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"The Arabs do not want to live in Jewish cities. They move out of lack of choice" - voila! native

2023-01-19T22:23:31.279Z


Contrary to the belief that the young people of the sector move to Jewish cities to "take over the land", the overcrowding, the lack of apartments, desperation and violence are the ones that cause the negative emigration


"33,000 residents live in Sakhnin, in the last lottery for a discounted apartment in the city, 3,000 families registered, but only a few dozen won because there simply isn't enough supply, what are the rest supposed to do?" (Photo: Creative Commons, Moafek Halayila, Wikipedia)

Despite a certain slowdown in the growth graph, apartment prices continue to skyrocket in the Jewish cities, and in the settlements of the Arab society the situation is not much different.

Even in the Arab sector, families and young couples are forced to deal with a more severe housing crisis, alongside economic hardship and negative migration from the large Arab villages and cities to the Jewish cities.

The lack of land for construction has wide-ranging consequences leading to severe cases of violence, and significant social changes such as an increase in the average number of divorces for economic reasons and also an increase in the age of marriage.



Despite the population growth, outline plans for the expansion of non-advanced settlements, unsettled lands and the establishment of a new Arab settlement did not take place in the state.

This, despite the intention to establish a new Arab city, a government decision made at the end of 2018. The decision set a goal of approximately 15,000 housing units on administrative and private land, but it was blocked.

The Arab public is discouraged.

"We don't have an inch of construction for sale"

"Apartment prices are very high in Arab cities and villages also because of population growth, but mainly because the state has not released new land for construction for decades."

This is what broker Rafik Khoury, the owner of RKA GROUP, which specializes in construction and agricultural land, real estate, brokerage and investments in the Arab sector throughout the country, says. "There are about 90 Arab villages and cities in Israel that are waiting for the expansion of the outline plans, but they are delayed.

Recently we are starting to hear about new plans and we hope that they will be approved and promoted quickly."



Hori himself lives in the village of Ebalin, located northeast of Kiryat Ata and not far from Shafaram, so he knows the situation intimately: "In our village, for example, from 1996 until today there is no talk of expansion plans And we have already reached 14 thousand residents in the village.

For two years we haven't had a single centimeter of construction for sale.

In Shafram it's the same, except that there the local population has already grown to 50,000 residents."

There is no talk of expansion plans.

Rafik Khouri (Photo: IACHS)

Surprisingly, the apartment prices in the large Arab cities are similar to the prices in the Jewish cities in the periphery, when recently, in the pastoral landscape of these settlements, for the first time, high-rise buildings can be seen: know how to live in tall buildings. Today, the price of a 100-meter apartment in the HaGilil neighborhood in Nazareth or in the Shikon El Arab neighborhood of the news starts at 1.2 million shekels, while apartments measuring 140-150 meters reach even 1.5 million. Of course, the situation in the villages is not the same as in the cities, and the prices are measured in the type of local population, location, etc."



What happens in the Arab settlements has consequences for real estate prices and trends in the Jewish cities as well: "We have two million Arab residents in the country, every day there are young people who want to get engaged and parents who want to marry their children, but they have nowhere to live.

So many of them stay to live with their parents or buy and rent in the Jewish cities like Afula, the cities of the Kiryats, Haifa and the Galilee landscape where they pay full prices.

In the north, there are still vacant areas for expansion, but in Kfar Qasim and Tayba, for example, there is no land at all. I don't know where they are going to live and what they are going to do."

"People in the sector know how to manage"

Hori painfully describes what is happening in the Arab settlements, and while many in the Jewish sector think that the migration to the Jewish cities is a result of a desire to take over land, in reality this is not the case, according to him: "Many move to these cities because of a lack of choice, they do not want to live there, they prefer to stay in the villages and cities close to the family and to enroll their children in the local education systems, but they simply have no other options. Young couples who want to get married come to me, I tell them go rent in Kiryat or Haifa, I have nothing to offer you."

He says and adds: "Acre, for example, had a large influx of young people from Kfar Yasif, and Majdeida, and what happens to the Jews in these cities? They sell the apartments to Arabs and move to other cities. For example, in the Galilee landscape, many Jews sold their apartments for a lot of money to young Arab couples And they themselves moved to Afula."



The downward trend in transactions in light of the frequent interest rate increases is also evident in the sector, but according to Khoury, this is not a major and significant factor in the difficulty of obtaining an apartment: "The increase in interest rates led to a certain slowdown in demand for apartments and mortgages, but it has a small effect. This is not the problem that prevents the purchase of apartments, but rather the lack of supply. People in the sector know how to get by, if you need loan repayments then the brothers and other family members help."

crowded crowded

Evelin from a distance (Photo: Reuven Castro)

As mentioned, the lack of land and the low socio-economic status are the main causes of the severe cases of violence in Arab society about which we hear once in a while: "This situation puts young people into despair, into depression and it increases crime because they connect with crime families and do what they do."



The effects of the housing crisis and the lack of areas for construction alongside the difficult economic situation on violence in Arab society are also testified by Dr. Razal Abu Riya, spokesman for the Sakhnin municipality: "One of the main hardships in Arab society is the lack of land, this leads to violent incidents between families, between neighbors and degenerates young people into The crime." He says and adds: "There are 33,000 residents living in Sakhnin, in the last lottery for an apartment at a discount in the city, 3,000 families registered, but only a few dozen won because there simply isn't enough supply, what are the rest supposed to do?"



Buying an apartment without the help of the family for many of the Israeli couples is an unattainable dream, the situation is also the same for the couples in the Arab sector: "A private house gives people security, the young people see arriving at the apartment as a dream, as a vision to aspire to, but they have to work for 40 years to fulfill this dream. A 100-meter apartment currently costs a million shekels, half a dunam costs 3.5 million shekels if it can even be found, who has these sums? One of the solutions is to build high-rises if it is possible, they also started building in Sakhnin but as mentioned there is not enough land for construction".



This situation leads to social transformations and cultural changes that Arab society was not used to in the past: "Because of the economic hardships, people take loans from private companies, from the banks or from the gray market, find it difficult to pay back and get even more involved. Today, 35 percent of the couples who divorce in Arab society are as a result of difficult financial stability and difficulty in obtaining Apartments. In light of these difficulties, the average age of people getting married has also increased significantly and stands at 29, when in the past it was 24. In addition, parents want their daughters to go to school, to get an education. People want to ensure financial stability first of all."

The solution - construction of high-rise buildings.

Dr. Razal Abu Riya (photo: courtesy of the photographers)

Abu Riya emphasizes that he does not want to present a conciliatory side, but asks for real assistance from the state for the plight: "I do not see a holistic solution to the land crisis in Arab society, many of the young people move to other settlements. However, the center of their lives is still conducted in the city or village, they put the Their children go to schools in the sector, come to visit the family but return at the end of the day to their apartment in another city. Freezing land and increasing the jurisdictional areas of the cities in the sector will cause a real change."

The goal: modern urban planning

"One of the main problems that lead to the housing crisis in Arab society stems from the lack of modern urban planning. Today in the existing settlements the stock of land is small, the population in the settlements is increasing, but construction continues to be based mostly on detached construction and not saturated construction," says Saar Peled, deputy chairman of the Chamber The real estate appraiser, "In order to start and move towards a certain solution, a total conceptual change is required in all planning processes and a transition from detached construction to high-rise construction.

We are witnessing the beginning of this trend, whether it is in Tira or in other cities in the triangle, but it must be adopted in as many cities as possible in the sector and the municipalities must issue city building plans that will encourage it."

Without parceling and with identification problems.

Sa'ar Peled (Photo: Public Relations)

"The planning change should also include changes in infrastructure levels and public areas," explains Peled, "so that they are adjusted to accommodate a new and larger population, and allow them a quality and adequate standard of living. Whether it is the development and expansion of roads, the establishment of parks and playgrounds, as well as public buildings. Another problem concerns To the fact that many lots in these settlements are without parceling and identification problems, without clear sharing and division agreements. Which makes it difficult to encumber for credit."

  • native

  • Economic business and real estate

Tags

  • The Arab sector

  • real estate

  • apartments

Source: walla

All news articles on 2023-01-19

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