East J'lem Defense College receives initial approval

Plan for controversial military academy accepted by District Committee; activists expect multiple oppositions.

By MELANIE LIDMAN
IDF soldiers view Old City of J'lem from Mt. of Olives 37 (photo credit: Darren Whiteside / Reuters)
IDF soldiers view Old City of J'lem from Mt. of Olives 37
(photo credit: Darren Whiteside / Reuters)
The plan for a controversial new National Defense College on the Mount of Olives in east Jerusalem has received initial approval from the Jerusalem District Planning and Building Committee and progressed to the stage where the public can file oppositions to the project in the past few days.
Activists noticed signs announcing the deposition of plan no. 51870 for the construction of the Israeli Military College, hung around the Augusta Victoria Hospital on the Mount of Olives.
The public now has 60 days to register oppositions to the project. Due to the controversial nature of the project, activists expect multiple oppositions.
"Bringing the Military Academy to this sensitive spot is provocative, and if we may add, not so smart, of our Government," Peace Now said in a statement released on Saturday.
The 42,000-square-meter structure of the National Defense College is planned for an open area between the Beit Orot Yeshiva and Hebrew University’s Mount Scopus campus, within a few hundred meters of the Old City and with a commanding view of the Temple Mount.