Coalition Knesset members toured northern Jerusalem and the old airport terminal at Atarot on Sunday, where there are plans to build a Jewish neighborhood.
The aim of the tour was to encourage the government to speed up the requisite environmental impact review and approval process for the neighborhood in the Jerusalem District Committee.
“As much as terrorism tries to hit us and take our heads down, we will multiply and we will increase. We will work on all levels in order to strengthen the settlement and promote the construction plan of the Jewish neighborhood in Atarot,” said Likud MK Boaz Bismuth.
The tour was initiated and led by the Im Eshkachech—Keep Jerusalem organization, founded and headed by Chaim Silberstein. It began with an observation and review of Givat Shaul-Tel El Ful, continued to the Atarot airport site and ended in the Atarot industrial park with a visit to the Jerusalem Wineries.
“A Jewish neighborhood was planned to be built [here] many years ago, but its construction was delayed due to foreign pressures. This is an area of first-rate strategic importance, where the establishment of a Jewish neighborhood will be an integral part of the city, will strengthen the northern side of Jerusalem and establish Israeli sovereignty in the capital,” said Otzma Yehudit MK Limor Son Har Melech. “In front of the illegal construction in the neighboring village of Kfar Akab, a large Jewish neighborhood will soon be built,” she added.
Also attending were MKs Yitzhak Pindros (United Torah Judaism), Avraham Bezalel (Shas), Ohad Tal (Religious Zionism Party) and Ariel Kellner (Likud), along with Deputy Mayor of Jerusalem Fleur Hassan-Nahum and members of the Jerusalem City Council.
According to Im Eshkachech, the construction project in Atarot will dramatically lower the cost of housing in Jerusalem and will allow young couples to stay in the city.
“The construction in Jerusalem is no longer a policy issue, but a test of the governance of the State of Israel,” said the organization.
