Jerusalem Councilman Arieh King on Monday announced that Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat has passed a plan to turn the strategic area of Nahal Og connecting Jerusalem with E-1 to the east into a landfill, reneging on a 2009 campaign pledge he had made.
King explained on Facebook that Barkat had pledged before elections to support the "Eastern Gate" plan to turn the area into a residential zone, a plan which was led by former Jerusalem Deputy Mayor Shmuel Meir, and advanced by former mayors Ehud Olmert and Uri Lupolianski.
"Nir Barkat in his elections campaign declared he would advanced the 'Eastern Gate' plan and fulfill the potential that exists in the area between French Hill and E-1," wrote King.
But that all changed after Barkat was elected according to King, who noted that the mayor pushed to turn the strategic area into a landfill.
After Barkat failed to receive support for his landfill plan in the Jerusalem City Council, King notes "he submitted the 'municipal' plan to the regional council which last week approved the plan that is so dangerous to the future of Jerusalem as a city with a possibility to expand to the east."
King also noted on Monday that he took a tour of the Ras Khamis neighborhood in northern Jerusalem near the closed airport of Atarot, including in the post a picture of the rampant illegal Arab construction in the region.
"It turns out that for entrepreneurs in eastern Jerusalem there's an original explanation for the dictum 'the sky's the limit,'" wrote King in response to the illegal building. "At least as long as the following trio are responsibility for Jerusalem: Bibi (Binyamin Netanyahu) - prime minister, (Naftali) Bennett - minister for Jerusalem affairs, Barkat - mayor."
Explaining his criticism of Jewish Home chairperson Bennett, who has served in the post of Jerusalem affairs minister for the entire outgoing coalition, King asked how is it that Bennett "didn't find time in the entire period of his term to visit (a work visit!) the east of the city (other than with his friends in City of David, after the entry to properties around three months ago)?"