US embassy cable - 05TELAVIV1729

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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Visit Embassy Tel Aviv's Classified Website: 
http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/nea/telaviv 
 
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KURTZER