Work started on hundreds of new Israeli homes in occupied east Jerusalem, with builders putting up a fence round the construction site under police guard, mayor Ehud Olmert told Israeli public radio.
The new development, named Nof Zaav (Golden Landscape, in Hebrew) will be constructed in the Arab district of Jabr Mukabar, and will include a luxury hotel as well as a cable car line, Olmert added.
The project was launched by a private firm headed by former Jerusalem police chief Arie Amit, who told the radio he had obtained all the necessary permits to start work from the city council. "Some of the land was bought up to 30 years ago by private entrepreneurs, there has been no confiscation or seizure," Olmert said. "I am very, very happy that this project has been started on the initiative of private investors," said the mayor, a member of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's right-wing Likud party.
Attorney Hussein Ubeidah, one of the Palestinian residents, said a half-acre of site belonged to him, and that Jerusalem officials had told him in the past that the land had been designated a "green zone", off-limits to construction of buildings. (Albawaba.com)
© 2002 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
