Slippery Slope

Minister of Construction and Housing, Ariel Atias (Shas), has declared that his office will begin marketing hundreds of housing units in the Jerusalem settlement of Pisgat Ze’ev in the coming week. (Ynetnews)

(Hebrew – Walla!)

The Israel Land Administration published a series of tenders for the construction of housing units in the East Jerusalem neighborhoods of Pisgat Ze’ev and Ramot. (Yahoo!)

(Hebrew – Ynet)

A conference by the group “Pisgat Zeev is Jewish” was held in the Chabad synagogue in the Jerusalem Pisgat Ze’ev neighborhood. Yitzhak Shapira, author of “The Torah of the King”, attended the conference. Among other topics, the conference discussed romantic relationships between Jews and Arabs, the danger of building  an Arab school nearby, and ways to prevent the Light Rail from travelling through Palestinian neighborhoods.

(Hebrew)

District Planning and Construction Committee of the Jerusalem District will hold a session this morning regarding expediting construction in East Jerusalem. According to the plan, close to 12,000 units shall be built in Pisgat Ze’ev, Har Homa and Gilo, located outside of the Green Line.

(Hebrew)

About forty Jewish boys from Pisgat Ze’ev neighborhood in Jerusalem, arrived in an organized group in Hapisga mall, and beat up Arabs passersby.

(Hebrew )

Holes were punched in the tires of Palestinian cars in the Jerusalem neighborhoods of Neve Yaakov and Pisgat Ze’ev. According to the right-wing activists in the area, they intend to fight “the assimilation and Arab takeover” until Pisgat Ze’ev is entirely Jewish.

(Hebrew)

Right wing activist Moshe Ben Zikri was elected to serve in the communal administration of the Pisgat Ze’ev neighborhood in Jerusaelm. Ben Zikri, known as “the terror of the Arabs”, led a campaign of harassment against Arab citizens who became residents of the neighborhood. Inter alia, Ben Zikri and his men burned down shops and locks, and even prevented mixed – i.e., Jewish and Arab -  couples from meeting. Ben Zikri campaigned for the position under the platform of “fighting Arabs taking over the neighborhood and keeping Pisgat Ze’ev Jewish”. (Hebrew)

A meeting of the Jerusalem Local Committee authorized the construction of 30 apartments in the Pisgat Ze’ev settlement, despite the fact that applications to construct 452 housing units were on the agenda. According to committee member Elisha Peleg, “the considerations for not authorizing all units in a single decision is due to concern about the American response.”