TEL AVIV- An Israeli mayor is moving ahead with a construction plan that would involve razing 22 Palestinian homes in the city's contested eastern sector in Jerusalem. Mayor Nir Barkat says the plan will provide a much-needed facelift for Jerusalem's decaying al-Bustan neighborhood, which Israel calls King's Garden. He says the 22 homes, which were illegally constructed, will be rebuilt legally elsewhere in tiny al-Bustan. But the Palestinians see the proposal to build a tourist center in al-Bustan as another effort by Israel to lay claim to east Jerusalem by cementing its presence there. Palestinians want east Jerusalem to be the capital of a future state. The city's local planning committee will be asked on Monday to approve the necessary rezoning.
