Mayor Teddy Kollek called last night for the expansion of Jerusalem’s boundaries to the north and east. He said such expansion was the only apparent way to preserve the areas surrounding the city and to prevent Jerusalem’s built up area from merging with the Arab city of Ramallah north of Jerusalem.
The statement, at a meeting of the City Council, was triggered by the dispute over a new suburb proposed for the north slope of Nebi Samwil by Defense Minister Moshe Dayan. Deputy Mayor Yehoshua Matza of Gahal attacked Kollek’s opposition to the suburb, which Matza said was necessary from a political point of view since it extended the Jewish presence north of Jerusalem.
Kollek took the wind out of that argument by proposing that the municipal boundaries be extended to embrace Nebi Samwil, presently about one kilometer north of the city line. If this were done, he said, even Matza would probably agree to preserve the Nebi Samwil area as a park rather than to develop a suburb on it, since the matter could then be dealt with as one of urban planning.
Revised boundaries. Kollek said, should include green belt areas around the city and industrial sites to the east–an apparent reference to the Anatot area. The Mayor did not specifically mention expansion to the south in the direction, of Bethlehem, but the new boundaries should give Jerusalem a total area of 200 square kilometers in comparison to the present 110 square kilometers.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
