Har Homa

Coordinates: 31°43′31″N 35°13′18″E / 31.72528°N 35.22167°E / 31.72528; 35.22167

Terraced construction in Har Homa using Jerusalem stone

Har Homa (Hebrew: הר חומה‎, lit Wall Mountain, officially Homat Shmuel) is an Israeli settlement in southern East Jerusalem, near Beit Sahour,^[1][2] Built on land annexed to the Jerusalem municipality by Israel after the 1967 Six-Day War, it is considered by much of the world^[3] an illegal Israeli settlement, although Israel disputes this.^[4] It is on a hill known in Arabic as "Jabal Abu Ghneim".

The neighborhood was officially renamed Homat Shmuel in 1998 after Shmuel Meir, a former deputy mayor of Jerusalem, who played an active role in its development before he was killed in a car accident in 1996.^[5]

In 2011, Har Homa had a population of 13,000.^[6]

History

View of Har Homa

In the 1940s a Jewish group purchased 130 dunams (= 13 ha = 32 acres) of land on the hill between Jerusalem and Bethlehem known in Arabic as Jabal Abu Ghneim, Arabic: جبل أبو غنيم‎, translit).

During the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, the hill was a base for the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood, a position taken over by Jordan's Arab Legion. The Hebrew name "Har Homa" refers to a wall built on the remains of a Byzantine church on the mountain which was visible to Palmach forces stationed at Kibbutz Ramat Rahel. Following the war, the Jordanian Custodian of Enemy Property planted a small forest of non-native pine trees there to prevent misuse of the land by local Jordanian residents. After 1967, the forest was maintained by the Jewish National Fund until all the trees were removed when the housing construction began in the late 1990s.^[7]

Plans for residential development were drawn up in the 1980s, but were opposed by Israeli environmental groups working to preserve the open areas in Jerusalem. In 1991, Israeli Cabinet Minister Yitzhak Moda'i approved expropriation of land on the forested hill for a new building project. Prime Minister Shimon Peres initially approved construction plans for Jewish homes on the site, but postponed the groundbreaking ceremony to avoid conflict with Palestinians who were seeking to overturn the decision in the Israeli courts.^[8] Construction began only in March 1997, during the administration of Benjamin Netanyahu, who saw the construction of homes in Har Homa as a legitimate expansion of Jerusalem.^[8]

Education and culture

In 2008, Har Homa neighborhood had 12 kindergartens, 6 day care centers, 2 elementary schools, 3 medical clinics, 2 youth movement centers (Bnei Akiva and Ezra), and 3 shopping centers. Egged bus lines connect Har Homa to downtown Jerusalem, the Jerusalem Central Bus Station, the Malha Mall and Ramot.^[9]

Controversy

Typical architecture in Har Homa

Israeli officials acknowledge that some Palestinian land was expropriated for the Har Homa neighborhood, but say that nearly 80 percent of the land taken for the project belonged to Jews.^[10] According to another source, 75% of the land was expropriated from Israelis.^[11] Israel says Har Homa is within the city limits of Jerusalem and most of the land was owned by Jews prior to its conquest by Jordan in 1948.^[12] Furthermore, the land was unoccupied and undeveloped prior to the current construction; both Jewish and Arab landholders were compensated for the land; and residents of Beit Sahour would not be able to develop the land in any event as the Oslo agreements specifically barred Palestinian jurisdiction over Jerusalem for the time being, and also excluded settlements as an issue, leaving it for permanent status negotiations.^[13]

Residents of Beit Sahour, in conjunction with Israeli peace activists, campaigned against the decision to build Har Homa neighborhood, setting up what they called an "international peace camp" at the site.

Most of the residents of Har Homa today are young families who moved there in search of affordable housing. When the Jerusalem Municipality approved the initial 2,500 housing units in Har Homa, it also approved 3,000 housing units^[14] and 400 government financed housing units in the Arab neighborhood of Sur Baher, which faces Har Homa. The plans were drawn up in 1994, but the approval process was stepped up in May 1997 as a counterbalance to Jewish development at Har Homa^[15] Palestinian officials dismissed the project as a ploy aimed at deflecting international criticism.^[16]

After failing to stop the development of the site, the residents of Beit Sahour have petitioned Israeli Supreme Court to return the undeveloped land between Beit Sahour and Har Homa to the Palestinian municipality, and to move the security fence to reflect their ownership of this land.

Views of U.S. administration

In 1997, the U.S. vetoed two UN Security Council resolutions that called on Israel to stop construction work. The U.S. was the only country of the 15 members on the council to vote against the resolution (Jerusalem Post, 3/9/97). In a vote of 134 to 3, the United States, along with Israel and Micronesia, were the only countries among the 185 members in the UN General Assembly to vote against an April 1997 resolution demanding an immediate halt to construction at Har Homa. The previous month, a similar resolution condemning Israeli activity at Har Homa was passed 130 to 2, with only the U.S. and Israel voting against it (The Times, 4/26/97).

While the United States has traditionally refrained from describing Jerusalem neighborhoods as settlements, in 2008, Condoleezza Rice was critical of building tenders in Har Homa announced after the Annapolis meeting. She described Har Homa as "a settlement the United States has opposed from the very beginning."^[17]

In November 2010 the United States criticized Israeli plans to build new housing units in Har Homa.^[18]

View of the European Union

In 2011, EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton said she was disappointed to hear that Israel was planning to expand Har Homa. She said in a statement that “the European Union has repeatedly urged the government of Israel to immediately end all settlement activities in the West Bank, including in East Jerusalem (...) All settlement activities are illegal under international law.”^[19]

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Har Homa.

• Security Council press release condemning Har Homa
• Center for Middle East Peace factsheet
• Homat Shmuel (Har Homa) Website (Hebrew)

v t e Neighborhoods of Jerusalem Jerusalem neighborhoods east of the 1949 armistice line are depicted in green, those west of the line in blue (see Green Line). Old City Armenian Quarter Christian Quarter Muristan Jewish Quarter Muslim Quarter Bab Al Huta Central Neighborhoods Arzei HaBira Batei Ungarin Beit David Beit Ya'akov Beit Yisrael Bukharim Downtown Triangle Geula Givat HaVradim Givat Ram Katamon Kerem Avraham Kiryat HaLeom Kiryat HaMemshala Kiryat Shmuel Kiryat Wolfson Ma'alot Dafna Mahane Israel Mahane Yehuda Mazkeret Moshe Mea Shearim Mekor Baruch Mishkenot Sha'ananim Mount Zion Musrara Nahalat Shiv'a Nachlaot Nayot Neve Granot Neve Sha'anan Rehavia Romema Rova Mevo Ha'ir Russian Compound Sha'arei Hesed Shmuel HaNavi Talbiya Yemin Moshe Zikhron Moshe Zikhron Yosef Northern Neighborhoods Al-Ram Beit Hanina Ezrat Torah French Hill Givat HaMivtar Har Hotzvim Kafr 'Aqab Kiryat Belz Kiryat Mattersdorf Kiryat Sanz Mount Scopus Neve Yaakov Pisgat Ze'ev Ramat Eshkol Ramat Shlomo Ramot Ramot Polin Sanhedria Sanhedria Murhevet Shuafat Tel Arza Unsdorf Eastern Neighborhoods American Colony Al Bustan Al-Issawiya At-Tur Bab a-Zahara Ir David Jabel Mukaber Kiryat Menachem Begin Ma'ale ha-Zeitim Nachalat Shimon Nof Zion Ras al-Amud Sheikh Jarrah Shimon HaTzadik Silwan Wadi al-Joz Southern Neighborhoods Abu Tor Arnona Baka Beit Safafa East Talpiot German Colony Gilo Givat HaMatos Givat Oranim Givat Massuah Greek colony Har Homa Katamonim Malha Mekor Chaim Pat Ramat Rachel San Simon Sharafat Sur Baher Talpiot Umm Tuba Western Neighborhoods Bayit VeGan Beit HaKerem Ein Karem Givat Beit HaKerem Givat Shaul Givat Mordechai Har Nof Ir Ganim Kiryat HaYovel Kiryat Menachem Kiryat Moshe Motza Ramat Beit HaKerem Ramat Denya Ramat Sharett Yefeh Nof Historical Neighborhoods Atarot Batei Munkacs Batei Saidoff Ezrat Yisrael Lifta Moroccan Quarter Mamilla Sheikh Badr Ohel Shlomo Sha'arei Yerushalayim See also: Ring Neighborhoods