With the end of the building freeze, construction has started up in Judea and Samaria (Yesha) communities. In fact, said the Central Bureau of Statistics, building jumped 660% in Judea and Samaria during the first half of 2011, as compared to a year before. [But we had a construction freeze the year before]
While the statistic was certainly breathtaking, the actual numbers on the ground were less impressive: Construction started on 546 new homes in Yesha communities during the period. Still, it was a sharp improvement over the number of housing starts in the first half of 2010, when only 72 housing starts were announced. Officials of the Yesha Council said they were pleased with the increase, but that clearly many more new homes were needed. “We need at least 500 new homes a month, not just in half a year, in order to accomodate all the families who want to live in Yesha.” Last week, Arutz Sheva reported on how dozens of American families who sought to buy or rent homes in Efrat were unable to do so because of the lack of housing there.
The jump in Yesha construction this year was part of a general trend in the rest of Israel. According to the CBS, housing starts rose 14.4% overall during the first half of 2011. But certain parts of the country are set to grow far more than that number implies; for example, there are now 7,950 homes under construction in southern Israel, a 55% increase over the 2,495 home starts in the first half of 2010.
In Asheklon alone, 1,576 new homes are currently under construction – the highest number for any city in Israel. Other cities where building jumped in the first half of 2011 included Kiryat Gat (a 607% increase in housing construction starts), Ramle (252%), Ganei Tikvah (451%), Rehovot (203%), and Yavne (165%). Even in the already ultra-expensive Tel Aviv and Jerusalem regions, construction was up 28% and 8% respectively. In the north, housing construction starts were up 11.2% during the period.
Altogether, construction began on some 22,000 new homes. The CBS said that by the end of 2011, taking into consideration construction that was started in 2010, there will be some 75,000 new apartments under construction. Those apartments are expected to come “on-line” between the end of 2012 and during 2013, helping to satisfy the high demand for housing, hopefully at more reasonable prices.
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and Housing Minister Ariel Attias both expressed great satisfaction at the CBS announcement. “The increasing trend in housing starts reflects the increased successful activity by the government, which we began undertaking as soon as we took power,” Netanyahu said. “The steps we took in the real estate market, including the institution of the Housing Committees Law and the reforms we recently instituted in the Israel Lands Administration, have contributed, and will continue to contribute, to the increased availability of housing – and, as a result, a lowering of prices.”
Israel should first annex J&S so as to end all debate about whether the settlements are “negotiable”. They should use as an excuse, ….er, reason, the fact that Fatah and the other Pali organizations have refused to accept their right to exist as a Jewish state and have the destruction of Israel as an objective in their founding charters.
They may need to elect Glenn Beck as PM of Israel before this would happen:-))
They should also deport any Pali who does not renounce violence.
Unfortunately, when they withdrew from Gaza they destroyed the settlements there as if to acknowledge they should not have built them in the first place. Not a good precedent.
All those homes will be desperately needed. There are literally hundreds of thousands of Jews who in the next 5 years are going to flee Europe. It is only a matter of time. It is not a matter for debate. The laws of demographics are inexorable. As Muslim power in Europe increases, day by day, month by month, year by year, Jews will be under increasing pressure to leave for their own safety. Do you think North America will take them in? Fat chance.