By Jo-Ann Mort, March 11, 2010
The announcement by Israeli Interior Minister that Israel is building 1600 more housing units in East Jerusalem made during VP Biden's visit was probably not an accident--hard to imagine otherwise. But, not simply because Eli Yishai, the Minister, wanted to embarrass the VP; also because he honestly has little interest in listening to any elected official--from his own Prime Minister to our nation's VP.
That's because, as a leader of Shas, the ultra-Orthodox party, he answers to a higher power. And, the building is for his constituents: ultra-Orthodox Jews who, ironically are not Zionists and don't consider Israel a true state until the Messiah himself (it will be a him, in their mind; not a her for sure) lands on the holy ground himself.)
That's why Yishai will continue to build--and until he is stopped, Bibi will continue to support the building. He counts Shas as a critical core constituency of his coalition, as short sighted as it is. The ultra-Orthodox community in Israel is anti-democratic, anti-state (no matter who the leader is), and threatens Israel's security and modernity as much as any external threat, if not perhaps more.
The Shas party doesn't recognize the Reform Synagogue Movement as a legitimate form of Judaism; and, that means they don't recognize the majority of American Jews as Jews since that is what we are (over 50% of affiliated American Jews are Reform)....
Their ultra-Orthodox constituents rarely serve in the army, but their actions are sending tens of thousands of Israeli young people to serve an occupation that --still--the majority of Israelis oppose. Their young people don't attend public schools, don't learn English and don't learn Math and modern technology on the whole. Indeed, the growth of the Haredi (ultra-Orthodox) sector in Jerusalem is as harmful to the divide in that city as the East-West divide there.
In reality, there are three Jerusalems: one is the small, but struggling secular Jewish community that wants to live in normalcy; they attend and support Israel's top university: Hebrew University, a thriviing cultural scene in spite of it all, and would like their own young people to have a future in Israel's capitol city. The second Jerusalem is the ultra-Orthodox Jerusalem, which has pulled the city under the poverty line, underminded public services and could likely not only erupt any future negotiations along with the settler population on the West Bank that hails from a nationalist religious background, but they will do it without every declaring loyalty to the state. Incredible~
The third sector, of course, are the Palestinian citizens of Jerusalem, disenfranchised from West Jerusalem and Israel's state and cut off from their natural partnership with the West Bank and Ramallah and Bethlehem due to the separation wall and all of the checkpoints.
In today's Hebrew paper, Yediot Achranot, the largest circulation paper in Israel, Ofer Petersburg published this helpful 'cheat sheet' of new building to come in Jerusalem as charted by Peace Now in Israel. Here is Petersburg reporting:
Yedioth Ahronoth (p. 4) by Ofer Petersburg -- Ramat Shlomo is not the only neighborhood [in which construction permits are liable to be the source of an international outcry]: An examination by Yedioth Ahronoth has found that no fewer than 19 other construction plans in East Jerusalem, in which a total of 7,038 housing units are to be built, are currently in the process of receiving authorization.
The various construction projects that are liable to become the next source of friction are all at different stages of the planning process. Some are at a very preliminary stage, after having been submitted to the Interior Ministry's Planning and Construction Committee, and are now being debated. Others are at a more advanced stage: an announcement has been made to the public about the planned construction, to allow for anyone who opposes the planned project to submit a petition. Still other construction projects are on the verge of receiving final approval.
Furthermore, there are no fewer than 2,193 housing units that have completed the necessary stages of approval, according to data that were provided by Peace Now. Construction on those housing units can begin immediately. Among these housing units are 1,083 new apartments in Ramot and other projects that have already solicited criticism of Israel, such as the project planned for the Shepherd Hotel.
"There is a tremendous shortage of housing units in the capital. Projects of this kind have to be approved, otherwise the city will stop," said a senior member of the Jerusalem District Planning and Construction Committee, which granted its approval to the Ramat Shlomo project this week. "We were stunned by the storm it raised. Everything is technical. We never regarded Ramat Shlomo as a place that is beyond the Green Line. This is a project that has been bouncing around the bureaucracy for seven years. We had no reason not to approve it. Nor are there any instructions in that vein, and that applies to every other neighborhood, either Jewish or Arab, in East Jerusalem.
Peace Now Secretary General Yariv Oppenheimer said: "It isn't a matter of timing, it's a matter of policy. The intention here is to turn Jerusalem into a bi-national city and to preempt a two-state solution. It was a miracle that only one project was approved during Biden's visit."
[the figures cited beneath appear on an aerial photograph provided by Yedioth Ahronoth, marking where each one of the following East Jerusalem sites is situated]
· Neve Yaakov: 393 housing units; Status: approved, awaiting construction.
· Pisgat Zeev: 600 housing units; Status: Being debated by committee.
· Ramat Shlomo: 2,250 housing units; Status: Being debated by committee.
· Ramat Eshkol: 267 housing units; Status: approved, awaiting construction.
· Ramot: 1,083 housing units; Status: approved, awaiting construction.
· Ramot: 320 housing units; Status: Being debated by committee.
· Sheikh Jarrah: 72 housing units; Status: Being debated by committee.
· Shepherd Hotel: 20 housing units; Status: approved, awaiting construction.
· Wholesale Market: Mall + 200 housing units; Status: Being debated by committee.
· Herod's Gate (Old City): 30 housing units; Status: Being debated by committee.
· Western Wall Plaza: Strauss House; Status: approved, awaiting construction.
· Western Wall Plaza : Mughrabi Bridge ; Status: approved, awaiting construction.
· City of David: Master plan; Status: Being debated by committee.
· Kidmat Tzion: 220 housing units; Status: Being debated by committee.
· Nof Tzion B: 30 housing units + 150 hotel rooms; Status: Being debated by committee.
· Nof Tzion: 100 housing units; Status: Being debated by committee.
· Nof Tzion: 91 housing units; Status: approved, awaiting construction.
· East Talpiot: 180 housing units; Status: approved, awaiting construction.
· Givat Hamatos: 549 housing units; Status: Objections have been aired, awaiting approval.
· Givat Hamatos: 1,100 housing units; Status: Being debated by committee
· Givat Hamatos: 3,150 housing units; Status: approved, awaiting construction.
· Har Homa B: 50 housing units; Status: Being debated by committee
· Har Homa C: 983 housing units; Status: Being debated by committee
· Gilo: 170 housing units; Status: Being debated by committee
· Gilo: 207 housing units; Status: approved, awaiting construction.
· Moradot Gilo: 844 housing units; Status: Being debated by committee