Israel Matzav

And again: Attempted stabbing attack on Jerusalem light rail

There's  been yet another attempted stabbing attack on the Jerusalem light rail, this time at the Givat HaMivtar station located at the French Hill intersection (one stop east of where a 'Palestinian' plowed into a station with his car a few months ago).

There are no injuries in today's attack, and the terrorist was taken into custody.

But if we don't talk about terror attacks, they don't exist, right?

Labels: City of Jerusalem, Israel police, Jerusalem Light Rail, Jerusalem police, Nir Barkat, Palestinian terrorism

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 12:08 PM 1 comments

If a terror attack is committed and no one talks about it, does it still exist?

My opinion of Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat has just sunk some more. Barkat apparently believes that if we don't talk about the terror attacks he's been unable to prevent in Jerusalem, they don't exist.

News site 0404 has published a recodring of Barkat speaking before the City Council on Thursday.

The mayor can be heard saying: “In my opinion, if people are too afraid – and we know that the problem exists – this can serve the interests of the terrorists and rioters who want to disrupt our lives. We are must make a great effort to put the city back on routine tracks. We are not ignoring the problem. We are aware of it. This discourse does not advance us, media wise.

“We are aware of the problem. This discourse does not advance us media-wise – not the city of of Jerusalem, Every time there is a discussion and great fear about some matter, immediately the merchants and the businessmen and the cultural institutes will tell you that their income is down."

...

"I am very angry at the railway people,” he says, in a reference to the Light Rail, which has been very hard hit by terror attacks. “I, the Transport Ministry and the police are very angry at them. They could have said that Light Rail is the safest means of transport and there are zero casualties. It is protected. Instead of talking about it every day, contrary to the position of the police, the Transport Ministry and the Municipality – and by the way, they are doing so for the wrong reasons.”

The fact that Jews are no longer using the Light Rail is the railways' fault, Barkat insisted. “They are causing it. They scare people for no reason. They keep on making it public. The police closed down the Light Rail twice or thrice when the police thought that there was need for this. The fact is that although windows were smashed, no one was hurt because it is protected.”

"I trust the police on this matter and it is better for this discourse to remain outside the media. We are not avoiding anything. The prime minister is worried about this and the minister for public security is worried about this and the police commissioner and the district commander and myself and all of us. We have one police force, we cannot replace it.”

 Sure - let's just pretend the problem doesn't exist. What could go wrong?

Labels: City of Jerusalem, Israel police, Jerusalem Light Rail, Jerusalem police, Nir Barkat, Palestinian terrorism

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 9:57 PM 0 comments

Israel announces 2,500 new apartments in 'east' Jerusalem, Obama-Kerry silent

On Wednesday, the city of Jerusalem announced the approval of 2,500 new apartments in 'east' Jerusalem. There was no outcry from Obama-Kerry or from Ban Ki-Moon. And there won't be one either. You see, these apartments are for Arabs, and you can bet that they will be 100% completely Judenrein. What's worse, those apartments are accompanied by the reversal of approval for 2,500 Jewish units in 'east' Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria. You see, our spineless Prime Minister has become as much of a messianic as John FN Kerry.

This is from the first link.

The houses will be built in the Al-Sawahira Al-Gharbiyya neighborhood near Armon HaNetziv, according to Walla! News, home to some 27,000 Israeli Arabs. 

The expansion plan was formulated for over a year and a half, with the help of the leftist "Bimakom" (Heb: "In its place") group, which is engaged in promoting "equal rights" in matters of city planning.

Nationalist politicians and city councilmen reacted with shock to the announcement, after exactly 2,500 building tenders for Jewish neighborhoods in Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria were frozen Monday by Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu due to US threats of a "covert building freeze."  

Jerusalem City Councilman Aryeh King filed an administrative appeal with the Jerusalem District Court over the ruling - which he, along with many others, have seen as discriminatory - and threatened to quit the coalition in the event the tenders are not revoked.

"This is crazy," King said, "and runs contrary to a previous decision not to go ahead with the program until the building committee can confirm the need for large-scale construction in Arab neighborhoods."

King maintained that the plan also "was put forward by the leftists to establish their own the demographic balance in the city, and link Area B to the downtown area - all of this without discussing the issue with the city council."

"Nir Barkat is endangering the city," he added. 

The office of Mayor Nir Barkat said in response, "the Jerusalem Municipality's urban planning constitutes a clear expression of sovereignty over all parts of the city and strengthening the unity of Jerusalem."

"The absence of the Municipality in urban planning may create a difficult situation, and it is dangerous to approve specific programs under the auspices of a court without relating to a range of considerations regarding neighborhoods in, and public buildings missing in, East Jerusalem," it added. "The alternative to municipal urban planning is illegal construction of thousands of housing units and taking over large areas, along with damage to the environment and to an Israeli sovereignty over a united Jerusalem."

You mean Barkat actually thinks that this shows Jewish sovereignty over the Arab-populated neighborhoods of the city? Really? And by the way, the solution to illegal building is to enforce the law.... 

And about Netanyahu's withdrawal of those 2,500 units for Jews....

Cabinet Secretary Gen. (res.) Avichai Mandelblit was tasked with drafting the plans for 1,500 units in the Givat Hamatos neighborhood in southern Jerusalem, and another 1,000 units in Judea and Samaria communities including Ariel, Emanuel, and Beitar Illit.

The bid publications were prepared and ready to go - until Netanyahu at the very last minute waffled and changed his mind, canning the plan right before it was to be published.

Apparently Mandelblit told community leaders in Judea and Samaria that the international pressure placed on Israel during and following Operation Protective Edge has led Netanyahu to fear an international "crisis" if he were to announce plans for new Jewish houses.

"The national status after Operation Protective Edge is explosive and complicated," a senior official told Walla!, siding with Mandelblit. "Israel needs to act carefully and not initiate new crises, that will be added to the unavoidable crises created by the operation."

The international pressure was demonstrated on Sunday, when Israel declared 4,000 dunams (988 acres) in Judea as state land - an announcement which was immediately met by a firm condemnation by US President Barack Obama's administration.

Judea and Samaria council chief Dani Dayan is steaming. 

Speaking to Arutz Sheva, Dayan said that the bureaucratic snafu that was holding up development of plans in Jerusalem and in Judea and Samaria was choking off the life-force of these communities. “For months the government committees and the Housing Ministry have not issued any tenders for construction. It's true that development plans made in the past are now bearing fruit, but without new tenders construction will soon dry up,” he said.

In the past, governments responded to world political pressure against construction in “a more courageous manner. We were told that building would not be allowed publicly, but behind the scenes they would tell us to build outposts, which would later be legalized. Today the government doesn't have the courage to do this.”

Dayan worries that a crisis is developing in the settlement movement. “We cannot be satisfied with what we have accomplished. Any area that is not growing will eventually be lost. Building and growing must be a priority, even if there are pressures. We must bring the settlement issue back into the center of priorities, even if it has to be done politically. If we can't accomplish this now, we are setting a precedent for the future as well.”

אין שלום, אין ביטחון, ביבי כשלון (There is no peace, there is no security, Bibi is a failure). Yes, I know that was the Left's slogan in the 1999 election campaign, but perhaps it's time for the Right to dust it off. 

Labels: Binyamin Netanyahu, City of Jerusalem, Dani Dayan, East Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria construction, Nir Barkat

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 10:49 AM 1 comments

Israel's high tech leader... no, it's not Tel Aviv

10 years ago tonight, son # 5, child #8 was born (you may notice a small change to my profile to account for that event).

47 years ago tomorrow night, I sat with my parents z"l (of blessed memory) and my brother watching television reports in Boston that Israel had liberated the Temple Mount and the remainder of Jerusalem. It was a heady time.


Tonight and tomorrow are Jerusalem Day, marking the day on which the 'eastern' part of the city of Jerusalem, including the Temple Mount and the Old City of Jerusalem.

Jerusalem is more than Israel's spiritual capital. It's also the country's leading high tech center and one of the most optimistic places on earth.

While Israeli hi-tech, so central to the nation's economy, is often linked to the central coastal region, revenue from the industry in Jerusalem is in fact nearly 12 billion shekels (around $3.5 billion), almost as much as the revenue Tel Aviv (6.7 billion shekels) and Haifa (7 billion shekels) combined.

...

Jerusalem is also leading Israel in attracting olim (new immigrants). The city absorbed 2,335 new olim in 2013, making 13% of the national total of olim, and over twice as many as Tel Aviv (1,060) or Haifa (1,130).

The capital has also been attracting young people, as 30,000 people young people have moved to the city in the last four years. 51% of those moving to Jerusalem in 2012 were between the ages of 20 and 34.

While the Central Bureau of Statistics reported 88% of Jerusalemites are happy, the Municipality figures found 92% of residents are happy with their lives, as compared to an 88% national average. Tel Aviv came in at 86% and Haifa at 81%.

Jerusalem residents were also found to be the most optimistic in Israel: 63% felt their lives would be better in the future, a rate higher than the national average (59%), Tel Aviv (57%) and Haifa (54%).

 Happy Jerusalem Day!

Labels: City of Jerusalem, Jerusalem Day, Six Day War, Temple Mount

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 10:31 PM 1 comments

Happy!

We need to get in the mood for this astounding post first.

Let's go to the videotape.




An astounding 88% of Jerusalem residents say they are happy with their lives despite rampant unemployment and poverty.

Jerusalem’s population at the end of 2012 stood at 815,300 people – making it the largest city in Israel, according to a report released on Monday by the Central Bureau of Statistics ahead of Jerusalem Day.

There are 515,200 residents, comprised of Jewish, non-Arab Christians or other religions, marking 63 percent of the total city population; while the Arab population stands at 100,300, or 37% of the city's residents.

Among the Jews residing in the city, 35% defined themselves as ultra-Orthodox, 18% as religious, 12t as traditional-religious, 14% are traditional but not very religious and 20% defined themselves as secular.

...

According to the findings, the percentage of people who "feel poor" in Jerusalem was the highest among all major cities in Israel. Some 28% of people felt poor in 2013, 18% of the Jewish population and 45% of the Arab population. In comparison, in Tel Aviv and in Haifa, less than 10% felt poor.

However, the report cited that of the adult population (aged 20 years old and above) in Jerusalem, 88% said they are satisfied with their lives, compared to 85% of the population of other cities - 90% of Jews and 85% of Arabs, compared to the national average of 88% and 70% respectively.

Furthermore the report indicated that 64% of Jerusalem residents believe that in the coming years their lives will improve, 58% of Jews and 76% of Arabs.

 Who is happy? He who is satisfied with his lot.

Labels: City of Jerusalem, Dancing in Jerusalem, Haredim, poverty rates

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 9:16 PM 2 comments

Pope's visit to Israel has something to offend just about everyone

If you're a Jerusalemite, you might want to consider making a schlissel challah for the Sabbath (a challah with a key inside it, traditionally made on the Sabbath after Passover as a sign of an easy time making a living during the upcoming year). The flag above is meant to depict just that.

That flag is all over Jerusalem because the Pope is going to be here Sunday and Monday. In a bid not to offend anyone, the Pope is managing to offend everyone.

The pope’s decision to fly straight to Bethlehem from Jordan would be a symbolic lift to the Palestinians at any time. But its resonance is even greater given his tremendous popularity, his focus on the downtrodden, and his timing amid the recent collapse of peace talks and the Palestine Liberation Organization’s unity pact with the militant group Hamas.

Francis, who said on Wednesday that his three-day visit was “purely a religious trip,” is striving for balance, and so on Monday he plans to become the first Vatican leader to lay a wreath on the grave of Theodor Herzl, the founder of Zionism. Paying homage to a man who envisioned the Jewish state has become standard for leaders visiting Israel, but the plan has enraged some Palestinians, in another sign of the risks the pope faces in this charged region.

At each stop on the orchestrated itinerary, the Vatican’s focus — to celebrate the 50th anniversary of a historic meeting of Catholic and Orthodox patriarchs — could be overshadowed as all sides dissect Francis’ every action. Already, his effort at ecumenical outreach, traveling with a rabbi and an imam from his native Buenos Aires, has led to criticism that he is not fully engaging local religious leaders.

...

The Vatican spokesman, the Rev. Federico Lombardi, said that the Vatican’s use of “State of Palestine” terminology with regard to the trip reflected the United Nations General Assembly’s 2012 resolution that upgraded Palestine’s status, and that arriving in Bethlehem by helicopter made pragmatic sense.

Father Lombardi said that the pope was starting his trip in Jordan partly because Saturday is the Jewish Sabbath, when a visit to Israel would be awkward, and that a Mass in Manger Square, the place of Jesus’ birth, was fitting for Sunday.

...

In Bethlehem, the pope will meet President Mahmoud Abbas as a peer, underscoring the Vatican’s support for the United Nations’ upgrade of Palestine’s status; welcome banners in Manger Square show the two men and a “State of Palestine” logo.

He will also meet with families hand-picked to highlight the hardships Palestinians face under Israeli occupation, and with children from nearby refugee camps, though he will not enter the camps as predecessors did.

The diplomatic dance means that instead of traversing the half-dozen miles between Bethlehem and the Mount of Olives by motorcade, the pope will take a helicopter to Ben-Gurion International Airport for a presidential welcome demanded by Israeli protocol, and then reboard for a flight to Jerusalem.

In Israel, which is trying to upgrade diplomatic relations with the Vatican established two decades ago, the pope will take a whirlwind tour on Monday, cramming into five hours visits to the Western Wall, Mount Herzl and the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial, as well as meetings with the president, prime minister, chief rabbis and Grand Mufti of Jerusalem.

Two Jewish youths were arrested in Jerusalem on Friday morning for posting notices against the pope, which featured sentiments such as "impure, leave our Holy Land," and "return the stolen Temple tools," a reference to the tools and treasures stolen from the Second Temple by Rome.

...

A police spokesperson who announced the arrest Friday cited "intelligence information gathered by the Shabak (General Security Services) testifying to the extreme right-wing activists' intentions to disrupt the pope's visit planned for next week, and to take provocative illegal actions to cause inter-religious tensions ahead of the visit."

"In other to foil these activities, administrative orders were given to distance the extremist activists for a temporary period of four days, in order to balance as much as possible security needs with harm to individual rights," added the police.

Administrative orders are a relic of the British Mandate-era legal system, allowing the detention or distancing of individuals without any charges or due process, over suspicion they may harm public order.

Attorney Itamar Ben-Gvir addressed the recent spate of arrests, commenting "the time has arrived to teach the police about freedom of expression and democracy. The Jewish people are allowed to demonstrate against the pope."

The police have posted signs on light poles fences and vehicles stating that from 4 p.m. on Sunday till 1 p.m. on Monday, no vehicles will be permitted to park on Hanassi or Radak streets, which intersect opposite the residence of the president. Vehicles of violators of the ban will be inspected for bombs and then towed to Liberty Bell Park.

...

There will be no English at the ceremony on Monday.

At the request of the Vatican, there will be only two languages – Hebrew and Italian, the president’s spokeswoman Ayelet Frish said.

Labels: Abu Mazen, administrative detention, City of Jerusalem, Palestinian state RIGHT NOW syndrome, Pope Francis I, Second Temple, Shimon Peres

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 10:23 AM 2 comments

A new low: Former Prime Minister Olmert gets six years for bribery

In a country where a former President is sitting in jail for sexual assault, you might have thought we could not go much lower. Well, we just might have. As many of you probably know, former Prime Minister Ehud Korruption Olmert has been sentenced to six years in jail for accepting bribes in connection with the construction of the Holyland colossus on the southern edge of Jerusalem.

Olmert going jail barely scratches the surface of the rot and corruption among Israel's top officials. I want to show you two small points in the article linked above rather than going through the whole thing (which I am too busy to do anyway - those of us Israelis who are honest work hard for a living), in order to give you some idea why Israel's ruling classes are so corrupt.

Experts had been estimating that Olmert would likely get at least a few years in prison, and that his being prime minister would not get him special treatment.

Still, on a separate prior and less serious conviction in his July 2012 Jerusalem corruption trial, Olmert received only community service with the court noting his service to the state as one of the reasons for leniency.

Usually, elites like Olmert get off the hook no matter what they do. It's only when the corruption hits the judges over the head that they feel they must act.

The judge added that Olmert was an extremely talented man that made a great contribution to the state through his public service. Rozen said, however, that his hands were tied by law to certain set punishment guidelines without discretion.

Rozen said that Olmert was guilty of "moral turpitude," meaning that he would not be allowed to reenter politics for at least seven years.

Why do the judge's hands have to be tied in order for him to do the right thing?

And notice that they're already counting the years, months and days until Olmert can return to politics. For those of you who lived through the '70's in the US, can  you imagine the voters ever electing Richard Nixon to another office? Spiro Agnew? In most of the western world, when you're convicted of corruption or bribery, your career in politics is over. Not in Israel. And until that changes, we Israelis will continue to be victimized by corrupt politicians like Olmert.

Labels: bribes, City of Jerusalem, corruption, crime, Ehud K. Olmert, government corruption

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 4:59 PM 2 comments

Ouch!

We got our arnona (municipal property tax) bill for 2014 today and we are suffering from sticker shock.

Last year's payment was NIS 593.68 per month (11 payments because they never know the amounts in time for you to make a payment in January). This year's should be NIS 657.69. Just a couple of years ago, the monthly payment was below NIS 500.

We're not even considered to be in the largest category apartment or the most expensive category of neighborhood.

And as the sign says, while municipal property taxes are like Manhattan, municipal services are like Damascus.

Ouch!

Labels: City of Jerusalem, Israeli taxes

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 10:45 AM 1 comments

The City of Jerusalem is run by morons

At 5:00 am, they said they hadn't decided whether there would be school this morning.

At 7:00 am, they said there would be school, and that they would re-evaluate at 12:30, so we sent the kids.

At 8:00 am, the two youngest kids (who are not always reliable) called and said that the bus driver told them that the buses are stopping in an hour. They were 80% of the way to school already, so we told them to go to school and sort it out. A few minutes later we heard that at 8:00 am (!!!) the city decided to cancel school. We can't reach the kids because they don't have cell phones (school doesn't allow it and we wouldn't want them having them anyway).

What kind of morons run this city? Let them decide by 6:00 am and stick to it. Anything else means we don't know where we stand.

UPDATE 8:31 AM

Lest you think I'm imagining that we heard there's school today at 7:00.
Normally, I drive the two younger boys to school, but the car broke down yesterday and is currently with the mechanic at the other end of the city (where it may be stuck until Sunday at this rate).

Labels: City of Jerusalem, morons, personal stuff, snow

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 8:09 AM 0 comments

Is the city against Nir?

Greetings from Fort Lauderdale where the sun is out except when it rains. You wouldn't believe the hotel room and view I have....

Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat - whose campaign has sent me many SMS's and voice mails while I have been away - is in trouble. According to one reporter for a major Hebrew Israeli newspaper, if Jerusalem's turnout is above 38%, Barkat wins. If it's less than 38%, he loses, because Jerusalem's large Haredi population is turning out and voting against him. According to this report, at 9:00 pm Israel time Jerusalem's turnout was 31%.

A Globes poll published last week gave Barkat a six point lead over Lion but as the day wore on, the mayors campaign became increasingly nervous and called on the public several times to go out and vote.

Both contenders started their day at the Western Wall and then went to cast their votes, Lion in the German Colony and Barkat in his neighborhood of Beit HaKerem.

Voter turnout in Jerusalem was reported as slightly lower than the rest of the country, with 31% of eligible voters making it to the voting booth by 21:00 as opposed to 32% nationwide. The Arab population of Jerusalem, some 35% of the capital, refrains from voting however, skewing the voting pattern in the city compared with other municipal districts.

The low turnout was expected to help Lion, given the generally high haredi motivation to vote in accordance with their rabbis’ instructions.

Noting the low voting figures, Barkat urged people to vote, saying “The battle is ongoing, nothing has been decided. Everyone has to go and vote in order to guarantee the future of Jerusalem.”

His campaign pointed in particular to particularly low turnout in the non-haredi neighborhoods of Gilo, Pisgat Ze’ev, Har Homa and Talpiot.

“Liberman and Deri are counting on the fact that you won't vote,” added Barkat, in reference to Lion’s major political patrons. “This is the moment to take responsibility for our future and the future of Jerusalem. Everyone is obligated to go out, vote, and ensure that Jerusalem continues in the right direction.”

 I can't vote because I'm not in Israel. But this is getting interesting. I just wish they'd stop harassing me.

Labels: City of Jerusalem, direct elections, Nir Barkat

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 10:12 PM 0 comments

Lion for new elections?

Shas leader Aryeh Deri hinted on Tuesday that the Haredi parties are cutting a deal with Yisrael Beiteinu leader Avigdor Liberman in which the Haredim will support Moshe Lion for Mayor of Jerusalem, and in return Liberman will work to take apart the current government coalition. Liberman's associates describe that as 'wishful thinking.'

“All the heads of the haredi parties promised him three months ago that they would support Moshe Lion,” Deri continued.

“If we back track on this, and if the haredi community don’t unite around the candidacy of Moshe Lion, I'm telling you we’re going to lose the chance to dismantle this coalition in the next three years.”

Asked to explain further, Deri said the coalition could not be broken up with the Yisrael Beytenu chairman.

“Avigdor Lieberman is the central axis of this coalition. You cannot break up this coalition without Avigdor Lieberman. You cannot come to Avigdor Lieberman and tell him, sir, I'm sorry we’re taking you out, politically speaking,  that we’re not supporting your candidate, Moshe Lion in Jerusalem, and afterwards request from him that he breaks up his alliance with Yair Lapid and Bennett.

“It won’t work, full stop. You can’t behave like this.”

Lion was hoping for full haredi support in Jerusalem but the hassidic Agudat Yisrael party has refused to endorse him, as has a rebel non-hassidic faction representing several thousand votes on the capital.

Shas and the mainstream non-hassidic haredi party Degel HaTorah have both pledged support for Lion. 

You will note that contrary to the JPost headline, Deri didn't really say that Liberman will undercut the coalition in exchange for support for Lion, but rather that Liberman won't undercut the coalition if the Haredim do not fulfill their commitment to support Lion. 

Lion is trailing badly in the polls.

The Haredim are the largest voting bloc in Jerusalem.

The election is next Tuesday, October 22.

Strange things have happened at the last minute in Jerusalem politics. In 1993, Menachem Porush withdrew from the Mayoral race at the last minute, and the Haredim threw all their votes to Ehud Olmert, resulting in the defeat of longtime Mayor Teddy Kollek and the election of Olmert. 

Labels: City of Jerusalem, Ehud K. Olmert, Israeli election polls, Nir Barkat

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 11:46 PM 0 comments

Jerusalem's city services summed up in 6 words

I saw this poster last night as I was driving my son to yeshiva. Fortunately, it was posted to Facebook.

The six words at the top are "property taxes like Manhattan, services like Damascus." The bottom says that on October 22, we are going to replace Mayor Barkat.

Heh.

Labels: City of Jerusalem, Jerusalem, Nir Barkat

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 11:14 AM 0 comments

New Jewish neighborhood in 'east' Jerusalem to be approved

On December 19, the Jerusalem Municipality is expected to authorize the first new Jewish neighborhood in 'east' Jerusalem since 1997. It's currently known as Givat HaMatos.

The first stage of the plan, Givat Hamatos A, was originally slated to receive the final approval two weeks ago during the biweekly meeting of the Local Planning and Building Committee, said City Councilor Elisha Peleg (Likud), a member of the committee. But the meeting occurred on the last day of Operation Pillar of Defense, and the item was hastily scratched from the agenda when Secretary of State Hilary Clinton arrived to try to negotiate a ceasefire.

The neighborhood’s final approval will be back on the agenda in two weeks on Wednesday, December 19, according to Deputy Mayor Kobi Kahlon, who is the head of the Local Planning and Building Committee.

“It’s all connected to Clinton,” Peleg said on Sunday. He was furious when the item was taken off the budget due to concerns about international criticism. “No time will be a suitable time [for building in east Jerusalem] because there will always be the western world getting involved with internal issues in state of Israel, and they’ll never let us build,” he said. “We need to show we’re an independent sovereign state, and we’re doing what we need to do, which is build on all parts of Israel. We need to stop playing the game when Clinton travels here or travels there and we rush to cancel the project,” he said.

Givat Hamatos A, one of four stages, will have 2,610 housing units. The approximately 4,000 units in the four stages of the plan include around 800 units for Palestinian homes built inside Beit Safafa.

We will undoubtedly be condemned for this first thing tomorrow morning. But it's so good to hear people talking like Elisha Peleg....

Labels: City of Jerusalem, East Jerusalem, Givat HaMatos

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 11:13 PM 1 comments

Jerusalem police arrest 9th grade immigrant who speaks no Hebrew

Our police may not be as bad as Iran's, but civil rights here aren't what they are in the US either.

Jerusalem police violently broke up a demonstration at the city's entrance on Monday, and a 9th grade immigrant from Spain was arrested. As of Tuesday afternoon, his whereabouts are unknown.

One eyewitness said that police hit a rabbi who was only standing on the sidewalk at the entrance to Jerusalem. Police violently arrested approximately 10 young teenagers from the Mercaz HaRav High School in Jerusalem and three ninth graders from a school in Beit El, in Samaria.

The Spanish immigrant speaks broken Hebrew and his friends are afraid of his fate at the hands of police. They said that no one knows what has happened to him and the other youth who were arrested.

Besides the protests at the entrance to Jerusalem, Women in Green activists fanned out through Judea and Samaria at night and pasted hundreds of stickers that stated in Hebrew, “Bibi, in Chavat Gilad, you have shot yourself in the leg.”

Tuesday morning, the posters were in full view of motorists as nationalist leaders try to reawaken supporters who have become accustomed to demolitions and an erosion of former “red lines” in talks with the Palestinian Authority.

The catalyst for this incident was a border police raid on Gilad's Farm, a Samarian outpost, at 4:00 am on Tuesday, which I blogged here.

Labels: City of Jerusalem, Gilad's Farm, Israeli border police, Jerusalem police, revenants

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 11:15 PM 2 comments

Prime Minister's office interfering in Jerusalem zoning law enforcement

I guess this shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone. The Prime Minister's office has been preventing the Jerusalem authorities from enforcing the city's zoning laws by destroying illegally built structures. At least when they're built by Arabs.

"As of now, the Prime Minister's Bureau does not permit the demolition of homes," Barkat told the State Control Committee. "The bottom line is that the Jerusalem municipality can not carry out any demolitions unless accompanied by the police."

This was the first time Barkat has openly admitted to the fact that the Prime Minister's Bureau has interfered with the matter of home demolitions in East Jerusalem. The city carried out just 20 home demolitions in the last year, compared to an average of 70 to 100 in the years prior.

The committee had met to discuss a recent State Comptroller report criticizing the municipality for allowing illegal construction in area over the last decade. Barkat explained that due to budget constraints, the municipality was only able to demolish some 100 homes in a year – including only dozens in East Jerusalem.

"Therefore we focus on the most extreme and brutal cases," Barkat told the committee.

On the Jewish side, they've been getting my neighbors to destroy additions to their homes (including closing in porches!) all over the place. And the world condemns us for discriminating against the Arabs!

Labels: City of Jerusalem, home demolitions, Nir Barkat

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 2:40 AM 3 comments

Video: Judea and Samaria , a mountain of security

Here's a video that was done in Hebrew and translated by Elder of Ziyon. I'm going to show you the video and then send you to his site (because I don't know how to embed videos directly from someone else's site and), because I want you to see what he says about making this video.

Let's go to the videotape.



Now, go look at what Elder says after the video.

Are we only preaching to the converted?

Labels: City of Jerusalem, coastal plain, Judea and Samaria, mountain range

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 7:30 AM 3 comments