King's Garden
Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat is set to give a press conference today in which he will unveil his plans for the re-development of Silwan, that is an Arab village that is part of Jerusalem and which contains the remains of King David's City, an archeological site that has been excavated and is of the utmost Biblical significance (Silwan is the Arab name for Siloam that is mentioned in the Bible).
How this program came about is a complex story, that first relates to the quasi private-government David's City development project, that has of course been opposed by the local Arab inhabitants. It is axiomatic that any Jewish/Israeli project in East Jerusalem will produce a negative reaction in the local Arab population and sometimes beyond. For example, when in 1996 then PM Netanyahu announced the opening of a new exit from the underground Temple Walls tunnel, that would avoid visitors having to return by the same route in a long narrow tunnel, there was large-scale rioting that resulted in the deaths of 14 Israelis and 54 Palestinians. The Islamic authorities used this decision to attack Israel, stating that Israel was deliberately undermining the Dome of the Rock, that was of course untrue, and they even took the case to the UN. The long-term outcome is that the exit operates very efficiently, the status of the Dome of the Rock was unaffected and the exit gate is now accepted. Another example is the construction of the Security Barrier mostly as a wall within Jerusalem, which has led to wide-scale ongoing rioting at Bil'i'in and Nili'in. Also, the purchase of houses in East Jerusalem by private Jewish organizations has caused negative reaction, such as currently in Sheikh Jarrah, even when the Jewish ownership has been appealed to the Israeli Supreme Court and judged as legal.
Partly as a result of the development of the David's City project, a house in Silwan was purchased by a Jewish group and turned into a yeshiva and in order to provide living accomodation for the student's it was expanded to six stories. The residents of Silwan went to court and the Supreme Court ruled in this case that the construction was illegal, and to avoid actually demolishing the structure, the building was ordered to be sealed. This caused a strong Jewish reaction because there are literally hundreds of illegal structures built in East Jerusalem by Arabs that do not have official planning permission, and that have been left because of the feared political repercussions of dealing with them. Nevertheless, NIr Barkat, a successful businessman and a secular Jew, as Mayor of Jeruslaem, came up with a compromise solution, that allows him to also implement his vision of developing the Arab sections of Jerusalem.
He proposes, instead of sealing the Yeshiva, to remove the "illegal" extra 2 stories that were added to the 4 storey building, also he plans to demolish 100 Arab structures that were built in Silwan illegally without planning permission. In their place he will improve current housing for the Arab residents, by installing new sewer, water and electricity grids, and he will rehouse those residents who are removed with new improved housing nearby. In place of the demolished structures he will build a garden, to be called Gan Hamlech, the King's Garden, and as part of it there will be a new shopping center with a hotel that should help develop the local economy by taking advantage of the archeological site. This is all being done with transparency so that no "secret" development is involved and of course it is a city planner's dream, because an otherwise poor and decrepit region of the city will be modernised and improved.
However, don't expect local Arabs to accept this plan without opposition and even rioting, that is the way they respond to all Israeli initiatives. They would rather wallow in poverty than accept Israeli improvements to their lives. They see all developments as Jewish plots to steal their land, not acknowledging that Silwan is part of municipal Jerusalem, nor that David's City has significant Jewish historical connections. Many will criticize Barkat for making this initiative now, when there is already Arab rioting over the adding of the two West Bank sites of Rachel's Tomb in Bethlehem and the Tomb of the Patriarchs in Hebron to the list of Jewish Heritage Sites that the Israeli Government under PM Netanyahu has decided to renovate.
But, there are two principles at stake here, first Mayor Barkat is sovereign in Jeruslaem and he has developed his plan as a municipal program independently of the Israeli Government. Would the Mayor of London accept the British Government telling him how to run his City or the Mayor of New York and so on. So Mayor Barkat has developed this plan in accord with current developments within his City. Secondly, there are always claims that the Jewish dominated City of Jerusalem is exploiting the Arab sections for their own purposes. But, here is a excellent example of city planning that would pass any objective analysis as a worthy development project, in which the interests of both Arabs and Jews are protected, remembering that the City cannot prevent Jews from choosing to live there too.
How this program came about is a complex story, that first relates to the quasi private-government David's City development project, that has of course been opposed by the local Arab inhabitants. It is axiomatic that any Jewish/Israeli project in East Jerusalem will produce a negative reaction in the local Arab population and sometimes beyond. For example, when in 1996 then PM Netanyahu announced the opening of a new exit from the underground Temple Walls tunnel, that would avoid visitors having to return by the same route in a long narrow tunnel, there was large-scale rioting that resulted in the deaths of 14 Israelis and 54 Palestinians. The Islamic authorities used this decision to attack Israel, stating that Israel was deliberately undermining the Dome of the Rock, that was of course untrue, and they even took the case to the UN. The long-term outcome is that the exit operates very efficiently, the status of the Dome of the Rock was unaffected and the exit gate is now accepted. Another example is the construction of the Security Barrier mostly as a wall within Jerusalem, which has led to wide-scale ongoing rioting at Bil'i'in and Nili'in. Also, the purchase of houses in East Jerusalem by private Jewish organizations has caused negative reaction, such as currently in Sheikh Jarrah, even when the Jewish ownership has been appealed to the Israeli Supreme Court and judged as legal.
Partly as a result of the development of the David's City project, a house in Silwan was purchased by a Jewish group and turned into a yeshiva and in order to provide living accomodation for the student's it was expanded to six stories. The residents of Silwan went to court and the Supreme Court ruled in this case that the construction was illegal, and to avoid actually demolishing the structure, the building was ordered to be sealed. This caused a strong Jewish reaction because there are literally hundreds of illegal structures built in East Jerusalem by Arabs that do not have official planning permission, and that have been left because of the feared political repercussions of dealing with them. Nevertheless, NIr Barkat, a successful businessman and a secular Jew, as Mayor of Jeruslaem, came up with a compromise solution, that allows him to also implement his vision of developing the Arab sections of Jerusalem.
He proposes, instead of sealing the Yeshiva, to remove the "illegal" extra 2 stories that were added to the 4 storey building, also he plans to demolish 100 Arab structures that were built in Silwan illegally without planning permission. In their place he will improve current housing for the Arab residents, by installing new sewer, water and electricity grids, and he will rehouse those residents who are removed with new improved housing nearby. In place of the demolished structures he will build a garden, to be called Gan Hamlech, the King's Garden, and as part of it there will be a new shopping center with a hotel that should help develop the local economy by taking advantage of the archeological site. This is all being done with transparency so that no "secret" development is involved and of course it is a city planner's dream, because an otherwise poor and decrepit region of the city will be modernised and improved.
However, don't expect local Arabs to accept this plan without opposition and even rioting, that is the way they respond to all Israeli initiatives. They would rather wallow in poverty than accept Israeli improvements to their lives. They see all developments as Jewish plots to steal their land, not acknowledging that Silwan is part of municipal Jerusalem, nor that David's City has significant Jewish historical connections. Many will criticize Barkat for making this initiative now, when there is already Arab rioting over the adding of the two West Bank sites of Rachel's Tomb in Bethlehem and the Tomb of the Patriarchs in Hebron to the list of Jewish Heritage Sites that the Israeli Government under PM Netanyahu has decided to renovate.
But, there are two principles at stake here, first Mayor Barkat is sovereign in Jeruslaem and he has developed his plan as a municipal program independently of the Israeli Government. Would the Mayor of London accept the British Government telling him how to run his City or the Mayor of New York and so on. So Mayor Barkat has developed this plan in accord with current developments within his City. Secondly, there are always claims that the Jewish dominated City of Jerusalem is exploiting the Arab sections for their own purposes. But, here is a excellent example of city planning that would pass any objective analysis as a worthy development project, in which the interests of both Arabs and Jews are protected, remembering that the City cannot prevent Jews from choosing to live there too.
posted by Jack Cohen at 1:03 PM
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