Jerusalem’s city engineer Uri Shitrit listed Tuesday three reasons that could prevent establishing contiguity between the settlement of Ma’alee Adumim and Jerusalem.
There is no more publicly owned land in the eastern city; expanding construction would entail large-scale confiscation of private land, which is unlikely in the present geo-political climate; it would not be right to build Jewish neighborhoods side by side with Arab neighborhoods in Jerusalem.
‘It will not be possible to build new residential neighborhoods, or to expand construction of Jewish neighborhoods in East Jerusalem,’ Shitrit said Tuesday.
Shitrit concluded that the plan to create Jewish residential contiguity between Jerusalem and Ma’alee Adumim will not materialize.
Israeli Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz several months ago approved the construction of a new residential neighborhood in the E-1 zone in the settlement of Ma’aleh Adumim.
Shitrit also said that the only available alternative to expand Jerusalem built up area is westwards.
