The hill between Jerusalem and Bethlehem, known today as Har Homa or Homat Shmuel, was once called Jebl Abu Ganim. In 1940, a group of Jews purchased 130 dunams of land in the area, which it transferred to the Jewish National Fund for forest plantation development.
After the Six Day War, the hill was captured from the Jordanians and more of its land was bought from Arab landowners. As early as the Eighties, plans to build housing there existed, but were canceled on grounds of nature conservation.
In March 1997, under then-prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu, serious planning for the area began. About 75 percent of the land was expropriated from Jewish owners and the rest from residents of nearby Arab villages, like Beit Sahur.
From 1996-1999, MK Meir Porush (UTJ) served as deputy housing minister. Those were the days the ministry, in coordination with the Prime Minister's Office, planned the new neighborhood southeast of Jerusalem. "I was in charge of the plans for Har Homa. There was a lot of opposition to the project from left-wingers [because of its location in east Jerusalem], there were lots of warnings that the Americans would never authorize it, but here we are, and for me, I see it as a big personal privilege given to me by God, to fulfill and be a part of this project," Porush recently declared in an interview with Arutz Sheva.
There is nothing clear about land titles or building within East Jerusalem. While many outside Israel refer to East Jerusalem as ‘Arab’ East Jerusalem and maintain it should be part of a ‘Palestinian state’ the fact remains that there was always a significant Jewish presence within East Jerusalem until the Arab blockade of 1948-49.
While US Secretary of State bristles at the suggestion of alleged settlement building at Har Homa - it was Jewish owned, titled, deeded land prior to the Jordanian invasion and occupation of East Jerusalem.
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