"The Safdie Plan [for West Jerusalem] will be a disaster for generations to come. We must oppose it," declared Environment Minister Shalom Simhon last week, at a press conference convened by the Sustainable Jerusalem Coalition, an umbrella organization for more than 60 ecological and social-activist groups advocating for a new community-based master plan for Jerusalem." - Jerusalem Post
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The Sustainable Jerusalem Coalition is an umbrella organization for more than 60 ecological and social-activist groups, including the Society for the Protection of Nature in Israel (SPNI), The Association for Americans and Canadians in Israel, Bimkom (an urban-planning lobby group), and the Forum for the Future of Jerusalem. The conference was convened to mark the release of a report prepared by the coalition in opposition to the Safdie Plan. In its most recent form, the Safdie Plan, so called because it was prepared by the renowned architect and urban planner Moshe Safdie, calls for Jerusalem to expand westward into the Jerusalem hills and valleys. Although it has not yet been formally accepted by the necessary national authorities, the Safdie plan has already been incorporated into the recently published Jerusalem Master Plan for 2020.

According to Safdie and the municipal officials who support the plan, the westward expansion is necessary to ensure a Jewish majority in Jerusalem. To bring new middle- and upper-middle class residents into Jerusalem, and to upgrade housing for others, Jerusalem will need 86,000 housing units by the year 2020. However, according to the municipality's estimates, within its current borders, Jerusalem has the potential for only an additional 23,000 housing units.

The coalition's report, however, refutes this argument. According to the authors, Uri Barsheshet, formerly head of the Policy Planning Department in the municipality, and Raz Efron, formerly architect for the Jerusalem branch of the SPNI, there are more than 125,000 potential housing units available within Jerusalem's current borders. Sixty-four thousand units could be available by 2020, and these figures do not include programs such as E-1 or variances on current regulations regarding building rights, zoning, and so forth.

Furthermore, the Coalition argues, the municipality's figures are inflated and far exceed the desired limits for Jerusalem's population by the year 2020.

Said Simhon, "I toured the area a few weeks ago, and I was amazed at the proportions of the plan. How far does Jerusalem intend to expand? Does it want to move westward all the way to Tel Aviv?!

"As Israel's capital city, Jerusalem holds political, historical, religious, and social importance," Simhon continued. "But it doesn't have to be big to be important. After all, Washington is not the largest city in the United States, but it has its own significance." The Safdie Plan has engendered opposition on other fronts as well. Hebrew University's Prof. Shlomo Hasson, who is also director of the Floersheimer Institute and head of the Forum for the Future of Jerusalem, notes that by expanding westward Jerusalem "is abandoning its true heart, the east - the Old City and the center of the city." Furthermore, Hasson and others contend, because the Safdie Plan intends to build upscale housing, it will deepen the social gaps and heighten social tensions in the city.

Other objections to the plan focus on the loss of the green spaces that the plan will entail.

In view of growing public opposition, the municipality has appointed a team to research the effects and implications of the Safdie Plan, to be headed by Hebrew University's Professor Aryeh Shachar, a 1998 recipient of the Israel Prize. However, Shachar, who is reported to be receiving several hundreds of thousands of shekels for the research report, has already publicly expressed support for the program. Therefore, critics note, his research can hardly be objective and he faces a severe conflict of interest.

Simhon has called for a coalition of non-governmental and political forces to oppose the plan. "I am sure that we will be able to convince the Interior Ministry, the Housing Ministry and, ultimately, the municipality, to oppose this plan," he said.

(The Interior and Housing ministries did not respond to In Jerusalem's request for a response, and their official positions remain unclear.) Speaking on national radio later in the week, Simhon acknowledged that the plan, like many others, is supported by strong vested interests by real estate and by municipality interested in the money. "These interests cannot be part of our considerations. Yes, there are powerful business interests that support the plan. We will create powerful political interests against the plan. We will put our integrity and honesty on the table, while taking a stand for what is really important - the preservation and future of Jerusalem."