A spokesman from the District Committee for Planning and Housing revealed that 2,200 additional housing units for the East Jerusalem settlement Giv’at HaMatos had been approved two weeks ago. These make up the first phase of the planned 4,000 housing units that will be constructed with the aim of encircling the village of Beit Safafa with a settlement belt.
Giv’at HaMatos settlement was founded in 1991 on land belonging to Beit Safafa and has since been moving further and further onto village land towards the Gilo settlement and the Hebron road. According to a report appearing on the website Arab 48, the area where the units are to be built is one of the widest uninhabited areas under the control of the Occupation authorities in Jerusalem. Around 40% of land is considered by the Occupation to be âstate landâ, 40% is privately owned by Palestinians and 20% is land previously confiscated by Zionists.
In addition, the Occupation government decided last week to continue the construction of 750 housing units in the Givâat Zeâev settlement that is constructed on Palestinian land northwest of Jerusalem. At the same time, Occupation forces have destroyed more than 50 Palestinian homes in the past two and a half months following the Annapolis conference.