Preserving Jerusalem Hills

KKL-JNF, the Society for the Protection of Nature in Israel, Green Course (Megama Yeruka), Mevasseret Zion Local Council, Mateh Yehuda Regional Council and other planning, social and economic bodies have jointly launched a struggle to block a series of destructive building projects in the Jerusalem Hills.
As 2015 approached developmental bodies began to exert pressure on the Israel Lands Authority and the Ministry of Housing and Construction to promote a series of building projects rejected by the planning authorities in the past. These plans pose a significant environmental threat to the nature, landscapes and cultural and heritage sites of areas located to the west of Jerusalem, all of which constitute a unique public asset. KKL-JNF has made common cause with other organizations involved in a struggle against implementation of these plans.

KKL-JNF, the Society for the Protection of Nature in Israel, Green Course (Megama Yeruka), the Mevasseret Zion Local Council, the Mateh Yehuda Regional Council and other planning, social and economic bodies have jointly launched a struggle to block a series of destructive building projects in the Jerusalem Hills. Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat is likewise in favor of conserving the region.

Building plans map for the Jerusalem Hills (Hebrew)

Building plans map for the Jerusalem Hills (Hebrew)

Most of the plans, which encompass a combined area of 18,000 dunam (approx 4,500 acres), are being promoted aggressively by the Israel Lands Authority in direct opposition to the planning policy authorized over the past decade. This renewed push to build is taking place only seven years after the massive building plan slated for this area – commonly referred to as the Safdie Project – was cancelled after an extensive public battle, on the grounds that it would preferable to build instead within Jerusalem itself and conserve the green areas that surround it.

At the inaugural conference held by the bodies involved in the struggle to conserve the Jerusalem Hills, which was held on February 24th, 2015, participants stressed that there are already sufficient land reserves within the capital (where urban renewal is well underway) to allow for residential construction; a report supporting this assertion was presented at the conference. According to the organizations involved, Jerusalem-area construction should continue, but there is no need whatsoever for new residential building to encroach upon the surrounding hills and destroy the invaluable open spaces that encircle the capital: it is both preferable and possible to continue building within city limits.

The struggle is focusing primarily on the following proposals:

  1. The Bat Harim – Tzur Hadassah Project that the Israel Lands Authority is promoting in an area of 14.5 thousand dunam (approx 3,625 acres)

  2. The Mount Harat (Har Harat) Project promoted by the Israel Lands Authority in an area of 1,600 dunam (approx 400 acres).

  3. The western ring road from Motza (Route no. 1) to the Nahal Refaim interchange planned for Route no. 39. This road, which will be over eight kilometers long and between 30 and 40 meters wide, will descend the eastern slopes of Mount Harat (where plans for a new neighborhood are underway) by means of a long bridge over the Nahal Soreq gully that will lead to Ramat Hadassah (the site of another planned neighborhood) and through a tunnel beneath the southern slopes of Rekhes Lavan (where yet another neighborhood is being planned).

If implemented, these projects will encroach upon the very heart of an internationally significant rich and varied ecological system that provides a habitat for numerous species of animals, trees and unique indigenous plants. Around 80% of the area designated for these building projects is covered with well developed and well tended KKL-JNF woodland.

Building on this area will break up the contiguous sections of this ecological corridor and divide them into a series of isolated ecological pockets. It will destroy habitats, eradicate rare species, cause wells to dry up and will damage the mountain aquifer beyond hope of recovery. In addition, these building plans are expected to destroy both Begin Park and additional areas to the west of the city, including the Jerusalem Trail, the Mount Harat circular trail and the Motza Valley link to Jerusalem Park.