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Photo: Eli Mendelbaum
Gilo
Photo: Eli Mendelbaum

Committee postpones meeting on Jerusalem construction ahead of Netanyahu-Obama meeting

Discussion on 67 housing units in Gilo, a neighborhood located beyond the Green Line, was removed from the agenda of the capital's Planning and Building Committee, with members citing diplomatic pressure; municipality: 'Delay is due to immaterial technical reasons.'

Ahead of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's meeting with US President Barack Obama in New York on Wednesday, the Jerusalem Planning and Building Committee has postponed discussions on construction beyond the Green Line.

 

 

The committee's first order of business on Wednesday was meant to be plans for 67 new housing units in three buildings in Jerusalem's Gilo neighborhood.

 

But when the committee members convened, they were told the Gilo plans were off the agenda. According to them, the discussion was postponed because of diplomatic pressure ahead of the Netanyahu-Obama meeting.

 

Construction in Gilo (Photo: AFP) (צילום: AFP)
Construction in Gilo (Photo: AFP)

 

Last July, the committee approved plans to build 770 housing units out of a total of 2,100 units in the "Gilo Hills" project, planned for the area between Gilo and Beit Jala. This led to a barrage of international condemnation. Two weeks ago, a tender for construction in Ramat Shlomo, another neighborhood in East Jerusalem, was cancelled because of diplomatic pressure.

 

The Jerusalem municipality noted that "There isn't and there will not be a freeze in the Jerusalem District Planning and Construction Committee. Sometimes, there are immaterial delays of a few weeks in approving the plans for purely technical reasons."

 

Officials in the municipality explained that the Gilo discussions were postponed because both committee chairman Meir Turgeman and his stand-in Yosef Deutsch are abroad.

 

In his final UN General Assembly speech on Tuesday, President Obama criticized both Israel and the Palestinians, saying "surely, Israelis and Palestinians will be better off if Palestinians reject incitement and recognize the legitimacy of Israel, but Israel recognizes that it cannot permanently occupy and settle Palestinian land."

 


פרסום ראשון: 09.21.16, 15:24
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