This plan is a private initiative by the Givat Yael Company for construction of 14,000 residential units to house more than 40,000 people. The plan, which dates back to 2003, has not yet been moved ahead. In the city’s new master plan, the area marked for the construction of this new neighborhood is zoned as a green reserve. Stretching from east of Malha neighborhood toward the village of Walaja, the area in question extends in some places beyond the municipal boundaries of Jerusalem, into the territory of the West Bank.

If executed, this plan would have grave implications for several reasons:

·         The plan would close off Walaja from three directions (the Har Gilo settlement hems it in on the fourth side) and isolate the village from the West Bank,, chopping away the future land reserves of Walaja.

·         The area slated for the new neighborhood is marked on the Jerusalem 2000 master plan as green space. This designation was cited as a basis for rejecting a plan offered by Walaja residents who sought to expand the village’s built-up area via retroactive approval of houses built without permits. Designating this land now for residential use in the master plan, solely to enable approval of the Givat Yael initiative, would signal once again that political considerations trump substantive and professional considerations in the decision-making of these planning authorities, with no regard for the wellbeing of local residents.

·         The new neighborhood, if erected, will create Israeli territorial contiguity from southeast Jerusalem to Gush Etzion. Moreover, the fact that the project crosses the boundaries of municipal Jerusalem into the territory of the West Bank is evidence of a dangerous trend toward blurring the existing boundaries of the city in favor of the imaginary Greater Jerusalem – as manifest in the planned route of the Separation Barrier in the vicinity of Southwest Jerusalem. That route adds another 70 square kilometers of the Gush Etzion area to metropolitan Jerusalem, in addition to the land already annexed in East Jerusalem.

This step constitutes another problematic signal by Israel of its intentions to determine the future map of the region by creating facts on the ground - rather than at the negotiating table, in accordance with existing commitments.

Also noteworthy is that, during July of this year, two new Town Planning Schemes were launched for areas east of Gilo (TPS #13676 and #13677) along Route 60, the Tunnel Road. The new plans were submitted by the Israel Lands Authority. Upon approval (which most likely will be forthcoming), another 300 new housing units will be built in that area.