Report: Silwan group secretly plans to stop future evacuation.
By JPOST.COM STAFFBeit Yehonatan(photo credit: Ariel Jerozolimski)
The council for Jewish residents in Silwan have secret plans to bring in about 2,500 youth to help prevent to their expulsion from Beit Yehonatan should police attempt to force them to leave the disputed building, Channel 10 reported on Thursday evening.According to the plans, the youth will be brought into the area two days before any planned expulsion from the building to assist in preparations for the day of expulsion.RELATED:Opinion: Whose city is it, anyway?Court rejects Beit Yehonatan appealCapital braces for Beit Yehonatan evacuationSome 600 girls and boys were expected to come to the Beit Yehonatan building in separate groups during the day of the expected expulsion to help demonstrate. There were also plans to set up three protests tents, one by Beit Yehonatan, another by the King's Garden building project and a third tent outside Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu's official residence in Jerusalem.The Jerusalem District Court rejected the latest appeal against the slated sealing of Beit Yehonatan, a Jewish seven-story building constructed without a permit in the mostly Arab southeast Silwan neighborhood this past May.Judge Nava Ben-Or ruled against the residents' appeal to delay the sealing order, stipulating that it should be carried out immediately - an order that has yet to be implemented.Attempts to stave off the execution of the court order have included an agreement in principal reached in discussions with municipal officials to seal off the top two floors of the structure, in return for the retroactive legalization of the remaining five. Although residents have petitioned the municipality to formalize the agreement, and Barkat has touted it as a possible solution, it has not materialized.Abe Selig contributed to this report.
