Israel approves construction of Silicon Valley settlement, waste disposal site in Jerusalem

The Israeli municipality of Occupied Jerusalem, yesterday, approved the construction of the contentious settlement project known as Silicon Valley, in the Wadi Al-Joz neighbourhood near Al-Aqsa Mosque.

According to Wafa news agency, the approval includes plans to destroy the existing industrial area and establish a waste disposal site north-east of the Occupied city.

The Silicon Valley settlement project will be situated along the Wadi Al-Joz road and Othman Bin Affan Street, and involves the construction of buildings ranging from 8 to 14 stories. These structures will replace Palestinian-owned commercial and industrial establishments in the Wadi Al-Joz industrial area.

Palestinian attorney, Muhannad Jabara, who filed a petition on behalf of impacted Jerusalem residents opposing the project, expressed grave concerns about the Silicon Valley settlement plans. He explained that it posed a dire threat to the people of Jerusalem and the Palestinian business owners in the industrial area by expropriating their properties, disregarding their urgent need for housing and industrial spaces.

He emphasised that this settlement initiative seeks to eradicate an entire industrial zone established by Palestinian residents prior to the Israeli Occupation.

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Moreover, Jabara pointed out that the Israeli municipality is promoting the creation of a new neighbourhood in the city, while overlooking the existence of an Arab neighbourhood in that vicinity. The designation of this plan as “hi-tech” imposes constraints on residential projects in Palestinian territory, as Palestinians in Jerusalem are only permitted to build on 10 per cent of their land.

In addition to the settlement, the Israeli municipality approved the establishment of a waste disposal site spanning a 109-dunum area in a valley near the neighbourhoods of Al-Issawiya, Anata and Ras Shehada, to the east of Occupied Jerusalem. This area is home to tens of thousands of Palestinians, Wafa reported.

Initiated in 2012, the Israeli Occupation municipality’s plan to set up a waste disposal site on a 520-dunum area faced a decade-long legal resistance from Palestinians in Jerusalem. The scaled-down site, now covering 350,000 cubic metres, poses environmental threats to the private lands of the local Palestinian population.

In the process of implementing this plan, 70 Palestinian residential and commercial structures have already been demolished by the Occupation authorities.

UN resolutions and international law state that settlement in Occupied Territories is illegal, with many countries and rights groups warning that it is an obstacle to the establishment of a Palestinian State.