APPROVAL PROCESS FOR 3,650 UNITS IN MA'ALE ADUMIM

C O N F I D E N T I A L TEL AVIV 001729

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/22/2015
TAGS: PREL PGOV KWBG IS SETTLEMENTS ISRAELI PALESTINIAN AFFAIRS GOI INTERNAL
SUBJECT: APPROVAL PROCESS FOR 3,650 UNITS IN MA'ALE ADUMIM
NOT COMPLETE BUT MOVING ALONG

REF: A. TEL AVIV 00706


B. TEL AVIV 00707

C. TEL AVIV 01524

Classified By: Ambassador Daniel C. Kurtzer for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d)


1. (U) Israeli press reported yesterday that the GOI has
launched two plans, which together are termed either E1 or
A1, to build 3,650 housing units between Ma'ale Adumim and
Jerusalem. These housing units would connect the settlement
with the city, creating geographical continuity between the
two population centers. The press reported that one of the
plans includes 1,250 houses and entails relocating the Judea
and Samaria District Police headquarters from Abu Dis to the
new neighborhood. The second plan is for an additional 2,250
houses and 150 units in a housing facility for the elderly.


2. (U) According to press, PM Ariel Sharon allegedly is
personally supervising this concept of a "Greater Jerusalem,"
and he has reportedly stressed the importance of the plan in
closed fora. Yediot Aharanoth wrote that approval of the
plan was expedited and completed in the last few days. He
also noted that construction of the police headquarters was
halted in November 2004 when "it emerged that the building
was illegal."


3. (C) Col. Oded Herman of the Ministry of Defense told
Embassy economic officer that contrary to press reports,
there are many steps remaining in the approval process and
construction is not going to "begin tomorrow morning." He
explained that the plan to build E1 was originally approved
in 1999, but that this was not a detailed plan, just an
expression of interest that "we're going to build here."


4. (C) Herman noted that between 1999 and now, however, the
planning process has moved along, and the GOI is in what
appears to be the Permission for Deposition phase per ref A:
the Town Building Plan has been approved, and it has been
submitted to the subcommittees of the Higher Planning
Council. He reiterated that approvals from the subcommittees
would not happen "tomorrow, or even the day after tomorrow,"
and said that there will be special meetings for everything
-- sewage, environment, roads, etc. The roads subcommittee
alone could take until the end of the month, for example.
Herman said that if the subcommittees approve the plan, then
it will eventually go to publication for objections in Arabic
and Hebrew newspapers, and the process will continue to move
along for the next few months. He confirmed that there are
approximately 3,500 housing units planned, as reported in
press.


4. (C) Boaz Karni, Col. (ret.) Shaul Arieli, and former
Civil Administration head BG (ret.) Dov "Fuffi" Sedaka of the
Economic Cooperation Foundation agreed that the approval
process is in Phase III of V. Karni and Arieli explained
that although the GOI is just planning and has not yet issued
tenders for construction, this is a "very dangerous stage" in
the process and "now is the time to freeze" plans for
expanding Ma'ale Adumim (Comment: per ref B, the GOI often
retroactively approves construction plans without going
through the entire approval process. End comment). They
also noted that the proposed location of the new police
headquarters is private Palestinian land, which is why
construction was halted in November 2004. Karni and Arieli
reminded econoff that Talia Sasson's recent report said that
building on Palestinian land is illegal because settlements
should only be established on State land (ref C).

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