At the moment, there is no chance that Palestinian entrepreneur Bashar al-Masri's grandiose dreams of building tens of thousands of new housing units in the north of Jerusalem will come to fruition, for a few reasons.
Follow Israel Hayom on Facebook and Twitter
First, his building permit was issued a year ago and allows him to construct only 400 units on an 18.5-dunam (4.57-acre) piece of land that borders Atarot and Beit Hanina. Second, the bigger plan – which is more of a vision or program and has yet to be approved by anyone – discusses "completing" Beit Hanina and expanding its current population of 40,000 to some 120,000. This plan, which is making the rounds of the Beit Hanina community administrators, currently has no chance of making it through the Jerusalem planning authorities, the Jerusalem Municipality, or the district planning committee, where Interior Minister Ayelet Shaked has major influence.
And after we've said that, we should nevertheless be concerned by this Palestinian vision, which was presented on Tuesday in the presence of Jerusalem Mufti Mohammed Hussein and Orthodox Archbishop of Jerusalem Theophilus III. Mainly, we should be concerned because it is met with a void of vision from the Israeli side when it comes to northern Jerusalem. Moreover, the construction plan of more significance to Jews in the north of the city – the plan to build some 10,000 new housing units in Atarot – has been under a diplomatic freeze for two decades. This was in place under former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, his predecessors, and remains in place under Prime Minister Naftali Bennett.
At the moment, the Atarot plan is waiting to be placed for public review, but even this stage has been delayed for many years, for reasons that are unclear. Construction for Jewish residents in Atarot is of strategic importance to Jerusalem. Without it, there is a real risk that the city's northern "finger" will be handed over to the Palestinians at some future date – and they openly want that to happen.
There is nothing more justified that building housing in Atarot, which is Jewish-owned land that was captured by Jordan in the 1948 War of Independence and which we liberated in 1967. Since then, it has been waiting for its children, its redeemers, to return. Of course, building in Atarot is also the right thing to do given the housing crisis for Jewish residents of Jerusalem. Some 18,000 Jews leave the city each year, mostly because they have nowhere to live. The plan is also necessary to sway the demographic balance of Jerusalem in favor of the Jews and increase their majority, which has shrunk in the past few decades. Atarot is the answer to the Palestinian Al-Masri family's vision, and an opportunity for Bennett and Shaked and Zeev Elkin and Gideon Sa'ar to prove that they are 10% to the right of the previous government.
Subscribe to Israel Hayom's daily newsletter and never miss our top stories!
