In a court hearing today at the Supreme Court, judge Saleem Jobran criticized the Jerusalem municipality for starting the infrastructure works in Wadi Hilweh, Silwan, in complete disregard to the residents’ objections.
The court discussed the appeal submitted by the neighborhood’s residents, together with Bimkom and ACRI, in attempt to halt the construction and infrastructure work. The work purpose is only to meet the needs of the ‘City of David’ tourist site, which is managed by Elad association, while neglecting the basic needs of thousands of Palestinian residents.
Silwan has no detailed housing plan, and the residents have been asking for years to regularize a plan so that they can obtain permits to build their homes and public facilities. Instead of promoting such a plan, the authorities decided to carry out a 30 million NIS construction plan, which includes transforming the little open areas that are left to parking lots, while the residents are in need of kindergartens, schools, a post office, and playgrounds — none of which exist in the neighborhood of Wadi Hilweh.
During the hearing, judge Jobran said: “There are residents who object, and this is a sign for a problem. The courtroom is not the place to solve this problem, it is the local authorities’ responsibility to meet with the residents and promote the planning.” When the municipality’s attorney said that they did include the residents: “even the mukhtar signed,” the judge replied: “I have a problem with mukhtars, they do not represent the residents. That was in the Ottoman period, some of them don’t even know how to read. There are better representatives than the mukhtar, neighborhoods committees.” Later, when the fact that there are no public facilities in the neighborhood was presented, the judge added, “What about schools? All these years there wasn’t any investment in schools. In Jerusalem, it is the only place where the schools in the Arab sector were privatized! First you must invest in education, before infrastructure. First take care of the people, then the other problems will be solved.”
Jawad Siyam, the head of the Wadi Hilweh Popular Committee said, “We have hard problems in the neighborhood; house demolitions, lack of schools, kindergartens, clinics, public parks, and more. We do not oppose tourism, on the contrary, but it cannot precede our needs. We want to be included in the planning procedure, and that we will be heard.”
