Peace Now: Tender issued for 1,077 homes in Givat Hamatos
Peace now warned that the settlement would “sever” the territorial contiguity of a Palestinian Jerusalem-Bethlehem metropolitan area.
By TOVAH LAZAROFFA view of Jerusalm is seen from the disputed Givat Hamatos neighborhood(photo credit: MARC ISRAEL SELLEM)
A tender was issued Monday for 1,077 homes in a new Jewish neighborhood on east Jerusalem's Givat Hamatos, not far from the Palestinian city of Bethlehem, Peace Now said.Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has pushed forward the project to help cement Israel’s hold on a united Jerusalem. Peace Now has warned that it would “sever” the territorial contiguity of a Palestinian Jerusalem-Bethlehem metropolitan area.“Construction in Givat Hamatos is a serious blow to the two-state solution. This is the last point enabling territorial continuity between Bethlehem and east Jerusalem,” the NGO said. Bids open March 5 and close on June 22.Peace Now further stated that the IDF’s Higher Planning Council for Judea and Samaria intends to meet on Thursday to advance plans for building 1,148 homes in West Bank settlements.Among the projects on the agenda is a new industrial park, Sha’ar Hashomron, which will be located near Kalkilya.The council will also move on a plan for 620 homes in the settlement of Eli, which had been frozen due to a High Court of Justice injunction against the project. The court removed that injunction last week.All of Israel’s building measures over the pre-1967 lines fall within the parameters of the Trump peace plan. But the Palestinians and the United Nations, as well as Peace Now, are holding out for a two-state solution based on the pre-1967 lines, with east Jerusalem as the Palestinian capital.With an eye to that parameter, UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process Nickolay Mladenov spoke against Israel building over the pre-1967 lines, as well as Israeli moves to advance sovereignty, when he addressed the UN Security Council in New York by video from Jerusalem.“The Secretary-General [Antonio Guterres] has consistently spoken out against unilateral steps and plans for annexation," Mladenov said."Such steps, including the possible annexation of territory in the West Bank or similar moves, would have a devastating impact on the prospect for a two-state solution. They would close the door to negotiations, have negative repercussions across the region, and severely undermine opportunities for normalization and regional peace.”
