Jerusalem plan would raze 22 Palestinian homes

[June 21, 2010]  JERUSALEM (AP) -- Jerusalem's mayor pressed ahead Monday with a contentious plan to raze 22 Palestinian homes to make room for a tourist center that Palestinians fear would tighten Israel's grip on the city's contested eastern sector.

Mayor Nir Barkat asked the municipal planning committee to give preliminary approval to the plan, a move that threatened to raise tensions in the volatile holy city and draw renewed international fire on the heels of a much-criticized Israeli sea raid.

Barkat first floated the plan months ago, but agreed to a last-minute request from Israel's prime minister to consult Palestinian residents before breaking ground. Israeli demolition of Palestinian homes has in the past provoked harsh reaction from the United States.

Palestinians hope to build the capital of a future state in east Jerusalem and see any Israeli construction there as undercutting their claims to the land. Although Israel claims it is simply enforcing the law by knocking down illegally built structures, many of the unapproved homes have gone up without authorization because Palestinians have a hard time obtaining construction permits in east Jerusalem.

Barkat says the plan gives a much-needed facelift to Jerusalem's decaying al-Bustan neighborhood, which Israel calls Gan Hamelech, or the King's Garden.

The plan calls for the construction of shops, restaurants, art galleries and a large community center on the site where some say the biblical King David wrote his psalms. The 22 displaced families would be allowed to build homes elsewhere in the neighborhood, though it's not clear who would pay for them.

Israel annexed east Jerusalem immediately after capturing it from Jordan in the 1967 Mideast war.

Israeli sovereignty there has not been recognized by the Palestinians or the international community, and the fate of the city is the most charged issue dividing the two sides. Nearly 200,000 Jews have moved to east Jerusalem since Israel captured it, living in an uneasy coexistence with 250,000 Palestinians.

Activists in Al-Bustan, who had sought to block all demolitions, said in a statement that the plan "comes in the general context of (the) fast-track Judaization" of east Jerusalem.

It pre-empts "the possibility of Jerusalem ever being a shared city, or indeed capital of a Palestinian state," the statement said. "This in itself precludes peace."

The contested site is a section of a larger neighborhood called Silwan, which is home to some 50,000 Palestinians and 70 Jewish families. Demolitions elsewhere in Silwan have made the neighborhood a hub of tension between Palestinians fearful of eviction and Jews determined to keep the city Israel's undivided capital.

Apparently fearing stiff criticism from the U.S., Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pressured Barkat in March to hold up the plan to consult with Palestinians who stood to lose their homes.

"Now, after fine-tuning the plan and seeking more cooperation with the residents as far as their needs and improving the quality of their lives, the municipality is ready to submit the plans for the first stage of approval," Barkat spokesman Stephan Miller said Monday.

The prime minister's office said Netanyahu "hopes that since this project is only in a preliminary stage, that the dialogue can continue with those who have built homes on public land and it will be possible to find an agreed solution in accordance with the law."

The U.S. Embassy had no comment.

Since Netanyahu initially delayed the plan, he has found himself in deep conflict with the Obama administration over Jewish construction in east Jerusalem.

Israel's rocky relations with the international community took a further hit last month following a deadly raid on a blockade-busting international flotilla bound for the Gaza Strip. The international outcry that followed the May 31 raid pressured Israel to ease its blockade of the territory.

Israel said Sunday it will allow almost all items into Gaza, except for weapons or weapons-related materials that could boost the area's militant Hamas rulers. Previously, Israel had issued only a narrow list of items to enter Gaza.

Netanyahu told parliament's foreign affairs and defense committee on Monday that the easing of the blockade will make things easier for civilians while tightening the blockade on weapons.

"It's the right decision for Israel," he told the panel, according to a statement from his office.

Netanyahu also told the panel the decision was coordinated with the U.S., other nations and the international Mideast envoy Tony Blair.

The Israeli military said Monday that it was ready to increase the transfer of food and household items to Gaza by 30 percent, so that up to 140 trucks filled with goods would be able to pass into Gaza daily.

It said it plans to meet with international agencies in the next few days to discuss advancing other projects like the construction of schools, hospitals and infrastructure works.

There has been no word, however, on whether Gazans would be allowed to export goods or import raw materials for industry -- restrictions that have crippled Gaza's economy.

Israel imposed the blockade after Hamas militants overran Gaza three years ago. But the blockade did not achieve the Israeli aims of keeping weapons out of the territory, pressuring Gazans to turn on their Hamas rulers or win the release of an Israeli soldier held by Hamas-linked militants for four years.

[Associated Press; By AMY TEIBEL]

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