A plan to expropriate land for construction of 1,240 new apartments in the Jerusalem neighborhood of Gilo, located over the Green Line, was submitted last week by the Planning and Building Committee of the Jerusalem Municipality.

The submission, one of the first steps in the approval process for new apartment projects, calls for an additional 942 apartments to be built alongside 300 housing units which have already been approved for the site.

The land in question, a tract on a hillside south of the Gilo neighborhood, has been submitted for review as “without owner approval,” which indicates expropriation of land that may be owned in part by Palestinian families.

The fledgling plan will be examined by the municipality and the Interior Ministry. Should it be approved, it will likely be years before the apartments are built. Opposition to the plan can be filed with the municipality for the next two months.

The plan proposes 12-story apartment buildings housing luxury apartments, each apartment about 130 square meters in area. Alongside the residential units will be a commercial center of 20,000 square meters. The program also proposes the construction of public facilities, including schools, kindergartens, and synagogues.

The Interior Ministry will review another proposed housing project in Gilo later this month, which seeks to build 900 residential units. That plan has already received approval from the Jerusalem Municipality. (© 2012 THE TIMES OF ISRAEL 06/06/12)