M.E.M. A municipal official in Occupied Jerusalem has revealed the occupational municipality’s intention to confiscate Palestinian land in order to build a new car park in the Arab suburb of Sheikh Jarrah. The car park is intended for the service of Jewish visitors to a shrine in the region.

The official, named Yair Gabay, stressed that the municipality had decided to construct a large car park on confiscated Arab land in the suburb of Sheikh Jarrah as a service to Jewish visitors to a shrine claimed to be the grave of “Sham’oun Hatshik” Gabay stated that the project “aims to promote tourism and an increase in the number of visits to the shrine. The decision to build the car park was made after it became clear that there was a major shortage of sites for visitors to park.” He went on to make clear that the municipality had initiated the plans to confiscate land in the public interest some years back and that the procedures for this confiscation had only now been completed.

Gabay went on to add that the land confiscated in the public interest formed part of a wider framework of area planning which also includes the construction of a hotel in the region. It was thought necessary to confiscate this piece of land for use as a car park for visitors to the Sham’oun Hatshik Shrine.

According to Palestinian sources inside occupied Jerusalem, this project is part of a broader plan to Judaise the Arab district which includes the building of a hotel for the purposes stated by the Municipality’s official. It was stressed that the Arab owners of the land have vowed never to either vacate or abandon their land.