This week we were informed about the establishment of a new ultra-Orthodox neighborhood next to the extended Sanhedria.
It joins the ultra-Orthodox neighborhood that has been approved in Atarot (currently on hold) and the establishment of the ultra-Orthodox city of Kasif in the south.
These are news not only for the ultra-Orthodox public, but also for the secular public.
The reason: Since the Six Day War, plans submitted by ultra-Orthodox representatives to establish ultra-Orthodox neighborhoods have been rejected.
The new opportunities that opened up to the entire Jewish population in Jerusalem following the inclusion of many areas in the east of the city, in the south and in the north, missed the ultra-Orthodox.
Thus, despite the constant growth of the ultra-Orthodox population in Jerusalem, none of the new neighborhoods planned by government ministries and the municipality to establish around the city were intended for the ultra-Orthodox.
Secular Jerusalem developed by leaps and bounds, but for veteran Jerusalemites, whose entire sin amounted to being ultra-Orthodox, they built nothing.
The master plan for the northeast of the city included the Ramot neighborhood, the Shuafat ridge, the extended Sanhedria, Givat Shapira and Ramat Eshkol.
To the east of them, the Neve Yaakov neighborhood and the Atarot industrial zone were planned, all the way to the airport.
In this comprehensive plan, not a single street, one building, one house, were allocated to the ultra-Orthodox population, with the exception of the Ramat Shlomo neighborhood, which was established half a century ago.
The ultra-Orthodox population in Jerusalem was in real distress.
Children lived and houses were not available.
In their distress, the ultra-Orthodox raided general neighborhoods in the capital and took over them in part or in full.
But the move to these neighborhoods has created an automatic opposition from secular residents to requests like properly expanding apartments for families with many children, and establishing mikvahs and synagogues.
The arrival of the ultra-Orthodox in the general neighborhoods contributed to the negative migration of the secular, and one of the issues that contributed to this in particular was the addition of sukkah balconies or the expansion of the existing ones.
As a rule, here and there exceptional approvals are given, after the competent committees have considered the application.
But at a time when the ultra-Orthodox representative Yehoshua Pollak held the planning and construction portfolio in the Jerusalem municipality, such requests were not only generously approved, but were also encouraged to be submitted.
The secular public did not like the balconies, and this, as mentioned, led to the departure of many of them.
Now, approvals are coming in for the establishment of ultra-Orthodox neighborhoods in Jerusalem, and this trend is required not only in the capital.
If a geographical solution to the demographic problem is found, the residents of Quarter C in Ashdod, a neighborhood in Harish, Ganei Ayalon in Lod, Shlomo in Hadera, Rasko B in Holon, and this is of course only a partial list of mixed neighborhoods where the winds are hot, will also be able to breathe a sigh of relief.
Every establishment of a new ultra-Orthodox neighborhood should be welcomed and further construction plans encouraged for ultra-Orthodox in Jerusalem and beyond to rescue and redeem them from ghetto life, and also to prevent unnecessary and harmful friction with the secular population.
This is the only way to turn the ongoing conflict from a charged, explosive and partisan issue into a viable one.
Were we wrong?
Fixed!
If you found an error in the article, we'll be happy for you to share it with us