Uri Ariel, the new housing minister from Habayit Hayehudi, is the high priest of construction in Judea and Samaria • Ariel will try to implement a series of unwritten understandings with Likud and Yesh Atid alike regarding significant construction in the existing settlement blocs and to accommodate natural growth in the communities deep inside the territory.
New Housing Minister Uri Ariel from Habayit Hayehudi has been a constant fixture of the settler movement in Judea and Samaria. | Photo credit: Dudi Vaknin
Uri Ariel, the new housing minister from Habayit Hayehudi, has been a constant fixture of the settlement movement in Judea and Samaria. He has two sayings that have stayed with him for many years. One is taken from the animal world: “We have stopped being part of the insect world and have joined the world of the predators.”
This metaphor was coined when Ariel and his colleagues decided to move away from extra-parliamentary activity and go into politics and the Knesset. But when they moved from the opposition into the government, the saying was updated in an attempt to show that Ariel and his colleagues mean business. Once they had to crawl for the sake of the settlement movement in Judea and Samaria and play second fiddle to larger interests. They now intend to lead and shape reality as they see fit.
The second saying that has stayed with Ariel is more conventional: “The tribes of Israel gathered together” (Deuteronomy 33:5). Ariel often quotes this biblical verse when he is asked to explain his total commitment to sectors of the population that are not necessarily close to his heart. Ariel helped everyone, including the ultra-Orthodox. He has no intention of doing differently now that he has been appointed a minister.
His fellow travelers throughout Judea and Samaria think highly of him. People’s expectations of him are high, perhaps even too high. Among the settlers, successes or failures will be measured according to his ability to narrow the gap between what they would like to see happen — massive construction in the settlements that turns the Israeli presence in Judea and Samaria into an irreversible reality — and what is likely to happen: a short political leash that, for the moment, will not allow much construction over the Green Line. The more Ariel narrows this gap, the higher the marks he will get from his associates. The more he is reconciled to the powers that be, the more disappointed they will be in him.
Ariel himself has already sketched a broad outline of his policy. He intends to build 40,000 housing units throughout the country (not including Judea and Samaria), mostly in Israel’s north and south. He wants to connect the periphery to the center of the country with an improved network of public transportation to make the outlying areas more attractive. He also promises to lower housing prices — less so in areas that are more in demand, and more on the periphery — and believes that this will happen gradually, starting in 2014. He will try to open the cement market to free competition and also shorten the time period in which opposition to construction plans may be submitted.
In Judea and Samaria, Ariel will try to implement a series of unwritten understandings with Likud and Yesh Atid on significant construction in the existing settlement blocs and also construction to accommodate natural growth in the communities deep inside the territory. His associates say that there will be no construction freeze. Has such a promise been made to the members of Habayit Hayehudi? People say there are understandings, but no promises.
These understandings, which remain unwritten, may be interpreted in various ways. Perhaps that’s the reason Ariel said this week that “there would be dialogue.” On the other hand, he does not intend to engage in dialogue with the Americans about construction in Judea and Samaria or construction in Jerusalem. He intends to put a stop to the custom by which the U.S. embassy receives early notification of any such construction. While Ariel will not build in illegal outposts, he will help approved outposts become more established. One example is Givat Hayekev, where the residents of Migron went, and which he visited immediately after the elections.
Ariel knows his job. In nearly every position he has held during his many years as a public official, he encountered the Housing Ministry and the housing minister — first as the head of the Beit El council and later as the director-general of the Yesha Council and the director-general of the settlement movement Amana, as the head of the settlement department at the Defense Ministry, as a Knesset member in the coalition and the opposition, and as then Housing Minister Ariel Sharon’s assistant.
Now, Ariel is in charge, and with Gideon Sa’ar now the interior minister, Benzi Lieberman (his former colleague on the Yesha Council) now the director of the Israel Lands Administration, and Naftali Bennett now the industry, trade and labor minister, he has better tools to accomplish the goals he has set for himself.
Israel’s left wing will watch Uri Ariel with trepidation. There is high potential for political “blowups” over the construction plans that he will try to carry out in Judea and Samaria. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s bureau defines construction in Jerusalem, which is a red flag for the U.S., as a sensitive matter. On the other hand, Ariel, who has been keeping a close watch over what has been going on in Jerusalem in recent years, knows that the Jewish majority there is in danger: 18,000 Jews move away from the city every year, while only about half that number come to live there.
While the annual demand in the capital is 4,500 housing units, the annual supply is 1,500. The land reserves for construction there have almost run out, and if something drastic is not done, in 20 years there will be demographic parity between the city’s Jewish and Arab residents.
Officials in the Housing Ministry and the Jerusalem municipality do not have many contingency plans. The chance that Ariel will carry out even some of them depends on how much latitude Netanyahu gives him, and also on his own willingness to stretch that latitude with the prime minister and even clash with him if he must.
In the area of Atarot north of Jerusalem, which has been neglected since the Intifada years, there is enough territory for thousands of housing units. United Torah Judaism’s Meir Porush tried to move that idea forward when he served as deputy housing minister, but was stopped by the Prime Minister’s Bureau.
Will Ariel try to resurrect those plans? Additional plans to promote construction and issue tenders for thousands of housing units in Givat Hamatos, Gilo and Ramat Shlomo are also waiting on the shelf. These neighborhoods are over the Green Line, but the large land reserves in greater Jerusalem are actually outside Jerusalem — in Maaleh Adumim, in the adjacent area of E1 (where, despite the strong declarations, the plan has not yet been deposited), Betar Illit, Gush Etzion and Givat Ze’ev. Over the past few years, construction there has stopped almost completely.
In Maaleh Adumim, where 500 to 600 housing units were constructed every year in the past, only a few dozen units per year have been constructed recently. In the Gush Etzion city of Efrat there was a protracted construction freeze, and only recently did Ehud Barak approve the construction of about 400 housing units (about another 600 units for marketing and tenders in Efrat are waiting to be advertised).
The mayor of Maaleh Adumim, Benny Kashriel, claims that the one who stopped the construction in his city was former housing minister Ariel Atias of Shas, not Ehud Barak. “I would come to him and tell him that there was an option of moving construction forward in existing neighborhoods — for example, 1,000 housing units in Area 07, but he would behave arrogantly toward me and say, ‘Go to Bibi.’
“But Uri [Ariel] doesn’t take a person’s political party into account. He moved things forward both in the coalition and in the opposition. He knows Judea and Samaria like the back of his hand, and I am certain that he will be able to get things going. He’s smart, he understands how things work, and he’s a go-getter of the first order. Unlike other people who talked a lot and didn’t build much, Uri will talk a little and build a lot,” Kashriel says.
Efrat regional council head Oded Ravivi speaks in the same vein. “As long as we’ve known Uri, we’ve known of his extraordinary ability to take things that had been stuck in bureaucratic or political red tape and get them moving. His talent and charm have gotten lots of things unstuck. Even when he was in the opposition, he made sure to hold regular meetings with the defense minister and come to him with a list of things that needed fixing on the ground. That says a lot about him. We would get calls from the defense minister’s bureau when Uri was there, and we’d get reports about what had been resolved and what hadn’t.
“A recent prominent example is a farm we wanted to establish on Givat Ha’eitam, which belongs to Efrat, to prevent the Palestinians from taking over the land there. We went through all the army channels and got permits. We had support from Netanyahu and the ministers, and in the end we got to the defense minister’s office. When Barak signed, Ariel was there.”
Ariel’s influence as housing minister over what happens in these two sensitive areas — Jerusalem on the one hand and Judea and Samaria on the other — is real.
Urban construction in Judea and Samaria is his responsibility, and the Rural Construction Authority, which is responsible for the construction of permanent buildings in the rural communities, is part of his ministry. In the rural communities, in places that have an urban building scheme, Ariel will be able to build without issuing tenders. But in urban areas such as Ariel, Maaleh Adumim, Karnei Shomron and Kiryat Arba, where construction potential is many times greater — the issue of tenders is required, which, of course, reveals that construction is taking place there more quickly.
However, it must be remembered that the defense minister is Ariel’s partner in all construction that takes place in Judea and Samaria. Without his signature, there can be no construction there. Those are the rules. They were made during Netanyahu’s first term as prime minister, when Yitzhak Mordechai was defense minister. Netanyahu did not change the rules during his second term, and it is doubtful that he will change them during his third term despite the recommendations of the Levy Committee (headed by retired Supreme Court justice Edmond Levy) to reduce from five to two the number of permits that the Defense Ministry must issue during the complicated process of obtaining a construction permit in Judea and Samaria.
In Barak’s time, obtaining a construction permit was like pulling teeth — lots of teeth. They would like to believe that things will be different during the term of the new defense minister, Moshe Ya’alon. At least until he was appointed defense minister, Ya’alon was in favor of large-scale construction in the settlement blocs, and also in favor of putting the Levy Committee report (published in June 2012), which was one of his projects, into practice.
The report contains many clauses that could remove very significant obstacles imposed on construction in Judea and Samaria during previous governments. Some of them require a decision by the cabinet. There might be opposition from the State Attorney’s Office, which will have the support of the new justice minister, Tzipi Livni. But another part depends solely upon the defense minister. For example, if he wished, Ya’alon could instruct OC Central Command Nitzan Alon to abolish the order regarding “disturbing use,” which the Levy Committee termed “a draconian order.”
This order is an odd legal creature. It allows the Civil Administration to rule that a person’s possession of property is illegitimate because it may raise political or security issues. The Civil Administration is not required to provide any documentation to support the “disturbing use” order. The original order stipulates that the claim cannot be invoked if three years have passed since the beginning of the “disturbing use.” That term was later increased to five years.
Later, the Civil Administration ruled that the term would begin anew each time a change was made in the way the land was used. For example, when a Jewish farmer begins growing flowers in a field where he had formerly grown lettuce, the count starts anew. This order, which is pending against many Jewish farmers throughout Judea and Samaria, threatens to reduce the amount of farmland they hold today by a great deal. In the past, Ya’alon spoke out sharply against the order. Will he abolish it now?
Uri Ariel’s associates believe that the conversation between himself and Ya’alon will be much more real and to the point than it was with Barak, and that there is enough room between the political restrictions and the possibility of working on the ground to allow cooperation and understanding between the two. Tzviki Bar-Hai, the head of southern Hebron hills regional council, says that the moment the conversation becomes practical and attentive, 90 percent of the problems can be solved.
Bar-Hai, whose council area has 7,500 residents, set himself a modest goal: to reach 10,000 people within five years. “Uri will help us,” he says confidently, and reports proudly that the revolution has already begun in Telem, Adora, Otniel, Sussia and other communities: “dozens of new housing units in every community.”
Pinhas Wallerstein, formerly the head of the Binyamin regional council and director-general of the Yesha Council and now the head of the Negev-Galilee Settlement Administration (a position that was created in cooperation with the Amana settlement movement), has a broader description of his expectations of Ariel: “The name of the game is population dispersion. Uri is very much aware of that, and I’m sure he will work in that direction. The natural expectation is that there will be more construction in the Galilee, the Negev and in Judea and Samaria as well. That’s called population dispersion.”
What about construction for the ultra-Orthodox? Ariel has good connections with the haredi politicians. Just last December, he helped MK Moshe Gafni (United Torah Judaism) and former housing minister Ariel Atias (Shas) in a vote to transfer NIS 538 million ($146 million) to subsidize discounts on land in tenders for affordable housing, which contains a clear preference for the haredi population.
Add to that the fact that almost one-third of the settlers are haredi and Ariel’s promise to be “a housing minister for everyone,” and we can understand why the haredi parties’ outrage at having been left out of the coalition is exaggerated, if not groundless.
Ariel will also put emphasis on construction in mixed cities such as Jaffa, Acre, Ramle, Lod and Upper Nazareth — cities where the Jewish majority is threatened or shrinking. Even when he was in the opposition, Ariel made sure to transfer budgets to groups of religious families who moved to those cities and the hesder yeshivas, the yeshiva high schools, the pre-army academies and the groups of young women performing civilian national service there.
The residents of Upper Nazareth were so enthusiastic over his work on their behalf that they gave him honorary citizenship and named him a Worthy Citizen of the city. Now Ariel will able to work for them not as a lobbyist but as the housing minister and shaper of policy within the government.
There are still plenty of obstacles to overcome, such as the future of Amona and Givat Assaf. But Ariel has no direct connection with that. The defense establishment and the legal establishment are the ones responsible for those places as well as for locations in Jerusalem, such as a 2-dunam (half-acre) lot near Herod’s Gate, where Jews want to build, or the Kedmat Zion construction plan close to Abu Dis, on the city’s eastern jurisdiction boundary.
If Ariel wishes to, he can push those sensitive plans forward. But by his statements, at least, it seems that he will first deal with the massive work to be done inside the Green Line, in Jerusalem and also in the urban communities in Judea and Samaria.
yamit82 Said:
Great answer, with the desired ending
yamit82 Said:
🙂
NormanF Said:
I know and I think they should be penalized by defunding them. There isn’t much I can do about it. Maybe after we throw them out of here, (the Arabs)-we will inherit their cities we built for them?
It’s not the Colosseum that 70000 Jewish slaves built or the pyramids our ancestors built. The project is being built in the Land of Israel so in the end my hope is it will be put right.
@ CuriousAmerican:
Your willingness to believe any slander Haaretz prints speaks more to who you are than us. They have a daily average circulation of less than 40,000. All leftist and liberal rags around the world love to quote them because of their anti Israel anti Zionist positions. I believe nothing about Israel Haaretz prints unless I can verify it from other objective sources. You know what I am saying is the truth yet you continuously invoke Haaretz invective against Israel because it reflects your own hatred for Israel.
Any Arab has the right to live where-ever he wants in the State of Israel by Law. If there is individual discrimination it’s just that.
My friend wanted to buy a condo in NYC but he had to get approved by the residents committee first. Those are the rules of the condo and they are legal in America. All or most Apts in Israel conform to condominium rules to a certain degree even if unsaid as an unwritten law and whether it’s neighbors or Residents they have a right to voice objections. Some secular communities don’t want Haredim in their buildings or neighborhoods, some don’t want foreigners etc. There are many reasons but not necessarily racist. Some cultural some worried about value depreciation of property, some with potential criminal influences etc.
Every new Jewish immigrant group faced discrimination by those who came before them but eventually they all assimilated and we have a real cultural melting pot. As long as Arabs pose in the minds of Israelis a security threat it’s difficult to avoid overt discrimination. I wouldn’t want my family to have to worry about our Arab neighbors 24/7. Being PC has it’s limits.
From a Jewish POV no non Jews should be allowed to step on the Land no less live among us, that goes double for those who are not loyal to the State and the Jewish People. Jewish Law requires non Jews who reside on the land to enter into a condition of vassalage and servitude. They would enjoy all personal rights meaning they will not be mistreated, robbed or murdered but they shall have no political rights and can never be placed in positions that influence or conflict with the Jewish nature of the state. Of course that conflicts with Liberal democracy’s principles but Judaism is not democracy. If you Goyim don’t like it stuff it. We don’t exist for your stamp of approval. Don’t confuse us with our AH leaders, their time will come sooner than later and we will be rid of them.
For you Jew hating Goyim Chad Gadya in the Middle East
This guy had title.
I am aware of Arab antics. For ex: I am not one of those who gets upset about Silwan.
Silwan was
1) Buiilt on land owned by Yemeni Jews
2) Over an archeological site – the City of David, which invokes eminent domain
So I am aware of Arab antics.
But there does seem to be Israel bureaucratic delaying when it comes to Arabs.
As for building Arab cities, I do not see the need. Assimilation should be in order. Offer them apartments in Jewish cities. Just don’t allow discrimination against them.
For ex: Safed residents who rent to Arabs have been threatened.
Now the Druze serve in the Army. That is NOT acceptable.
I do not think you should build Arabs towns (which some Arabists say) but I do think you have to allow them in Jewish towns.
There are antics on both sides.
@ yamit82:
My friend, Israel has not built a single new Jewish town in Judea and Samaria in the past twenty years. But the JNF is building a new planned city for the Arabs.
CuriousAmerican Said:
from wikipedia re “rabbi” michael lerner of Tikkun.org: curios “jewish source”
So much for Curios credible “jewish source” I can do the same for each of curios links. These sources were specifically chosen, in my opinion, for their history of antagonism towards Israel and zionism. What does this say about the pretend even-handed morality of “curious american”? The rot within is more expressive than the BS on the surface. Curio should come out of the closet and “confess” his background which would give the reasons for his agenda.
CuriousAmerican Said:
Previously I said you were disingenuous but I was too kind. All your sources are tainted, as are you. all your sources are anti israel and anti zionist. You quote the unrwa who employs hamas members and invented the mohamed al dura libel. You quote haaretz who often uses anti zionist, ant israel “news sources” such as arabs fro th pal Maan news service and the arab legal org they quote here. You quote as a Jewish source a pretend anti zionist pro arab california based source.
CuriousAmerican Said:
this is one of your repetitive tactics to create red herrings and discredit the Jews. this is a tactic that the enemies of the Jews use: both sides are equally guilty, it is all equal.
In my opinion everything about you reeks of lies, manipulation, deceit with the sole purpose to discredit the Jews and Israel. In my opinion you have an obscene agenda and a hatred of jews and that your lurking about here is a sick way of getting off by jew baiting. i am reminded of the perverts who lurk about the public toilets trolling for their victims. I could be wrong, perhaps your transparent obscenity is unintentional; perhaps you have mistakenly donned the “emperors clothes”.
BTW: the negev bedouins, which you mix in with the west bank pals, are already enfranchised Israeli citizens. If what you allege is true then enfranchising the west bankers will not help them. Here is a good rule of thumb to help you evaluate justice: the arabs must not get better than what they give the Jews.
@ yamit82:
For you curious better version with full English subtitles
CuriousAmerican Said:
Every article you cite is either from outside of Israel anti-Israeli rags and institutions or Israeli leftist anti-Israel rags and organizations. You has better find more balance if you expect to make a credible argument.
Do you know how many Jews do not get permission to build where they choose, how they want etc.? Arabs don’t want to build up but to build horizontally. Takes up too much land for too few people. You also have to take into consideration infrastructure and costs. You can’t build on land you don’t have legal title to and Arabs have a habit of building on somebody Else’s land then claiming ownership. That does comply in part to Ottoman Law but not Israeli or even Jordanian laws. Because of the lack of sound modern basic infrastructure the Arabs pollute the water aquifers that they use as do Jewish Israelis. They don’t have the planning acumin and when they do they refuse to pay for it’s requirements. For better or worse Israeli bureaucracy does not allow for quick approvals for Jews or for Arabs and it can sometimes take years to get approvals. They prefer anarchy to civil order.
For you Curious
Every article I have seen FROM BOTH JEWISH and ARAB sources said Israel bureaucratically makes it almost impossible for Arab’s to get permits.
I said it would not got over well.
I know Ha’aretz is not favored here
If the Arabs do outright theft, it seems the Israelis pull bureaucratic tricks and delays.
My point is not to deny Israel, but to point out the irony that settlers want to have natural growth, while even from Jewish sources, it seems the same consideration is not given to Arabs.
It depends on whether you trust CAMERA or Jeff Halper of ICAHD. [I read both]
Some of this stuff may be exaggerated, but not all of it.
Apparently, permits are denied.
I was told that it is hyper expensive to get a permit, and Arabs do not get re-imbursed, while Jews can get re-imbursed.
IF SO – I DO NOT KNOW – THAT IS ANOTHER ASPECT.
Arab master plans are delayed.
I know there is a lot of hostility and security that plays into this. Both sides fudge.
ICAHD reports 27,000 demolitions since 1967.
Pay them to leave if you do not want them there.
CuriousAmerican Said:
. Israel doesn’t demolish houses of Arabs because they built a room but because they built it illegally. Everyone has to get a permit to build a house or a room.
The Arabs have built thousands of homes illegally and they are not being demolished. Israel has obtained demolition orders for hundreds of such homes but so far has refrained from demolishing the houses. So give us a link for your dubious assertion.
Bernard Ross Said:
CuriousAmerican Said:
“As far as the Gospel is concerned, they [the Jews] are enemies on your account; but as far as Choice is concerned, they [the Jews] are beloved on account of the [Hebrew] Patriarchs. For, God’s Gifts and His Calling are irrevocable.” (Romans 11:28-29)
“… ‘So said HaShem, “My first-born Son is Israel.”‘” (Exodus 4:22)
“O nations: Sing the praises of His People, for He will avenge the blood of His Servants; He will bring retribution upon His adversaries, and He will appease His Land [and] His People.” (Deuteronomy 32:43)
“Sacred is Israel unto HaShem, [being] the first of His Crop; all who devour it will be held Guilty; Evil shall come upon them — [this is] the Oration of HaShem.” (Jeremiah 2:3)
“For, behold, in those Days, and in that Time, when I shall reverse the captivity of Judah and Jerusalem, I will gather all of the nations, and I will bring them down into the Valley of Jehoshaphat [Valley of God’s Judgment]; and I will issue Judgment against them there concerning My People and My Heritage Israel, whom they have scattered amongst the nations, and My Land that they have divided [amongst themselves].” (Joel 4:1-2)
😛
To whom does the land belong?
Two Israeli views from the Left and from the right.
From the Left: Professor Leibowitz? (philosopher, scholar, political thinker, radical) is that no people have no right over no land, but only the perception/consciousness of connection to the land. A consciousness that cannot be disputed or revoked, but at the same time does not provide any moral or political rights. He views the nation as a mean rather than an end and insists there are no 3 scenarios for the fate of this land, only two: A bloody war to the death or the division of the land to two peoples, as hard, unjust or difficult as it might be.
From the right: Israel Eldad (philosopher, scholar, political thinker, radical) believes we (the Jews) have a stronger right to the land, that the term “Palestinian People” has only existed for a decade or two. He invokes the famous story about King Solomon’s verdict choosing in favor of the mother who will not allow the disputed baby to be divided between her and the other mother.
CuriousAmerican Said:
the only time i have read of arab house demolitions, other than terror, is for not having applied for building permits. Every civilized nation requires application and approval for bldg permit. Third worlders tend to build without approval: building, zoning, sewage,water, environmental, etc. Do you know of other circumstances? The problem is that arabs are building everywhere without permits and jews are denied permits.
CuriousAmerican Said:
posters realize that you are disingenuous, like todays post, that your questions and statements contain anti-jewish agendas. Weren’t you a member of a christian rock band?
@ CuriousAmerican:
The Arabs as occupiers of Jewish Land have a right of natural growth anywhere they are allowed outside of Jewish Land. Occupiers have no rights, except the right to leave and to die.
I would like to ask a question – and I know I am going to catch hell for it.
But if Israel insists on natural growth within the settlements, why does it demolish houses of Arabs who added rooms their houses because of natural growth in their families?
Even more amazing is that the Arabs do not use the term ‘natural growth’ to defend their building, and throw it back in Israel’s face.
I am not saying the Arabs are right; but I wonder what the logic is that Israel allows natural growth for Jews, but not Arabs.
I know Yamit’s answer. I want to see if there is another explanation for this apparent contradiction.
At some point, someone is going to ask the question. You had better be prepared to address it.
Netanyahu is not going to allow major Jewish construction to take place.
Not in Yesha, not in E1 and not in Jerusalem.
If it happens I would be pleasantly surprised but I doubt Uri Ariel can prevent Netanyahu from keeping the de facto freeze on new Jewish building in place.
What comes home to me from this article is the implication that the govt. of Israel is under constant threat and distress from primarily the europeans. It is unconscionable that any nation so restricts it’s building and expansion based on foreign threats. The europeans are the prime historic enemy of the Jews and in many ways are the initiators and instigators of problems with the arabs today. I see it as the logical continuation of their serial habits. The time will come when Europe’s hostility will burst out in sanctions and whatever devious ways they can evolve to harass, swindle and indirectly murder the Jews. I believe that europe responds well to threats as their response to the muslim threat is outright appeasement and compromise on all principles. (eg french fear of naming hezbullah). Israel should develop a clnadestine network which would threaten european enrgy resources and supplies in the event of sanctions etc. Perhaps an alliance with the russians in this regard makes sense as the russians like to squeeze the euros, the russian involvement in the Israeli gas fields might be of value. My wager is that europe cannot evade its appeasement mentality and all its “principles” are related to appeasing and satisfying arabs and muslims, and this will only increase to Israels detriment. Israel will have no choice but to operate in hostility with europe in the future. Best to develop a strategy now. In fact, in general, an Israeli threat to global energy supplies might be the best card to hold. this however, requires a certain level of resource and military independence. Anything that can be done to undermine europe is valid. Let us hope that their current problems blossom and take their attention away from harassing Jews. The same europeans who exiled and slaughtered the jews for 2000 years have pursued them back to their homeland to further harass and slaughter them. Afterwards they cloak themselves in a sick “morality” as rationalization for their pathology. A people without any shame.