The only reason for such a plan is to seize lands and hold them as a reserve for a future settlement, while suffocating the Palestinian neighborhoods

http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=442376
Report: Israel plans park to block Issawiya expansion

TEL AVIV, Israel (Ma'an) -- A left-wing member of Israel's Jerusalem city council says a plan for a new "national park" in the Mt Scopus area is a "ruse" to block development of two Palestinian neighborhoods.

Meir Margalit of the Meretz party told Israel's Haaretz daily that the park "is a farce. There's nothing there but rocks and thorns, certainly nothing to justify a national park."

He added: "The only reason for such a plan is to seize lands and hold them as a reserve for a future settlement, while suffocating the Palestinian neighborhoods."

Efrat Cohen, an architect and activist with the rights group Bimkom, said the park is intended to stop the group's plan to renovate areas in al-Tur and Issawiya, which are populated by Palestinians.

"These two neighborhoods are boxed-in from all sides, they have no other way for development".

The report said authorities had meanwhile stopped plans for settlement in the the Ramat Shlomo neighborhood, construction that had sparked criticism from the US.

http://news.yahoo.com/israeli-park-plans-halt-e-jerusalem-development-154146157.html

Israeli park plans 'halt' E. Jerusalem development

Israeli officials have halted the expansion of two crowded east Jerusalem neighbourhoods by planning a national park on the only land available for them to grow, Israeli NGO Bimkom said on Tuesday.

The group, also known as Planners for Planning Rights, accuses Israel's National Parks Authority and the Jerusalem municipality of using the park plan to block the expansion of the nearby Arab neighbourhoods of Issawiya and A-Tur.

Efrat Cohen-Bar, an architect with Bimkom, which helps vulnerable communities on issues of planning and building, said the group had been working with the local community to build new homes and schools in the valley that runs between the two neighbourhoods.

The plan gained initial approval from a local committee, but the group then learned that the National Parks Authority wanted to claim 550 dunams (136 acres) of that land for a new park....READ MORE