National Park Expansion Plan in East Yerushalayim Arouses Opposition

A proposed expansion of a national park into east Yerushalayim has aroused fierce opposition from churches that claim it would strip their ownership of property in the area, The Times of Israel reported on Sunday.

The Israel Nature and Parks Authority (INPA), which is promoting the project, denies that it will harm church properties, and that its purpose is to restore long-neglected lands and better preserve historical landscapes.

It envisages extension of the borders of the Yerushalayim Walls National Park to include a large section of Har Zeisim, along with additional parts of the Kidron and Ben Hinnom Valleys. The municipality’s Local Planning and Construction Committee is scheduled to take the matter up for preliminary approval on March 2.

Unappeased, Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Jerusalem Theopolis III, Catholic Church Custos of the Holy Land Francesco Patton and Armenian Patriarch of Jerusalem Nourhan Manougian sent a letter to Environmental Protection Minister Tamar Zandberg, whose office oversees the INPA, demanding that the project be cancelled.

In addition, a visiting delegation of Democrats from the U.S. House of Representatives were enlisted by the church leaders to press their case with Prime Minister Naftali Bennett during a meeting on Thursday.

Bennett did not appear familiar with the previously unpublicized plan, but he told the lawmakers that he was doing everything he could to reduce tensions in the capital, two congressional sources told the Times.

Opponents of the project also charge that behind the plan are nationalist groups seeking to bolster the Jewish presence in east Yerushalayim, including the flashpoint Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood. Rights groups contend the park expansion is part of a larger nationalist strategy to “encircle” the Old City by taking control of adjacent areas in east Yerushalayim.