Officials in Jerusalem City Hall on Tuesday afternoon report Mayor Nir Barkat has agreed to a request from Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu to delay implementation of eviction notices from homes in the eastern capital as he plans to advance his Gan HaMelech (King Park) project.
The prime minister told the mayor that he does not plan to interfere, nor will he undermine the mayor’s authority, but he is seeking an agreement with the Arab homeowners where possible.
As a result, a city committee meeting on the project has been postponed.
From the information made available to the media, the mayor has agreed to seek to “exhaust” all means at his disposal to avoid moving ahead with the demolition of illegal Arab homes at this time, a move that the national government fears will launch renewed and perhaps unprecedented Islamic violence.
Most analysts believe that at the end of the day, the mayor will never demolish close to 90 illegal homes currently on the state owned land slated for the national park project. Most predict he will not even destroy a small number of them, stating if he truly intends to carry out the orders the operation will be halted by Israel Police, which will take its case to court if need be, citing security concerns to justify its position.
(Yechiel Spira – YWN Israel)
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One Response
Peace in every sense of the word, is true utopia for us. However, we are giving them a loaded gun and helping them aim, to say the least, when we bow down to their threats of terror. On one hand, tearing down the illegal a-r-ab homes will cause terror, C’V. On the other hand, if we don’t tear them down, we are teaching them that their tactics are justified.
OK – so Bibi is right, let’s do it in a delicate manner. I just hope the Gov remembers this delicate way when it comes to the illegal Jewish homes at Yehuda and Shomron.