The Israeli Newspaper Maariv reported on Thursday that the Jerusalem Municipality is planning to construct houses, a huge parking lot, Mall and a hotel in what is known as the “Jewish neighborhood” in the Old City of Jerusalem captured by Israel after the 1967 war.
The municipality claimed that the huge parking lots aims at solving the problem of traffic jams as a result the lack of parking lots in the Old City. The Islamic endowment [Waqf] department said that this plan aims at expanding Jewish settlements in the Old City and to limit the Arab and Muslim Presence there. Arab residents in the Old City are not allow to build news houses or expand their existing ones.
Sheikh Adnan Al Husseiny, Head of the Waqf Department in Jerusalem, said that this project is considered an attack carried by the Jerusalem Municipality against the Occupied East Jerusalem.
The plan comes, according to Maariv, in cooperation between Jerusalem Municipality and the company known as “The Development of the Jewish Neighborhood” in the Old City. The company also plans to construct a four-story parking garage.
Also, the company plans to construct tall residential buildings over the parking garage in addition to a space which will be used for a mall and hotels.
The new settlement will be constructed on 18 kilometers, it includes a passage for vehicles under the Wall of the Old City.
Al Husseiny added called on the Jerusalem Municipality and the Israeli Government to stop the digging in the Old City in order to preserve its history.
Maariv added that this plan is being studied now by the Central Committee for Planning and Construction in Jerusalem, and is classified to be of a “high strategic importance”.
