Israel is planning to give settlers a new foothold in the heart of Palestinian east Jerusalem.
The proposal, to be voted on by a finance ministry committee this month, involves two blocks of flats, an office building and a nine-storey religious school.
It would give Israeli settlers a larger presence in Sheikh Jarrah, a contentious Palestinian district north of Jerusalem’s old city. It is also home to many international organisations — the new buildings would be near both a UN compound and the offices of the Middle East Quartet, the body that mediates the stalled peace process.
“The government is brutally attempting to destroy the possibility of the two-state solution,” said the Israeli lobby group Peace Now.
The plan would require the eviction of five Palestinian families who have lived in the neighbourhood for decades. Before 1948, the homes were owned by Jews who were forced out after Israel’s war of independence when east Jerusalem became occupied by Jordan.
Read the article by Gregg Carlstrom from The Times in The Australian.