dunams
A dunam (Ottoman Turkish, Arabic: ; tr, dönüm; he, דונם), also known as a donum or dunum and as the old, Turkish, or Ottoman stremma, was the Ottoman unit of area equivalent to the Greek stremma or English acre, representing the amount o ...
. It is bordered by
Talpiot
Talpiot ( he, תלפיות, literally 'turrets' or 'magnificently built') is an Israeli neighborhood in southeastern Jerusalem, established in 1922 by Zionist pioneers. It was built as a garden suburb on land purchased by the Tel Aviv-based P ...
in the north,
Gilo
Gilo ( he, גִּלֹה) is an Israeli settlement in south-western East Jerusalem, with a population of 30,000, mostly Jewish inhabitants. Although it is located within the Jerusalem Municipality, it is widely considered a settlement, because a ...
in the south, and Beit Safafa in the west. Israel has approved plans to build a new Israeli settlement there.
The international community regards Israeli settlements in the
West Bank
The West Bank ( ar, الضفة الغربية, translit=aḍ-Ḍiffah al-Ġarbiyyah; he, הגדה המערבית, translit=HaGadah HaMaʽaravit, also referred to by some Israelis as ) is a landlocked territory near the coast of the Mediter ...
international law
International law (also known as public international law and the law of nations) is the set of rules, norms, and standards generally recognized as binding between states. It establishes normative guidelines and a common conceptual framework for ...
, although Israel disputes this.
History
According to ARIJ, Israel confiscated 285 dunams of land from Sharafat and Beit Safafa in order to construct Givat HaMatos.Beit Safafa & Sharafat Town Profile ARIJ, p. 14
Givat HaMatos is Hebrew for "Airplane Hill." The site received its name after a small Israel Air Force jet plane (Fouga CM.170 Magister) crashed there on June 6, 1967, the second day of the
Six-Day War
The Six-Day War (, ; ar, النكسة, , or ) or June War, also known as the 1967 Arab–Israeli War or Third Arab–Israeli War, was fought between Israel and a coalition of Arab states (primarily Egypt, Syria, and Jordan) from 5 to 10 Ju ...
after being hit by Jordanian anti-aircraft artillery. The pilot, Lt. Dan Givon, was killed.
The caravans were built on a hill in 1991 to house a large influx of Ethiopian Jews airlifted to Israel. According to a
Hebrew University
The Hebrew University of Jerusalem (HUJI; he, הַאוּנִיבֶרְסִיטָה הַעִבְרִית בִּירוּשָׁלַיִם) is a public research university based in Jerusalem, Israel. Co-founded by Albert Einstein and Dr. Chaim Weiz ...
political scientist, Givat Hamatos was "an empty hillside, cold and windswept in the winter, in the far south of the municipal area. It was close to... Bethlehem and Beit Jallah, and included a minefield left over from a previous war".The forgotten poor of Givat Hamatos /ref> Amidar, a government housing company, also placed homeless Israeli families in Givat HaMatos until alternate housing could be found.Trouble on the hill? Jerusalem Post
In 2005, a 4-stage development project was unveiled for the neighborhood. The plans included a panoramic promenade, hotels, cafes, office buildings and commercial space.
In December 2012, the plan was to build 2,610 housing units in Givat Hamatos in the first stage. The full plan included around 800 units for Palestinians in nearby Beit Safafa. Sources in the Jerusalem municipality said that half of the construction in Givat Hamatos was for the Arabs in Beit Safafa.
On 2 October 2014, the
European Union
The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been de ...
condemned new expansion in Givat HaMatos. United States criticised the housing development too. According to
Akiva Eldar
Akiva Eldar ( he, עקיבא אלדר; born 27 November 1945) is a political analyst, author and contributor to Israeli daily Haaretz. He was chief political columnist, editorial writer and US Bureau Chief for the paper,East Jerusalem will now be completed and "a significant diplomatic arrangement" regarding Sharafat and Beit Safafa, two Arab neighborhoods in Jerusalem, will be virtually impossible.
On November 15, 2020, the Israel Lands Authority and the Housing Ministry announced the opening of bidding for the construction of 1,257 units in a new settlement. The development was condemned by the UN’s Middle East envoy, Nickolay Mladenov, EU High Representative Josep Borrell and Arab League Assistant Secretary-General for Palestine and the Occupied Arab Territories, Saeed Abu Ali.