The Israel Government has expropriated 16 acres of land in the Jewish quarter of East Jerusalem for a slum clearance project and also took over a large parcel of land in a former Jewish suburb which was occupied by the Jordanians in 1948. The expropriation orders were published in the official gazette today.
The property in East Jerusalem includes buildings erected since 1948 which house 600 Arabs. The buildings stand on the site of scores of synagogues, yeshivas and other schools which the Jordanians tore down. The Arabs who are to be dispossessed, will receive compensation when they are requested to move. They will be permitted to go to court to contest the sums offered them. Officials explained that the expropriation was necessary in order to re-plan the entire quarter, which degenerated into a slum during the past 20 years. Much of the land Involved belongs to Jewish institutions. None of it, however, is Moslem religious property or belongs to foreign institutions, officials said.
The second expropriation order covers land in Kfar Ivri (Neve Yaacov) which was officially incorporated into the Jerusalem municipality last year. Jews evacuated the suburb when Jerusalem was under siege in 1948 and it was subsequently occupied by Jordan. Most of the land now being taken over by the State was occupied by an Arab Legion military camp. Some of it belongs to Jews and less than 10 percent belonged to Arabs, according to the officials.
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