Lawyer Sami Arshid - Details of “announcements to confiscate more than 8 dunums of lands in Silwan”
Lawyer Sami Arshid explained the details of the announcements that were hung in several neighborhoods in the town of Silwan, entitled “Announcing the intention to obtain full rights to the land and the freedom to dispose of it (purchasing for the needs of the public - according to the Planning and Building Law of 1965).
Lawyer Sami Arshid told the Wadi Hilweh Information Center - Jerusalem, that the signs that were posted on Saturday by the “municipality and the local committee for planning and construction” are a notice to confiscate and expropriate areas of land in several areas in the town of Silwan, to begin constructing the “cable car.”
According to the project, the goal of the project is “confiscation for the construction of the cable car linking the Old City and the old train station complex, and all the facilities necessary to operate and maintain the cable car.”
Lawyer Arshid pointed out that according to the project, “there will be a temporary confiscation of some lands for a period of 8 years” until the completion of the project’s implementation, and there are large areas of land that will be “permanently confiscated,” as columns, cables, and foundations of the “cable car” will be built on them.
Lawyer Sami Arshid pointed out that buildings and houses built on lands are threatened with “permanent and temporary” confiscation.
According to the announcements, the plan will be “from the Al-Baqa’a area/the old train station in West Jerusalem, Al-Thori, Nabi Daoud Gate, Wadi al-Rababeh, Dung Gate/the entrance to Wadi Hilweh.”
Lawyer Arshid explained that the “Jerusalem Development Authority,” which is a governmental authority, will bear all the expenses of “confiscation and eviction” of the people from their lands and properties, “according to the letter it sent to the municipality.”
Lawyer Sami Arshid pointed out to the center that the project would be built on an area of 10 dunoms, but in the advertisements that were posted on Saturday, the “Old Train/Al-Baqa’a area” was excluded, and accordingly an area of 8,725 square meters was announced.
Lawyer Sami Arshid explained that land and property owners and those affected have the right to object to the advertisements published, and he said: “This is an acquired right and a duty. The possibility of canceling the project is not possible because it was approved in 2019, but submitting objections to the confiscation could hinder its implementation. On the one hand, changing some of the positions of the columns and reducing damage to the existing houses on the other hand.
He pointed out that land owners, committees, and institutions have 60 days to object to the advertisements, “starting from the day the advertisement was posted,” that is, from Saturday.
According to the announcement, the project will “temporarily or permanently” confiscate 14 plots of land, with an area of 8700 square meters, including: “Ophel Road,” Al-Turbah Road, “Melki Zedek Road,” Baydoun Street, and “Ma’ale HaShalom” from Dung Gate until Nabi Daoud Gate, Gay Ben Hinom, Wadi Al-Rababeh, Hebron Road, Remez Road, and the old Ottoman station.
The Wadi Hilweh Information Center explained that the “cable car” project was derived from “the special structural project surrounding the Old City of Jerusalem,” which the Israeli authorities began working on more than ten years ago, and two years ago the “Jerusalem Development Authority” launched and announced the cable car project in the vicinity of the Old City in partnership with the Jerusalem Municipality and the Ministries of Transportation and Tourism. The Israeli authorities consider this project to be part of the “national projects for transportation and transporting tourists to the Old City.”
In 2019, the “Israeli Infrastructure Committee” approved the plan for the cable car project in Jerusalem, which connects the Mount of Olives to Al-Buraq Square. The plan includes several stations, while objections to the stations were submitted from Al-Thori neighborhood, passing through the Nabi Daoud area and reaching the Wadi Hilweh area, specifically the “Kedem settlement project.” In May 2022, the Supreme Court rejected the petitions submitted.
