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Blocking Mideast Peace
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| Money
For Settlements in Abu-Dis, Not for Poor Neighborhoods
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| by Eyal Hareuveni |
Originally published 10 January 1997
in Kol Ha'Ir
Out of its own pocket, the Jerusalem municipality is paying
for the planning of a new settlement in abu-Dis, even though it's private
property. Other plans for public use were frozen due to budget cuts.
The
Jewish municipality will cover the cost of planning the Jewish settlement
in abu-Dis, 298,000 shekel [$92,000], from an improvement tax to be charged
to residents of the settlement, if it gets built. The plan is for development
of privately owned property, including a lot owned by Dr. Irving Moskowitz,
the patron of extreme right Israeli organizations. Usually, the municipality
refrains from planning property that is privately owned unless the public
interest is involved. Because of budget cuts last year, the municipality
froze several projects, including those intended to serve the general public,
such as the plan to construct public buildings in the Patt neighborhood,
rehabilitation of the Talpiot neighborhood, and the construction of park-and-go
lots.
Ornan Yekutieli, head of the Meretz Party in the city council,
asked Mayor Ehud Olmert this week to cancel plans to build the new settlement.
"The investments of Moskowitz in the city are blood money. We and our children
will pay for it in blood, while he sits in his bingo mansion in Miami and
throws lit matches onto the Jerusalem gunpowder keg." Yekutieli also claims
that the settlement will increase the cost of the eastern ring road by several
dozen million shekel, since it will necessitate the construction of retaining
walls and acoustical protection. The municipality estimates the cost of the
road to be 400 million shekel, but senior municipal officials say that the
cost will reach a billion shekel.
The municipality spokesman replied
that the plan is funded from the municipal budget. "The municipality often
plans a residential neighborhood for land owners, and later recoups its planning
expenses from the land owners", it said.
Copyright 1997 Kol Ha'Ir. For education and discussion only. Not for commercial use.
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©
2003 design by elbop for the Coalition for Justice in Hawaiian Gardens and Jerusalem
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