This week in Jerusalem 453196

Peggy Cidor’s round-up of city affairs.

By PEGGY CIDOR
Malha Train Station (photo credit: Wikimedia Commons)
Malha Train Station
(photo credit: Wikimedia Commons)
Kindergarten politics
A new project for a complex of kindergartens on the seam street between Ramat Sharett and Ramat Danya is troubling the waters at Safra Square, and no bridge over them is appearing on the horizon. According to the municipality’s spokesman, there is still no decision as to which community these kindergartens are going to serve. According to the Hitorerut movement and its leader at city council, this is only the first step in an attempt to completely change the character of these so far secular neighborhoods, and therefore has to be prevented.
In a long post published earlier this week on his Facebook page, Deputy Mayor Ofer Berkowitz explained that he and his movement will never let this happen – as such a project (which will include, at a later stage, a few synagogues, too) will not only change the profile of the neighborhood but add tension and bad blood between the sectors.
On the ground, a growing number of haredim are already installed in Ramat Sharett for a while, partly because of its being close to the haredi neighborhood of Bayit Vegan, and partly because, as has been the case for a few years, available housing simply can’t be found in the haredi neighborhoods.
Behind the scenes, what is at play in this story is the growing tension between Berkowitz and Mayor Nir Barkat.
In this particular case, Berkowitz points to the fact that the mayor himself is promoting the project, in contradiction to all, according to Berkowitz, that was agreed upon between the two – namely, not to promote any project that could break the fragile balance between the different sectors in the city.
Post-Geek conclusions
This Passover vacation has not been a great success for tourism in the city, at least in terms of occupancy in hotels. But nevertheless, some of the tourist attractions prepared or sponsored by the municipality have gained a lot of success, mostly among residents and their guests. One of them was the Geek Picnic organized in Sacher Park, which according to municipality data attracted about 35,000 visitors.
Not everybody was happy about this initiative. The park has always been the perfect location for family picnics, including barbecues. For the Geek event, most of the park was closed to free access, reserved for the event itself, which was not free, and in fact tickets were relatively expensive.
During the two weeks preceding Passover, tickets were on sale at a more affordable price – NIS 7; but during the holiday itself, the price climbed to NIS 140 per person, which prevented a lot of families from attending.
In itself, the Geek Picnic was a success, and those happy enough to afford it did enjoy something really different.
As for access to the park, the municipality answered that only its southern part was closed for the event; and besides, a lot of other attractions were available free of charge across the city.
Activist shot
Baha Nababta was a young Palestinian living in Ras Shahada, one of the neighborhoods beyond the security barrier, yet was still considered a Jerusalem resident. Facing the total neglect of the neighborhood, Nababta tried to do things for the residents, beyond any political aspect or engagement. He presided over a local neighborhood committee which tried to improve their conditions, since the municipality fails to provide them with elementary services – officially for fear its employees might be harmed. In this capacity, Nababta managed to fund the paving of a local road to ease mobility, and formed a small action committee to fight local fires. He even declared to his friends that he was planning to reach city council, in order to influence budget decisions and improve the situation in all the neighborhoods beyond the barrier.
On Monday evening, while supervising work on another road in the neighborhood, he was shot by a man riding a scooter. With seven bullets out of the 10 that were fired hitting their target, he died almost immediately. Nobody knows the identity of the killer, but the neighborhood is very shaken up and fearful.
While Nababta tried to obtain services and rights for his neighbors and the Arab sector in general, he was not exactly pro-Zionist. More than once, he expressed his opposition to Jews visiting the Temple Mount. In the case of the shooting of activist Yehudah Glick, he described the man behind the 2014 assassination attempt against Glick as a martyr.
Petition for green Lifta
A petition signed by more than 12,000 people against a housing project promoted by the Construction Ministry and the Treasury in Lifta, at the entrance to Jerusalem, has been submitted to the government. The opposition comes from residents, environmental groups and the mayor, who all wish to keep this site as a nature reserve for the city. On the other side stands the government, which is pushing for transforming this green lung into a luxury housing project.
What started as a routine proposal for a construction project has, over the months, turned into an open conflict between Mayor Nir Barkat and the government – or more precisely, Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon (Kulanu).
Besides the fact that the residents of Ramot and the surrounding neighborhoods, as well as the various associations for the protection of nature and the environment, are adamant in their opposition to the project, Barkat’s opposition has become a political issue, over which he went to court against the government. At this point in his career, as he works on his national image aiming for the next Knesset, Barkat cannot afford to lose on this matter.
It is too early to say whether the ad hoc association “Ramot for the Environment,” which kicked off the opposition and drew the mayor and most of the environmental associations behind it, will finally prevail over the government.
‘Had Gadya’ over Malha railway station
Jerusalem is facing a situation much like the song with which we end the Passover Seder: the Transportation Ministry is blaming the municipality, which blames the Egged bus company, which blames the ministry, which sends complaints to the Jerusalem Transport Master Plan team, and so forth and so on. This is the unbelievable story of the lack of transportation between the Malha railway station and the rest of the city. Since the last reshuffling of city bus lines about a year-and-a-half ago, the two bus lines that served the station – 18 and 77 – do not reach there anymore.
On holidays and during the summer vacation, the train from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem is very popular, especially among families with children, who enjoy the attraction of a journey by train… until they reach Malha and discover that there is no bus to take them from that quite remote spot to the city.
It is hard to believe, but the simple decision to change a bus route inside the city is in the hands of the ministry, the municipality and Egged – with a say also from the Master Plan team – which tends to turn any change into a paragon of bureaucracy. The only positive aspect in all this is for taxi drivers who, aware of the problem, wait for passengers with no other choice.
Recently, following a lot of complaints, the ministry issued a decision to allow the 18 and 77 to restore the railway station to their routes. The decision requires the approval of the Master Plan team, of the municipality and then, finally, implementation by Egged company.