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Source: http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1196847346884&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
The Strategic Significance of Har Homa
[Jerusalem Post] Lenny Ben-David - Last month the Ministry of Housing issued a tender for the construction of some 300 apartment units in the Har Homa neighborhood of Jerusalem. Immediately, Palestinian spokesmen screamed bloody murder and U.S. Secretary of State Rice joined the chorus and expressed her opposition. Seven years ago enemy snipers attacked southern Jerusalem. During the first two years of the second intifada, more than 400 shooting attacks were unleashed on the Jerusalem neighborhood of Gilo and its 40,000 residents from the nearby Arab town of Beit Jala. Ignoring the fact that the neighborhood consisted of major apartment complexes, schools and shopping centers, much of the world press condoned the attacks on the "Israeli settlement." The British press was quick to claim that Gilo was "illegal under international law." Har Homa, established in 1997, is another Jewish neighborhood on Jerusalem's southern flanks. With an estimated 6,000 residents, the suburb is a strategic impediment to Palestinian attempts to link up northern Bethlehem with Jerusalem. The city of Jerusalem is ringed by neighborhoods built after 1967. They house about one-third of Jerusalem's burgeoning population, and they also serve to protect the city. The neighborhood of Ramot serves as a buffer to the north; Mount Scopus, French Hill, Ramat Eshkol, and Sanhedria protect Jerusalem's east; and Gilo and Har Homa serve as a buffer to the south. The writer served as Israel's deputy chief of mission in Washington.