Israel Matzav

Seething on the Left over new housing units in Gilo

Israel's hysterical Left is seething over a 1,400-unit housing project in the southeastern Jerusalem suburb of Gilo, which is slated to advance in the approval process next week.

A plan to build 1,400 new housing units in Jerusalem's Gilo neighborhood located beyond the Green Line, will be discussed next week and is expected to be approved by the city's local planning and building committee, reported Army Radio on Sunday. If approved, the plan will then be submitted to the District Committee.
According to Peace Now Secretary-General Yariv Oppenheimer, the plan is one of the largest to be established across the Green Line, one that is even bigger than the Ramat Shlomo and Har Homa plans that triggered a great uproar last year and raised tensions in relations between Israel and the United States, reported Army Radio.

With respect to Ramat Shlomo, that's a lie. The Ramat Shlomo plan is for 1,600 housing units. The Har Homa plan is 980 units. It would be nice if these people at least got their facts straight.

In any event, 1,400 units is far from the largest project in Jerusalem - 'east' or 'west.' The original Ramat Shlomo in the early '90's was over 2,000 units, and I believe that Har Homa was even more.

"We are very concerned, especially from the international reaction that would further harm the already eroded position of the State of Israel," Army Radio quoted Oppenheimer as saying.

Oppenheimer couldn't give a damn about the 'international reaction.' If he did, he wouldn't be trying to orchestrate it.

Jerusalem Council member Meir Margalit (Meretz) said that "the plan is a more serious and dangerous step than all the previous plans for construction beyond the Green Line."

Holy hyperbole Batman. I would have thought that a huge construction project beyond the 'security fence' would have been considered 'a more serious and dangerous step than all the previous plans for construction beyond the Green Line' by these people.

"This is a confirmation of the death of the peace process," Margalit told Army Radio.

The 'peace process' has been dead since September. You just figured that out now?

And to give you some idea how quickly things move in Jerusalem....

The housing plan passed the necessary steps quickly, since the idea first came to light in July 2008.

Although it will take time before construction begins on the housing units, discussion of the plan by the local committee signals a step toward the goal, Army Radio said.

If anything, Army Radio is even more Leftist than the government-owned Israel Radio. As a rule, they won't accept anyone - certainly not for on-air programming - who has Right wing political views. Sounds like they're making a mountain out of a molehill, doesn't it?

Officials from Jerusalem's City Hall emphasized Sunday morning that the plan was brought forth by private entrepreneurs and was promoted by the Jerusalem Development Authority.

"City hall continues to advance the new buildings for Arabs and Jews according to the plan's outline," the officials said. "New construction in Jerusalem is essential to the development of the city, and regardless of that, the local committee is committed to discussing any plan that is submitted to it, according to the law."

No comment.

Maan adds:

The project, planned by private firms, could take close to four years to complete because of the difficulties of building on the steep slopes on the outskirts of the West Bank city of Bethlehem.

Four years is average here once they start building. They take forever to do anything. Probably because they use cheap, Arab labor.

Labels: Gilo, Jerusalem construction, Jerusalem is the capital of Israel, Ramat Shlomo

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 6:40 PM