Heba Aslan - Jerusalem
The Municipality of the occupation canceled the establishment of two industrial zones in Jerusalem and decided to transfer them to the settlements, in a new assertion that the purpose of the land classification in the city is to expand settlements within a demographic war.
One of the two areas is adjacent to Pisgat Zeev settlement, northeast of occupied Jerusalem, and the second lies between the villages of Anata and Shu'fat, north of the city, in favor of settlement expansion, while rejecting a plan by Palestinians to set up a high-tech industrial zone in Shu'fat.
The decision of the elected mayor of the occupied territories, Moshe Le'on, who is responsible for the Shas movement, after the objections of the settlers in Pisgat Ze'ev, to establish these areas on the pretext of harming their security.
| The occupation plans more settlement construction in favor of the settlement of Pisgat Ze'ev at the expense of land designated as industrial areas (the island) |
Strategic Reserve
These units will be added to some 6,000 settlement units in the settlement, which began construction in 1985 after the expropriation of land belonging to the residents of Hizma and Beit Hanina in 1980, later to be divided into northern and southern parts.
According to the master plan, the settlement could accommodate 100,000 settlers, about half of whom now live.
The former mayor of the occupation, "Ehud Olmert" approved the draft industrial zone near the settlement of "Pisgat Ze'ev" in 1999, to be built on 54 donums of the 200 acres confiscated for the people there.
According to Khalil al-Tafkaji, director of the cartography department at the Arab Studies Society, the announcement of the establishment of the industrial zones and its subsequent cancellation is part of the so-called strategic reserve for non-construction. In other words, the municipality of the occupation and to prevent the Palestinians from building on their land in certain areas.
| Aerial photograph of the industrial zone (specified in violet) on the lands of Anata and Shu'fat (Al-Jazira) |
Confiscation of settlements
The industrial zone between the villages of Anata and Shu'fat was approved by the Israeli occupation authorities in 2000 to build about 10 dunums out of 174 dunums confiscated by the villagers for settlement projects, including settlements and streets leading to them.
The occupation municipality did not announce the fate of these lands after it canceled the decision to establish the industrial zone. However, according to Tafkaji, the priorities of the occupation are limited to three options, either settlement construction or industrial areas or green land.
The municipality prevents the residents of Shu'fat from building 200 dunums of their land on the grounds that they are green land that is not suitable for construction. It also prevented them from organizing plots 1 and 2 adjacent to the light train station.
Lawyer Mahmud al-Mashni, a member of Shu'fat village council, explains how the municipality refused to ask the residents to organize the plots for a residential project, and later to apply for a light industrial high-tech industrial zone.
| Tafkaji: The Municipality of the occupation includes land under industrial zones to prevent Palestinians from building on their lands (Al-Jazeera) |
He said that after several years of complicated procedures for the project, which was provided by the residents with special funding, the request was rejected and the municipality announced that the project would be completely shut down.
Growing crisis
In addition to the Palestinians' loss of their land, the successive expropriations of the Israeli municipality have caused a housing crisis that increases over time due to the inability to expand.
Mohiuddin Awadallah, a member of Shu'fat village council, warns of the consequences of this crisis, which confirms that in the next two years, the villagers will have to look for houses to live outside the borders of their village.
According to Awadallah, the municipality of the occupation, if allowed to build, this approval is limited to the construction of the pillars above the foundations of the old, and in terms of engineering does not have the capacity to carry more construction.
In the absence of future options between Palestinians and Jerusalem as a result of the occupation practices, the member of the municipal council does not rule out one day to wake up to the construction of an Israeli industrial zone that had been rejected in the past, because the beneficiaries were Palestinians.