Once upon a time in Jerusalem, many years ago, when I was a child, Arabs shot from Givat Hamatos (Airplane Hill) toward the adjacent neighborhood of Talpiot. Some of the bullets hit walls not far from the home of renowned poet Shai Agnon. Later, on June 6, 1967, a Fouga CM.170 Magister aircraft crashed there, and the pilot, Lt. Dan Givon, was killed. Hence the neighborhood's name.
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Over time, Jewish immigrants from Ethiopia who were brought to Israel in operations Solomon and Moses were housed in caravans in the neighborhood. Now, the Palestinians are using this hill to plot their dream of dividing Jerusalem. It is a permanent fixture of their collective imagination. They never gave it up.
From the Palestinian point of view, Givat Hamatos, situated a mere 300 yards from the Green Line, is the key to perhaps their last practical option of dividing Jerusalem from the south. The unconcealed Palestinian desire is to one day create urban contiguity stretching from Bethlehem, through Beit Jala and Givat Hamatos, to the neighborhood of Sharafat and Beit Safafa on the approach to Malha shopping mall. They view this urban contiguity as part of their future capital – "east Jerusalem."
From the Israeli perspective, building up Givat Hamatos is one of the keys to preventing Jerusalem's division from the south, and preventing a Palestinian wedge that will thwart contiguity from the neighborhoods of Gilo and Har Homa, on the capital's southern border.
Israel should have built on Givat Hamatos a long time ago. The window of opportunity while Trump was in office was squandered, but better late than never. In 2007, at the Annapolis Conference, the Palestinians offered Israel a land swap that included the large Jewish neighborhoods in east Jerusalem remaining in Israeli hands, including the Jewish Quarter of the Old City, but excluding Har Homa and Givat Hamatos. They demanded that Israel withdraw from these two neighborhoods. Now, we can hope, this option is off the table. Har Homa already has a population of over 25,000 people and Givat Hamatos is slated to follow suit in the near future. In the annals of the fight for Jerusalem between Israel and the Palestinians, the struggle for urban contiguity is prominent. Such was the case in the areas of Pisgat Ze'ev and Ramot, and French Hill, and now in the Har Homa sector on Givat Hamatos.
Israel must win this fight for urban contiguity as well. It must not be deterred by the condemnations and threats that are sure to come. Givat Hamatos is not far from Hebron Road, a main artery in the city's west. It is as Jerusalem as Jerusalem can be; neither on the city's outskirts nor the heart of the Arab population. If we don't build there, where will we build?
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