The occupation municipality, in cooperation with the Shikon Vibinoy company, published a new plan to expand construction in the "Givat Hamatos" settlement built on the lands of Beit Safafa , in order to cut off communication between the occupied cities of Jerusalem and Bethlehem , at a time when the Israeli District Committee approved, yesterday, the expansion of the settlement. Givat Shaked, with 700 new units.

The "Ir Amim" association revealed the expansion of the new plan for building rights on these lands from 300 to 1,500 housing units, as the construction operations in "Givat Hamatos" will permanently cut off the Palestinian geographical contiguity between East Jerusalem and Bethlehem in the south, and will, in particular, prevent Without linking Beit Safafa to a future Palestinian state.

The association said, "The Givat Hamatos plan was approved a decade ago, as the settlement contains 2,610 housing units. Tenders for the construction of 1,200 of the aforementioned units were published three years ago, but today, extensive works are underway on the land in order to extend the infrastructure, This is apparently in order to prepare the ground for future Jewish construction in the neighborhood."

Shikon Fibinui obtained expanded building percentages in Givat Hamatos, within the framework of an agreement reached by the company with the Jerusalem Municipality, stipulating that it not build on lands it owns in the Kiryat Yovel neighborhood, west of Jerusalem, due to the residents' opposition to construction work there, and their demand to keep on the space as a public space. In return, the construction rights of the Israeli construction company in the aforementioned settlement were expanded.

In parallel, the local committee in the Jerusalem municipality discussed, this week, the district committee's intention to prepare a new plan also on the lands of Beit Safafa, as it will be at the northern end of the neighborhood, at the intersection of "Benvesti" and "Dov Yosef" streets, at the northern end of Sharafat.

The scope of the plan is 400 settlement units, as it will expand the "Givat Shaked" settlement, which is also being expanded on the lands of Sharafat and Beit Safafa.

Yesterday, the committee approved the expansion of Givat Shaked by 700 settlement units.

The municipality had recently announced, in parallel with the expansion of Israeli settlements, that it would back down from supporting the "Tal Adasa" plan on the lands of Beit Hanina, as the landowners developed advanced planning to develop the area at their own expense and with the help of planner Ayala Ronel.

The plan includes 2,500 housing units containing public buildings. The municipality has for years supported this scheme on the grounds that this area was referred to in the Jerusalem 2000 plan as an area for development. But now, when the plan has been completed and reached the stage of deliberations in the Planning Committee in preparation for its approval, the municipality has changed its position by claiming its opposition to construction works in open areas.