot.
The PBC stated that this settlement plan aims to complete what it described as the “urban revolution 2040”. The industrial zone will be transformed into a residential and commercial area an entertainment area wedding halls an amusement park and commercial and residential towers.
The implementation of the plan is scheduled to begin by 2021 provided that the works will continue until 2040. The plan also includes the implementation of a group of public places such as parks interior gardens squares streets a market and shaded streets with bike lanes seating areas.
The plan includes raising the building percentage in the estimated area by about 5 kilometers by building towers up to 30 floors high which will contain thousands of housing units. Some of which are small units for single families and young couples while the trade and employment zone will extend over an area of 1297000 square meters.
The PBC said that a new and updated plan had been submitted for the Beit Safafa area and parts of Al Walaja with a depth of 5 km radius to expand and modernize the Talpiot industrial zone.
For its part the Christian Islamic Committee for Supporting Jerusalem and the Holy Sites warned of the danger of the new settlement plan announced by the IOA.
In a statement the Committee condemned the new settlement plan which aims to eliminate the Palestinian presence in the Holy City.
It stressed that the settlement process in the West Bank including Jerusalem is constantly increasing as the IOA has worked and is working to increase settlements and put forward many projects in East Jerusalem to establish thousands of new settlement units.
“The danger of this huge project lies in its continuity over many years as the IOA plans to start implementation by 2021 and work on it will continue until 2040” the Committee said.
