Jerusalem Drops Luxury Redevelopment Plan For Historic Palestinian Village
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Jerusalem’s city government has set aside plans to redevelop the abandoned Palestinian village of Lifta, with its historic stone homes, into a luxury development featuring 200 McMansions.
“The plan has been taken off the agenda so that it can undergo additional professional consideration,” the municipality said in a statement after a planning committee turned down the proposal.
The statement, carried in Haaretz, continued: “After this examination ends, it will be resubmitted for consideration by the local planning and building committee.”
Lifta sits to the west of Jerusalem, and was abandoned by Palestinians during Israel’s War of Independence. It was subsequently used to house Jewish refugees coming into the new country.
Preservation advocates, families of the original residents of the town and members of the Jerusalem city council made common cause to sink the proposal.
Contact Daniel J. Solomon at solomon@forward.com or on Twitter @DanielJSolomon
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