Givat HaMatos (Hebrew:גבעת המטוס) is a plannedIsraeli settlement inEast Jerusalem.[1][2] It encompasses an area of 170dunams. It is bordered byTalpiot in the north,Gilo in the south, andBeit Safafa in the west. Israel has approved plans to build a new Israeli settlement there.
Theinternational community regards Israeli settlements in theWest Bank, includingEast Jerusalem, as illegal underinternational law, although Israel disputes this.[3]
According toARIJ, Israel confiscated 285dunams of land fromSharafat andBeit Safafa in order to construct Givat HaMatos.[4]
Givat HaMatos is Hebrew for "Airplane Hill." The site received its name after a smallIsrael Air Force jet plane (Fouga CM.170 Magister) crashed there on June 6, 1967, the second day of theSix-Day War after being hit by Jordanian anti-aircraft artillery. The pilot, Lt. Dan Givon, was killed.[5]
The caravans were built on a hill in 1991 to house a large influx of Ethiopian Jews airlifted to Israel. According to aHebrew University 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 andBeit Jallah, and included a minefield left over from a previous war".[6]Amidar, a government housing company, also placed homeless Israeli families in Givat HaMatos until alternate housing could be found.[7]
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.[7]
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.[8] Sources in the Jerusalem municipality said that half of the construction in Givat Hamatos was for the Arabs in Beit Safafa.[9]
On 2 October 2014, theEuropean Union condemned new expansion in Givat HaMatos.[10] United States criticised the housing development too.[11] According toAkiva Eldar, the divide between Betlehem andEast Jerusalem will now be completed and "a significant diplomatic arrangement" regardingSharafat and Beit Safafa, two Arab neighborhoods in Jerusalem, will be virtually impossible.[12]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.[13] The development was condemned by the UN’s Middle East envoy, Nickolay Mladenov,[14] EU High RepresentativeJosep Borrell[15] and Arab League Assistant Secretary-General for Palestine and the Occupied Arab Territories, Saeed Abu Ali.[16]
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