“Silicon Valley,” this title may be in all capitals and cities of the world, linked to development and giant projects in the field of information technology, technical development, and thousands of job opportunities. However, in occupied Jerusalem, this title is linked to a Judaizing project that threatens its beating heart and seeks to dismember it. And changing its Arab and Islamic civilizational character.
This settlement project, which the occupation municipality plans to establish in the Wadi al-Jouz neighborhood in Jerusalem, under which 59 commercial stores in the neighborhood were given demolition orders, on the right of the street closest to the Old City, in the neighborhood to the south of it, does not stop there, as it is expected to extend Demolition orders for about 100 shops around the neighborhood.
According to Imad Al-Zaanin, a resident of Wadi Al-Jouz, the settlement project targets the area between Othman bin Affan and Al-Hariri Streets, south of the neighborhood, on a plot of land with an area of 250 dunums, containing approximately 250 commercial stores. The number of those affected by the project is estimated at about 1,250 Jerusalemites, and no The matter stops there, as the project threatens about 350 homes in the neighborhood.
Ziad Al-Hamouri, head of the Jerusalem Center for Economic and Social Rights, said in a statement to the Beit Al-Maqdis Agency: “This Zionist decision will harm hundreds of Palestinian families who make a living from these shops, as this neighborhood had its own character even before the Zionist occupation of East Jerusalem, as an industrial neighborhood with many It contains shops and garages, and what the occupation seeks today is nothing more than a settlement project, as the project plans include very high buildings with dozens of floors, which will include offices, centers specialized in information technology, which will of course be for settlers, and projects affiliated with the occupation municipality in Jerusalem. “.
Al-Hammouri adds: “What is striking here is that in this area the streets will be between 20 and 30 meters wide, in order to serve the settlers and their movement between the area and the settlements in west and central Jerusalem, as this road will begin where the headquarters of the occupation Ministry of the Interior is, west of Jerusalem.” It will pass through a number of government complexes of the Zionist occupation, in Sheikh Jarrah, and elsewhere, and this road will end at the (Maale Heztim) settlement in Ras al-Amud. Thus, the (Silicon Valley) project and its affiliated road will be an integrated project to serve the occupation and its settlers, and of course this project will have an impact. “It is very damaging to the heritage and history of the region.”