Play For A Piece of Jerusalem

The ethnic cleansing of Jerusalem is proceeding apace, reports Haaretz:

Jerusalem's Planning and Construction Committee has approved a plan to build three new Jewish neighborhoods in East Jerusalem. According to the committee's chairman, Deputy Mayor Yehoshua Pollak, the plan is intended to create continuity between Jerusalem and the Etzion settlement bloc south of the city, and between Jerusalem and the Beit-El area settlements north of the city.

It's not that there was no alternative; the National Planning and Construction Committee rejected an expansion of Jerusalem westward, where it would have encroached on Jewish-owned land.

The ethno-politics here is barefaced; the goal is not just to create housing, but also to connect with existing Jewish neighborhoods so they won't be isolated in the middle of the Arab lands they plunked down in:

Pollak told Haaretz that up to 10,000 housing units can be built in the area. "If you strengthen Walaja, you strengthen the connection with the Etzion bloc through the tunnel road," said Pollak.

There remains a lot of bureaucracy, and perhaps the National Committee will block this project, too; but Israel - like the U.S. - has a poor history of restraint in separating land from its previous inhabitants.