Lawyer Sami Arshid denies the ratification of Kedem project
Lawyer Sami Arshid denied what some Israeli and local newspapers published about the "National Council for Planning and Building" ratification of "Elad settlement project", Kedem-Visitors’ Center. Lawyer Arshid, representative of Wadi Hilweh residents in the objections submitted against the settlement project, confirmed that the Appeal Commission in the Supreme Planning Council rejected last week the settlement project entitled “Kedem Compound- Visitors’ Center” intended to be built at the entrance of Wadi Hilweh-Silwan south of Al-Aqsa Mosque. The appeals committee conditioned Elad settlement organization to submit a new plan where the building would be small (center for visitors only) and remove the parking lots and additional rooms (meeting rooms and restaurants). The building should not be more than half the land area and should not be higher than Wadi Hilweh Street. The lawyer said that the decision published in some newspaper was the decision issued last April by the District Committee for planning and construction which approved the settlement project with some changes to be made such as keeping the area open for the public, lowering the building’s level below the street’s level by reducing the number of floors in addition to reducing the total area of the project from 11 thousand square meters to nearly 9 thousand; note that the Supreme Planning Council rejected the project. He pointed out that three members rejected the project and three others agreed and demanded the final ratification, but the head of the committee who is entitled to give two votes in case of a “draw” made her decision in favor of the population.
