Petition seeks to block yeshiva project for foreign students on east Jerusalem public land
The petitioners also asked the court, sitting as an Administrative Affairs Court, to freeze the plan while it considers their challenge.
Three nonprofit groups have sought court intervention to halt plans for constructing a yeshiva and dormitory for foreign students on public land in east Jerusalem's Sheikh Jarrah district. The Ir Amim organization, the Sheikh Jarrah Welfare Association, and the Umm Lison Women's Association filed a petition against the Jerusalem District Court, local planning committees, and the Ohr Somayach institutions, which proposed the plan.
The dispute centers around a 4.3-dunam site on Pierre van Paassen Street in the Nahalat Shimon section of Sheikh Jarrah. Official records indicate that the land is state-owned and had been intended for public use, having been expropriated from private Palestinian ownership. Petitioners argue that the district committee's approval of the project would divert a scarce public building site intended for local residents towards a foreign student accommodation facility.
East Jerusalem is said to face a significant shortage of public buildings, with the Jerusalem Municipality estimating a need for about 2,000 additional classrooms. The petitioners claim that a professional assessment commissioned by the district committee confirmed a shortage of public buildings specifically in Sheikh Jarrah. They further contend that the state identified a lack of public land as a key obstacle in addressing the shortage.
While Ohr Somayach received permission from the Israel Land Authority to plan the project, the land remains unallocated. The petitioners note that during the approval process, the plan's language was altered to use broad terms like "religion, culture, and education," replacing specific references to a yeshiva, study hall, and dormitory.
They argue these changes were superficial, as Ohr Somayach remains the project's developer and its intent remains unchanged. The petitioners also question the decision to allocate 40% of the land for public open space, which they believe does not address their concerns.
The petition challenges three decisions related to the project: an extension allowing completion of the planning, the district committee's approval of the plan, and the chairman's refusal to permit an appeal against that approval. The groups assert that the plan was initially submitted in 2013 and approved only recently after being inactive for years. They argue that the extension and the change in land use designation were unlawful and not adequately justified.
Although construction is not imminent, the petitioners argue that allowing the plan to proceed could complicate the court's ability to overturn it later. They propose withdrawing the freeze request if the respondents agree not to publish or advance the plan, as they fear it could hinder the court's ability to reverse the approval if necessary. Sheikh Jarrah is a contentious area in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, with past evictions and clashes between Israelis and Palestinians in the neighborhood.
Written by urgent.news from Jerusalem Post's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — it may contain errors, so check the original before relying on it.
