Construction in Ramat Shlomo
Construction in Ramat ShlomoYonatan Sindel/Flash90

Five years after plans to begin construction for 1,500 homes in the Ramat Shlomo neighborhood of Jerusalem were first introduced, they are finally being implemented. 

According to a Channel Ten report on Sunday, the plans have finally moved to the next political level for approval. 

The project will come under discussion on Wednesday and the District Committee for Planning and Building is expected to share its objections. Still, with past obstacles, such as the construction of Route 21, completed, quick approval is anticipated. 

First mentioned in 2010, the building in Ramat Shlomo faced an intense setback when the United States declared their opposition to the move; Ramat Shlomo lies over the 1949 Armistice Lines. 

Adding to the crisis in Israel-US relations was the fact that the 1,500 units were approved just as US Vice President Joe Biden was flying to Israel on an official visit. 

At the time, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton made an angry phone call to Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, berating him for announcing the building plans, and demanding they be canceled. 

The US again condemned construction at Ramat Shlomo in 2012, when another bureaucratic hurdle on the way to actual construction was cleared.

Ramat Shlomo, despite being described by some as a “Jewish settlement in east Jerusalem”, is in fact located in northern Jerusalem, between Ramot and the Har Hotzvim Industrial Park.

Although Netanyahu called for immediate approval for construction of 1,500 new housing units in Ramat Shlomo in 2013, no building ever took place.