Har Homa - Controversy

Controversy

Israeli officials acknowledge that some Palestinian land was expropriated for the Har Homa neighborhood, but say that nearly 80 percent of the land taken for the project belonged to Jews. According to another source, 75% of the land was expropriated from Israelis. Israel says Har Homa is within the city limits of Jerusalem and most of the land was owned by Jews prior to its conquest by Jordan in 1948. Furthermore, the land was unoccupied and undeveloped prior to the current construction; both Jewish and Arab landholders were compensated for the land; and residents of Beit Sahour would not be able to develop the land in any event as the Oslo agreements specifically barred Palestinian jurisdiction over Jerusalem for the time being, and also excluded settlements as an issue, leaving it for permanent status negotiations.

Residents of Beit Sahour, in conjunction with Israeli peace activists, campaigned against the decision to build Har Homa neighborhood, setting up what they called an "international peace camp" at the site.

Most of the residents of Har Homa today are young families who moved there in search of affordable housing. When the Jerusalem Municipality approved the initial 2,500 housing units in Har Homa, it also approved 3,000 housing units and 400 government financed housing units in the Arab neighborhood of Sur Baher, which faces Har Homa. The plans were drawn up in 1994, but the approval process was stepped up in May 1997 as a counterbalance to Jewish development at Har Homa Palestinian officials dismissed the project as a ploy aimed at deflecting international criticism.

After failing to stop the development of the site, the residents of Beit Sahour have petitioned Israeli Supreme Court to return the undeveloped land between Beit Sahour and Har Homa to the Palestinian municipality, and to move the security fence to reflect their ownership of this land.