Parallel to hints heard recently in the government on the possible future option of dividing Jerusalem, the Jerusalem Municipality is advancing a wide-scale program for the development a strengthening of the urban center in the eastern part of the city.

The program will be part of a city outline program, aimed at keeping Jerusalem's territory as a single and continuous urban bloc. The estimated cost of the project for the public space stands at NIS 200 million (about $51.3 million).

In the context of the program, Jerusalem's municipality is planning on developing commerce, hotels, an expansion of Jerusalem's marginal neighborhoods, the safeguarding of historic buildings, and a combination of urban and private initiatives to hasten activity in the public sector, as well as tourist attractions and an encouragement of fares.

In addition to encouraging cultural institutions, museums, and galleries, the program will aim for physical and social renovation of residential areas, and an increase in building rights, as well as restrictions in the Old City area.

The plan, worked on by municipality staff for almost a year, hopes to see the eastern section combined with the urban continuity of the western section and the Old City, in effect turning the east into a thriving center which will attract visitors and tourists.

Jerusalem's Mayor, Uri Lupolianski, has recently expressed his opposition to a division of Jerusalem, and described intensions to give up on the city's eastern suburbs as a "removing intestines."

He says he believes his program, introduce a week before the Annapolis conference, will "set facts on the ground and create a stronger connection between the west and east of the city. The result will be a united and strong city, a tourist friendly city, accessible, and financially and culturally strong."