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Report: Israel plans to cement hold on Jerusalem

(Agencies)
Updated: 2009-05-10 21:41

JERUSALEM -- An Israeli government plan to develop parks, hiking trails and tourist sites in east Jerusalem will permanently change the landscape of the contested city and cement Israel's hold there, an Israeli group charged in a report released Sunday ahead of the pope's visit to the city.

The government has undertaken an ambitious eight-year plan that will dramatically alter the "holy basin", the sensitive area in and around the Old City that is home to sites holy to Jews, Christians and Muslims, according to the Israeli group, Ir Amim, which works for coexistence in Jerusalem.

A Palestinian Christian boy holds a candle during Sunday mass at the Church of the Nativity, traditionally believed to be the birthplace of Jesus Christ, in the West Bank city of Bethlehem, Sunday, May 10, 2009. [Agencies]

The government has largely kept the plan secret, not soliciting input from the city's Christians and Muslims or opening it to objections from the public, the group charges.

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"It's being done in a way that is opaque, with no public knowledge, without coordination with the churches or with the Muslim Waqf, in the precise opposite of transparent terms," Daniel Seidemann, the Israeli attorney who founded Ir Amim, said Sunday. The Waqf is the custodian of Islamic holy sites in the city.

The park plan could destabilize Jerusalem and is "an act of colossal irresponsibility," Seidemann said.

The Israeli government says the new development will benefit all of Jerusalem's residents. An official in the prime minister's office noted that under Israeli control, people of all faiths have had access to their holy sites in the city.

"The government will continue to develop Jerusalem, development that will benefit all of Jerusalem's diverse population and respect the different faiths and communities that together make Jerusalem such a special city," the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity pending a formal statement from the government.

The Jerusalem mayor's office had no immediate comment.

Israel captured east Jerusalem, including the Old City, in the 1967 Mideast war and annexed it, a move not recognized by the international community. Palestinians hope to make east Jerusalem the capital of their future state. Jerusalem, with the conflicting claims to the city, is the most intractable issue in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

The report came ahead of Pope Benedict XVI's first visit to the Holy Land and to Jerusalem, beginning Monday. His visit could focus a spotlight on the dispute over the city. Palestinian activists have said they hope to use the papal visit to draw attention to their claims against Israel, including demolitions of Palestinian homes and construction of Jewish neighborhoods in east Jerusalem.

"Jerusalem cannot be the monopoly of one religion or one state," said Anglican Rev. Naim Ateek, a Palestinian activist. "We hope that the voice of his holiness the Pope is that Jerusalem must be shared."