The mayor of Jerusalem unveiled a plan on Tuesday to demolish dozens of Palestinian homes to make room for a tourist center in one of the disputed city’s most volatile neighborhoods, drawing criticism from Palestinians and the UN.
However, Mayor Nir Barkat agreed to a last-minute request from the Israeli prime minister to consult Palestinian residents before breaking ground, a delay that could put the plan on hold for an unknown period of time. The postponement drew praise from the US State Department, but the move still threatened to raise tensions in the holy city just as the Obama administration makes a push to renew Middle East peace talks.
“There is no way the Palestinians can accept the demolishing of houses in Jerusalem and the continuation of building settlements for the Jewish settlers, while the United States is trying to bring the parties together,” Palestinian Cabinet minister Mohammed Ishtayeh said. “We fully and totally condemn all these Israeli measures.”
At a news conference, Barkat presented his plan as a much needed upgrade of Jerusalem’s decaying al-Bustan neighborhood, which Israeli officials have begun calling Gan Hamelech, or the King’s Garden, linking it to the site where the biblical King David is said to have written his psalms.
The city wants to build shops, restaurants, art galleries and a large community center replete with day care facilities and gyms.
Barkat said the area’s Palestinian residents, subject to decades of neglect, will benefit, and that most of those who would lose their homes would be eligible for alternative housing, though it was unclear who would pay for it.
“The conditions in which these residents live are intolerable,” he said.
“The goal of the plan is to find solutions,” said Barkat, a hawkish, secular politician who became mayor after amassing a fortune in the high-tech sector.
Few Israeli moves in east Jerusalem, however, are benign in Palestinian eyes. The Palestinians hope to make that part of the city — captured by Israel in the war of 1967 — the capital of a future state.
They see Barkat’s plan as another way for Israel to cement its control there. Israel annexed east Jerusalem immediately after capturing it, but no other country recognized the move.
Moussa Owdeh, a 58-year-old Palestinian whose home is one of 88 slated for demolition, accused Barkat of fomenting “extremism and bloodshed.”
“This is our land and home,” he said, holding up a document he said was the title to the property. “Our house is a symbol of our dignity.”
Apparently fearing stiff criticism from the US, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called on Barkat to hold the plan up for consultations with the affected Palestinians. Barkat agreed and a State Department spokesman in Washington praised that decision.
“We’ve noted that the Mayor is going to continue his discussions with the residents before proceeding with moving the plan through official processes. We appreciate his intervention,” spokesman P.J. Crowley said, urging Israelis and Palestinians to refrain from steps that “undermine trust.”
Israel has faced sharp criticism for demolishing Palestinian homes it says were built illegally in east Jerusalem. Much of the unapproved construction takes place because Palestinians have a hard time obtaining building permits, and a new report on Tuesday by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said only 13 percent of east Jerusalem has been zoned for Palestinian construction.
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