The Minister of the Interior, Ayelet Shaked, approached the District Committee for Planning and Construction of the Jerusalem District, with a request to speed up the approval procedures of the huge "Etrot" project.
It is about a future complex of about 9,000 housing units that, according to the plan, will be built in the place where Jerusalem's airport, Atarot, once stood.
The promotion of the program arouses political sensitivity due to its location in the north of the city, in an area that Israel liberated in the Six Day War.
Shaked, who promoted the plan during her tenure, wanted to complete it in the last week of her position before leaving political life.
The abandoned airport in Atret, photo: Oren Ben Hakon
However, she was informed by the district committee that the environmental review has not yet been completed.
Therefore, it is not legally possible to approve the plan now and it will only be approved in a few months.
Those around Shaked told "Israel Hayom" that in the current situation it is not politically committed to either Netanyahu or Lapid, and therefore does not fear pressure from either of them to stop the program due to an American demand.
According to the sources, "Although it is not possible to complete the Atarot planning at the moment, Shaked has pushed the plan to the limit during her shift. Now it is up to the next government to complete it. This is about Israel's grip on northern Jerusalem and a plan that will release tens of thousands of apartments to the boiling real estate market of the city".
The new neighborhood in Atret that is causing a storm, photo: architect Yuval Kadmon
Binyamin Shafran, who heads the extra-parliamentary forum to promote the Atarot project, expressed his appreciation for Minister Shaked's step.
Shafran told "Israel Hayom" that "Shakhed had infinite loyalty to construction in the city in general and in Atret in particular.
Will be forced to confront the American government?
Netanyahu, photo: Mark Israel Salem
"I appreciate her for promoting the project and hope that the next minister of the interior, who will most likely be Aryeh Deri, will continue with the plan, which his representative in the municipality supports, and which the chief rabbi wanted for the purpose of commemorating his father there."
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