Featured Post
Free The Hostages! Bring Them Home!
(this is a featured post and will stay at the top for the foreseeable future.. scroll down for new posts) -------------------------------...
Dec 1, 2009
The government now has frozen immigration
Jameel wrote up a great piece of satire regarding the construction freeze, as if Israel had announced a freeze on immigration..
Truth is, that in today's climate, an immigration freeze is not so far fetched. Where are people going to live? If there is no construction in Judea and Samaria, and there is almost no construction in Israel proper (what sector is not going through a housing crisis simply because the State hardly releases land for construction), it is not too far fetched to suggest that they might freeze immigration saying we have nowhere to put anyone right now so temporarily, until the situation with the Palestinians is resolved, we are freezing immigration.
Anyway, the satire can also be taken further - no construction anywhere in Israel. After all, the dispute is not just over the "Occupied Territories", but over all of Israel. The Arabs want the West Bank and half of Jerusalem, but they also want the right of return to everywhere else in israel, such as Jaffa, Lod, Acre, Haifa, Tel Aviv and every other major area. I can see the next step being a construction freeze in all of Israel in an effort to promote peace and not upset them by building on areas they have a claim to...
It is just a matter of time...
Truth is, that in today's climate, an immigration freeze is not so far fetched. Where are people going to live? If there is no construction in Judea and Samaria, and there is almost no construction in Israel proper (what sector is not going through a housing crisis simply because the State hardly releases land for construction), it is not too far fetched to suggest that they might freeze immigration saying we have nowhere to put anyone right now so temporarily, until the situation with the Palestinians is resolved, we are freezing immigration.
Anyway, the satire can also be taken further - no construction anywhere in Israel. After all, the dispute is not just over the "Occupied Territories", but over all of Israel. The Arabs want the West Bank and half of Jerusalem, but they also want the right of return to everywhere else in israel, such as Jaffa, Lod, Acre, Haifa, Tel Aviv and every other major area. I can see the next step being a construction freeze in all of Israel in an effort to promote peace and not upset them by building on areas they have a claim to...
It is just a matter of time...
Labels:
Israel
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Related Posts
Can you please explain something. Has the government banned all building, even if it was started legally, before the ban? If so, you pays for the resultant losses?
ReplyDeleteexcept for minor exceptions, yes - everything is frozen, even construction that was started with approval.
ReplyDeletewho pays? I dont know. But maybe those affected should start suing the government to cover their losses as a result of changed policy.
Rafi, I don't believe you are correct. The ban is on any building projects that have not yet broken ground. Roughly 3000 units in various stages of construction are to be completed.
ReplyDeleteThe ban also doesn't not apply to Jerusalem.
The satire is cute, but it's over the top. Truth be told that if world Jewery had responded to the Six Day War as if they really believed it was a Miracle and made Aliyah in the millions and settled the whole land we would not be in this position today. There would be no talk about "giving back" a West Bank that was populated by 2 million Jews instead of 300,000, most in areas clinging to Israel "proper".
Menachem - I could be wrong, but I read somewhere yesterday that all projects have been frozen, even projects that have already been started... (not including Jerusalem)
ReplyDeleteG-D FORBID!
ReplyDeletethere is almost no construction in Israel proper (what sector is not going through a housing crisis simply because the State hardly releases land for construction)
ReplyDeleteActually, in the "periphery" (Galil+Negev) the government is basically giving away land for free, but nobody wants to live there, so nobody builds. Yes, the land supply is limited in the "merkaz", but that's inevitable when the country is 10 miles across.