BICOM

The Interior ministry announced 930 new apartments in East Jerusalem yesterday. The ministry’s Jerusalem District Planning and Building Committee gave their final approval for Har Homa C, which is located on a hill adjacent to the current Har Homa neighborhood, two years after it was first deposited for approval. Interior Minister Eli Yishai said he had instructed his office to promote projects in Har Homa that had a mix of large and small apartments, in order to address the protests over the lack of affordable housing.

Even with the final approval from the Interior Ministry, it will still be at least two years until the apartments begin construction. First, the state must publish tenders and approve a contractor, and all of the infrastructure must be laid for the new neighbourhood.

In related news, earlier this week, Israel’s Supreme Court ordered the government to remove the largest unauthorised settlement outpost in the West Bank. The court ruled on the case of Migron, a cluster of around 60 mobile homes that is situated on private Palestinian land on a hill north of Jerusalem. In addition, this week in a joint police and Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) operation, 12 right-wing activists residing in the West Bank settlement of Yitzhar received administrative restraining orders banning them from the area for varying periods of time. The activists are suspected of carrying out arson attacks on a number of mosques, cars, and buildings owned by Palestinians.