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Attorney General Menachem Mazuz. (Daniel Bar-On / Jini)
Last update - 13:51 20/05/2008
Plan to put synagogue in heart of East Jerusalem likely to be approved
By Akiva Eldar, Haaretz Correspondent
Tags: Mazuz, Israel, East Jerusalem 

The Jerusalem municipality has begun the process of approving a plan for a new housing complex, including a synagogue, in the heart of the Arab neighborhood of Silwan south of the Old City.

The plan, submitted by the right-wing Elad association, includes 10 apartments, kindergarten classrooms, a library and underground parking for 100 cars. Documents show the land the complex is to be built on belongs to the Israel Lands Administration (ILA); however, the ILA said it was unaware of the plan.

The municipal spokesman said Elad had leased the land, and therefore the plan does not require ILA approval. A municipal document dated January 21, 2008 notes that all necessary recommendations had been received in the planning file.
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The area slated for the new project is located 200 meters from the Old City walls, in an area considered one of the most sensitive in the present negotiations with the Palestinians over the final-status agreement.

In a letter on Tuesday to Attorney General Menachem Mazuz, attorney Daniel Seideman, representing the Ir Amim association and a city council member, Pepe Alalo (Meretz), asked whether Mazuz thought it proper that a synagogue be established in the heart of an Arab neighborhood.

The Ir Amim association addresses issues impacting Israeli-Palestinian relations in Jerusalem.

Seideman reminded Mazuz of repeated pledges by the State Prosecutor's Office to the High Court of Justice to ensure there were no recurrences of the government allowing right-wing associations to take over public lands in Silwan and the Old City. He attached the photocopy of a 1991 deed of sale by the Jewish National Fund of the lands of Silwan to the ILA. The ILA then transfered the land to Elad in a process that was not made public.

"In the heart of Jerusalem, for all intents and purposes, an independent Elad kingdom has been created, in which hegemony, above and below the ground, has been given to a body with a clear ideological bent," Seideman wrote Mazuz. He also said the "kingdom" was being established through actions designed to push out thousands of Arab residents from the area.

Seideman demanded that Mazuz instruct the ILA to withdraw the plan and the city to shelve it, and to investigate how the decision was made that led to the proposal for the construction project.

A 1992 government investigation headed by then Justice Ministry director general Haim Klugman found that associations managing properties in East Jerusalem, including Elad, had took them over by continuously submitting false affidavits, misusing the law governing absentee property and illegally transfering tens of millions of shekels public money to the associations, among other allegations.

In November, Haaretz reported that the registrar of non-profit associations was considering demanding that Elad be disbanded as a non-profit association, after it refused to report the sources of contributions of more than $7 million that it had received in 2005.

The Justice Ministry said in response that Elad had given the registrar the names of its donors, but asked that the names remain confidential in its financial report, as the law allows. The request was granted, and there is no intention of disbanding the association, the Justice Ministry added.

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      1.   Arabs build mosques everywhere,BUT no to synogogues in Jerusalem! 07:57  |  Ben 14/05/08
      2.   Jews allowed to live? What a scandal! 08:22  |  Gili 14/05/08
      3.   Prolonging war as an aid to expansion 08:45  |  Natallie Durson 14/05/08
      4.   Jerusalem the Only Holie place to Judaisn. 08:46  |  Jean Van Daem 14/05/08
      5.   No rights to Arabs on Jerusalem 08:48  |  Jean Van Daem 14/05/08
      6.   Build a Synagogue? 09:02  |  howiej 14/05/08
      7.   Poor timing 09:06  |  Sherlock Holmes 14/05/08
      8.   Actually the entire village was built by Jews from Yemen 09:08  |  Jewboy 14/05/08
      9.   Ethnic cleansing plain and simple 09:55  |  SJ 14/05/08
      10.   Good idea. Jews move to East Jerusalem, Arabs to the west. 09:57  |  Andreas 14/05/08
      11.   as usual... 10:27  |  Samos 14/05/08
      12.   Jean van Daem peddles the Official Israeli Lie Blog 10:29  |  Clickfool 14/05/08
      13.   "Jews in their capital city" 10:29  |  samos 14/05/08
      14.   This Article Is Nothing More Than Political Propaganda 11:08  |  Ben Israel 14/05/08
      15.   This is good news, I hope Arabs don`t mind Jews living there 11:58  |  Allon 14/05/08
      16.   Ignorance Samos 12:51  |  Elli S.S. 14/05/08
      17.   Jerusalem THE CAPTIAL 12:54  |  Elli S.S. 14/05/08
      18.   Clickfool, the great liar of this site 12:55  |  Aby 14/05/08
      19.   jerusalem 12:57  |  rick 14/05/08
      20.   Take land in an Orthodox Jewish neighbourhood for a mosque. 13:04  |  Michael 14/05/08
      21.   YOU ZIONIST THIEVES, IT`S NOT YOUR LAND! 13:18  |  JH 14/05/08
      22.   Sherlock Holmes I`m ashamed of you 13:19  |  ecr 14/05/08
      23.   JH #19 you sound peeved 13:50  |  Geoff - Sydney 14/05/08
      24.   Israel does not want peace. It makes me sad 13:53  |  Lennart 14/05/08
      25.   I suggest they build a great Temple.. 14:11  |  Stephen. 14/05/08
      26.   So what`s the furor about? 14:13  |  Yonatan 14/05/08
      27.   #9 SJ - Excellent idea1! 14:18  |  Yonatan 14/05/08
      28.   why the fus it;s Jerusalem and last time I lookd there is a mosq 14:23  |  r 14/05/08
      29.   #13 samos - Who cares? 14:29  |  Yonatan 14/05/08
      30.   Synagogue in East Jerusalem 15:10  |  Eve L Dewer 14/05/08
      31.   # 13 samos 15:22  |  Axel 14/05/08
      32.   Quite right Ben of Haifa. 15:30  |  Rozz 14/05/08
      33.   jean van daem 4 15:38  |  potobac 14/05/08
      34.   And the propaganda meisters have it that Israel is a "democracy" 15:43  |  Yaakov Sullivan 14/05/08
      35.   By that logic the Western wall is also Arab 15:43  |  Ilan 14/05/08
      36.   Michael of UK on Mosques in Orthodox Neighbourhoods 15:55  |  Yaakov Sullivan 14/05/08
      37.   # 24 Lennart 15:55  |  Rozz 14/05/08
      38.   #25 to stephen of Geneva, Switzerland 16:01  |  Rozz 14/05/08
      39.   # 25 to Stephen, Geneva, Switzerland 16:07  |  Rozz 14/05/08
      40.   Just a crime 16:09  |  Jan Elshout 14/05/08
      41.   # 27 Yonatan, Kfar-Saba, ISRAEL! 16:16  |  Rozz 14/05/08
      42.   #12 Clickfool on Jean van Daem 16:24  |  Jean-Francois 14/05/08
      43.   Jews building asynaogue in East Jerusalem 16:30  |  LNB 14/05/08
      44.   Jerusalem is our capital, we will build where we like 16:32  |  Max 14/05/08
      45.   biblians,quranians, and torahans 16:44  |  montgomery rosen 14/05/08
      46.   Let`s play "What if..." 16:46  |  Kol ha-Nevi`im 14/05/08
      47.   General Durson`s wet dream about war with Iran 16:48  |  Max 14/05/08
      48.   TO JH-nh & TO THOSE WHO THINK OF STOLEN LAND 16:54  |  HISTORY part 1 14/05/08
      49.   TO JH & TO THOSE WHO THINK OF STOLEN LAND 16:55  |  HISTORY - part 2 14/05/08
      50.   The same idea that scuttled Camp David 2 16:58  |  Michael N 14/05/08
      51.   as it should be 16:58  |  ralph 14/05/08
      52.   History Part 1 & 2 your posts have been debunked 17:07  |  Keith 14/05/08
      53.   synagogue in Arab East Jerusalem 17:29  |  barry goodlife 14/05/08
      54.   synagogue 17:51  |  siegfried buchwalte 14/05/08
      55.   Holy To Me - Always Destructive 17:59  |  G. Lonjalen 14/05/08
      56.   more holyness needed 18:01  |  montgomery rosen 14/05/08
      57.   Isn`t this an archaeological site? 18:02  |  Daphna 14/05/08
      58.   Yaakov Sullivan #34 18:03  |  wibism 14/05/08
      59.   I WANT TO PLANT TOMATOES IN MY GARDEN TOO 18:15  |  PalestniansAreA Myth 14/05/08
      60.   First rebuild the Maghrebi Quarter, its destruction is war crime 18:34  |  anti-racist 14/05/08
      61.   new Synagogue in Jeruslaem 18:36  |  Hilda 14/05/08
      62.   Is this such a wise idea? 18:38  |  Edith 14/05/08
      63.   #48 and 49--200 years ago, America belonged 18:44  |  ballistic 14/05/08
      64.   Well done Jean van Daem 18:47  |  x-ray 14/05/08
      65.   Blatant provocation... 18:58  |  Esther 14/05/08
      66.   Peace Now funded by EU and Arabs and doesn`t have any $disclosure 19:00  |  Am Yisrael Chai 14/05/08
      67.   Re Natallie #3 19:10  |  Esther 14/05/08
      68.   history 48, 49 19:15  |  potobac 14/05/08
      69.   We have to put up with mosques in Christian Europe! 19:26  |  Paul Henzen 14/05/08
      70.   why? 20:19  |  14/05/08