Israeli plans for new settlement on the outskirts of Ramallah

Director General of Israel Land Fund, Arieh King, is preparing to launch a new settlement project in Kufr Aqab in East Jerusalem, Israeli weekly newsletter Orshalim revealed on Friday.

The planned settlement project is located inside the borders of Jerusalem, but it is situated outside the apartheid wall, on the Palestinian side.

King, who is a member in the Municipality of Jerusalem, is planning to build the new settlement as 40 one-story buildings with a separate garden for each. They are to be built in an area of 22 dunams in Kufr Aqab, which is very close to the Palestinian city of Ramallah.

Orshalim has said that right-wingers bought the land about ten years ago. But activists have accused King of subsidising the purchase of this land as the main activity of his Israel Land Fund is helping the Jewish community buy property in Jerusalem.

According to the newsletter, King said: “There is a queue of people who want to live in the new neighbourhood.” King pointed out that there are plans to move the apartheid wall in the area to include the new settlement under sovereignty of the Municipality of Jerusalem.

Orshalim said that each building in the new settlement will cost $150,000. It said that the prices are low because land prices in East Jerusalem are low. It also said that the project is in its final stages and is expected to go before the Israeli cabinet soon.

Source: Arabs48