Saturday, January 5, 2008

'Absentee' land slated for Har Homa homes in E. Jerusalem

Contributed by Lucia in Spain

"The Housing Ministry is pushing forward with the construction of more than 1,000 residential units in East Jerusalem's Har Homa neighborhood on land held by "absentee" Palestinians from the Bethlehem area. The move is in violation of both an instruction from the attorney general to stop applying the absentee law in East Jerusalem and explicit promises to the U.S. not to apply that law in the capital's eastern quarters.

About four weeks ago, the Housing Ministry published a tender to build 300units to complete Stage B of the Har Homa plan. The tender evoked international outrage and U.S. and Palestinian pressure to block the construction. It is now evident that most of the land for the 300 units belongs to residents of Beit Sahur who were declared absentee, so their lands were taken by the state without compensation or legal hearings......"

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