Large Judaisation building project approved

The Israeli-led municipality in Jerusalem has approved a plan to construct a large building near to Ein Silwan Mosque in the middle of the occupied Jerusalem suburb of Silwan, Al-Aqsa Foundation for Endowment and Heritage said on Monday.

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The District Committee for Planning and Building will oversee the project on the ¾-acre site, which is being financed by the Elad settlement group. According to Al-Aqsa Foundation, the proposed building is going to be used as a “museum, underground water pools and a visiting centre for religious purposes”. It is part of Israel’s Judaisation policy for occupied Jerusalem which also plans the establishment of a series of buildings with “Biblical” links in and around Wadi Al-Hilwa district, just metres away from the Old City’s Maghrebi Gate, and other parts of the occupied city. This was approved by the Israeli government three months ago. Israel has allocated NIS2m (around £330,000) for the project, which will be built on land confiscated from its Palestinian owner, Mr. Musa Al-Abbasi, under the “Law of Absentee Property”.

Such projects aim to Judaise Jerusalem and Al-Aqsa Mosque, the Foundation warned. It stressed that this project is part of a plan to surround the Noble Sanctuary of Al-Aqsa with seven huge buildings. The intention is that such places will be utilised by a temple “rebuilt” on the site of the mosque, acting as centres for disseminating Biblical and Talmudic stories about occupied Jerusalem.