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According to the promotional tape released by the municipality, the proposed plan, dubbed “Silicon Valley”, focuses on the Wadi Al-Joz neighborhood, and is part of the government’s five-year plan “to develop Jerusalem and reduce the gaps between its west and west. this “, with a total cost of about 700 million dollars. It is assumed that “high-tech” companies will spread over an area of 200 thousand square meters, while hotels will spread over an area of 50 thousand square meters, and shopping centers an area of another 50 thousand square meters. In the mayor’s statements, the latter indicates that there is another project aimed at developing the infrastructure and streets, since it is assumed that 13 streets will be transformed into what is known as sidewalks.
In this context, lawyer Muhannad Jabara points out, in contact with “Al-Akhbar”, that there is confusion due to “the confusion of the matter, perhaps in the media, since some of them confused Silicon Valley with the project to regulate the infrastructure and streets in the center of Jerusalem, “explaining that” earlier Just a few days ago, the municipality deposited a grand plan outlining the Israeli planning policies in the center of the city of East Jerusalem. ”Although this project has been prepared during 20 years ago, the occupation municipality gave only 60 days for Palestinian residents to object. In detail, it appears that the plan would alter the characteristics of Arab streets, turning some of them into sidewalks within the Israeli vision that the municipality to regulate real estate, buildings and empty spaces in the city center, east of Jerusalem. This leads, according to Jabara, to “restrict and restrict any future urban expansion in this region, as well as depriving the indigenous population of any participation in determining the organizational status of the neighborhoods and places they inhabit. ” It also affects the lives of more than 300,000 Palestinians and prevents the possibility of demographic expansion. It requires building only five floors for each building, while the municipality gives Jewish settlers in West Jerusalem the ability to build up to 16 floors.
The total area of the project is about 300 thousand square meters between technology companies and commercial and hotel complexes.
The plan mentioned above is called “The Sharq City Center Project”, and it starts in the Al-Misrara area on No. 1 street, passing through the streets: Sultan Suleiman, Salah Al-Din, Al-Zahraa, Al-Isfahani, Al-Rasheed and Othman Bin Affan Street in Wadi Al-Jouz, reaching the Sheikh area. Jarrah and the “American Colony” hotel, ending on the street that separates the eastern and western parts of the city. However, Jabara confirms that this plan “has nothing to do with what is being circulated recently about the approval by the municipality of the general plan of the Silicon Valley project, which aims to close the industrial zone in Wadi Al-Jouz … and is expected to be approved later this year. “
Going back to the latter, namely the “Silicon Valley Project”, it includes “developing public transportation, expanding green spaces … and a technology school to train and teach the people of Jerusalem, and provide job opportunities for Arab women” , as the mayor affirms. However, changing the characteristics of the neighborhoods, and eating all these areas in the name of the “development of East Jerusalem”, is not a stone’s throw from the eyes of its people, since it seems clear that the objective of the project reached the two parts of the occupied city within the framework of what is known as “the united or great Jerusalem as the capital of Israel”, and expel the Jerusalemians from Their lands by hitting the core of their livelihoods and livelihoods, which it is the only reason why the Israeli municipality, which has neglected these neighborhoods for years, can leave areas of what is known as West Jerusalem to invest in East Jerusalem. How is the plan supposed to provide job opportunities and improve the lives of the inhabitants of Jerusalem, when it is imperative to demolish 200 commercial and industrial establishments in the only industrial zone that the Palestinians still own in Jerusalem and leave their owners without work?
The director of the Jerusalem Center for Social and Economic Rights, Ziyad Al-Hamouri, warns that “the project that the municipality has been commercializing during a very dangerous period, since it threatens 200 properties between an industrial facility and residential places with demolition, and is will extend along the street in the Wadi Al-Joz neighborhood, where it is supposed to link institutions such as Jewish religious schools, the Ministry of the Interior, the university district and other institutions located in the surrounding settlements. “Hammouri adds:
Speaking to Al-Akhbar, the project “will make the entire region appear as a continuous geographical area extending to the Ras al-Amud area, where there are many graves for Jews on Silwan and Mount al-Tour, and this it means that the corridor on which the project will be based is a very large and wide corridor. “
The role of the Emiratis
After his return from the UAE last month, the deputy mayor of the occupying Jerusalem municipality, Feller Nahum, revealed that Emirati companies have shown their willingness to invest in the “Silicon Valley” project. This did not seem surprising in light of Abu Dhabi’s rush to normalize in various fields, from forcing the Palestinians on pilgrimage to a “Dubai Port Company” and opening the sea line for shipping to the busy port of Haifa, to the marketing of Israeli wine made in the settlements of the occupied Syrian Golan, and without ending the marketing of potatoes. Israeli in vegetable stores. According to Nahum, who spoke to the Israeli newspaper “Makor Rishon”, “Emirati businessmen and companies have shown their intense enthusiasm for investment and assistance, especially since it is in our interest to offer job opportunities to the residents of these neighborhoods.” Although the inhabitants of Jerusalem always welcome Emirati typists with shoes, Nahum said that “they see in the peace agreement with the United Arab Emirates an opportunity to improve their living and socio-economic situation … This is an opportunity to link the Jerusalem residents with the Emirates. “
But what is striking about his speech is that what motivated the Emiratis to invest in Jerusalem “under the pretext of improving the economic situation of the people of Jerusalem” was to cut off the Turkish arm; As he provided them with “information on the Turkish influence among the Jerusalem-Limites … and addressed his concerns about the movements of the Turkish President, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, (through associations) there.” According to her, “the Emiratis, who were not aware of these details, were angry and showed their enthusiasm to invest in the project, as this would restrict the activities of the Turks.”
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