Pisgat Ze’evWith 42,000 residents, this neighborhood, built since 1967 in northeastern Jerusalem, is the largest in the capital. The eastern, central and western sections of Pisgat Ze’ev are mostly inhabited by young couples and new immigrants. For the past few years, following the construction of the security barrier, the neighborhood has also become home to Arabs who hold residency cards and don’t want to be pushed outside of the fence. At present, they number about 200 families, and their presence has spurred many discriminatory reactions, including attacks against them.One popular accusation against the Arab families is that they caused a rise in real-estate prices, as most of them are well-to-do people who are ready to pay any price to find housing on this side of the fence. Among the candidates, at least one is leading a campaign focused on this issue.At first, Pisgat Ze’ev was not included in this round of elections, but following pressure by Yael Antebi, a resident and a member of Barkat’s coalition, the neighborhood was eventually included. The main issue at stake for Pisgat Ze’ev is traffic and transportation – this huge neighborhood has only one route to reach the city center, which is also the only access road for residents of settlements and Arab villages north of Jerusalem to the city.“About 120,000 people use this only road [Pisgat Ze’ev Junction] every morning,” says Levy. “This is perhaps the hugest daily traffic jam in the country, and so far, nothing is done by any authority – the Transportation Ministry or the municipality – to reduce it. On top of this, the roadworks for the light rail have transformed our lives here into a continual nightmare.”Levy says that one of the results of this situation is a profound – and worrisome – change in the socioeconomic profile of the neighborhood. “The wealthy, who can afford it, leave Pisgat Ze’ev – they move to Mevaseret, even to Modi’in if they don’t work in Jerusalem anyway, and they are replaced by residents with more modest means, who move here from Neveh Ya’acov. As a result, we are going from being a strong middle and high socioeconomic neighborhood to becoming much less well-to-do, and thus, a much less attractive option for young working couples.”Meanwhile, although 4,500 young people are living in Pisgat Ze’ev, according to Levy, they don’t have even one club or activity center. “It’s not surprising that in recent years we have witnessed a worrying rise in vandalism and juvenile delinquency in the neighborhood – they don’t have anywhere to go, they don’t have sports facilities. They only hang around in the mall, where they meet young Arabs who moved in here or come from the surrounding villages, and clashes are never far away.”On the agenda of the candidates are a swimming pool, sports and leisure time facilities, youth centers, an outdoor playground and the neighborhood’s first park.Fourteen candidates, including one woman, are registered for this neighborhood. The current director, Eli Ben-Hamo, is not running again.Shmuel Hanavi While the neighborhood originally called by this name is actually a rather small place, as a result of the new zoning restructuring to combine like populations, Shmuel Hanavi will likely become one of the largest in the city after the elections, second only to the Yuvalim local council (Kiryat Hayovel and surroundings). As a result, its official name has been changed to Eight Neighborhoods Council.The expected results of the upcoming elections here will “officially put on the table the demographic changes in this city,” sources at Kikar Safra say, and Shmuel Hanavi’s new borders will make it one of the largest haredi communities in the city and lead to changes in the municipal tax budget.“For the first time, a very large portion of the taxpayers’ money will be handed to a population whose participation in taxpaying is among the lowest in the city,” says one of the sources, noting that including Shmuel Hanavi in the elections faced much opposition to begin with. “While this is a purely democratic process, there is no question that it raises a lot of concern, and even frustration, among the city’s leadership, since budgets are distributed according to the number of residents in each neighborhood.”The newly restructured, 40,000-resident council will include the original part of Shmuel Hanavi, as well as parts of nearby Ma’alot Dafna, Ramat Eshkol, Sanhedria, Sanhedria Murhevet, Arzei Habira, Beit Yisrael and Homa Shlishit. The most pressing concerns in this community are the poverty of most of its residents, population density, lack of activities for youth and lack of training centers and programs for women and Orthodox men who choose to leave the yeshivot.“One of the most urgent issues we face is the worrying number of youth who desert the yeshivot and have no other outlet: They cannot complete their secular studies for lack of knowledge of the curriculum, they didn’t learn English or math, so most of them hang around in the streets,” says a source at the municipality. “The newly elected local council will have to look for adaptive solutions: training centers, activities and completion of their studies so they can become independent.”The source adds that the council will need a “very high level of diplomacy and sensitivity in order to promote these goals to some of the most radical Orthodox leaders in the neighborhood.”Another matter that needs immediate attention is professional training for haredi women, who, in some families, are the only breadwinners but lack any professional capabilities.“Everybody knows that it is important and urgent, yet here also, there is a need for extreme sensitivity, for not all the haredi rabbis in the spiritual leadership of this neighborhood are happy about it,” says the source.Because parts of the neighborhood are inhabited largely by Sephardim and others by Ashkenazim, the municipality is concerned that the number of “deals” necessary between the two fac-tions will reach such levels that the elections will become a farce.“We understand it is not possible to avoid it totally; we just hope that it won’t have too much impact,” admits the source.The list of candidates for Shmuel Hanavi has not yet been published.Har HomaThis neighborhood is still undergoing perpetual construction, lacking much of the infrastructure and public institutions necessary to a community, such as schools, youth centers and even synagogues – despite the fact that the area was largely religious at the beginning.As a result, over 50% of the children and youth in the neighborhood have to travel outside for their studies. Today’s population in Har Homa is approximately 55% secular and 45% religious. Recently, however, there has been a slight change in the composition of the religious component with the arrival of new Anglo and French immigrants, who are closer to the haredi side – “hardalim,” followers of the writings of Rabbi Abraham Isaac Kook.The influx of this population has raised concerns among the secular residents that the equilibrium between the two neighborhood parties might be shaken. For example, a generous proposal from the Mifal Hapayis lottery to build a soccer field for the community was turned down by the religious representatives at the current local council, who feared it would cause public Shabbat desecration.“This is not a religious neighborhood, despite the large number of religious residents there,” says the source at Kikar Safra. “This neighborhood is open on Shabbat, no street is closed and so far, there has been a harmonious relationship between religious and secular here. But the newcomers, mostly haredim, are changing the tone and the facts on the ground. Who, in these times of budget cuts, turns down such a generous offer for such a reason? This is not a good sign.”There are 40 candidates for the Har Homa council; seven of them are women.The current chairman, Herzl Yeheskel, is running again.Ginot Ha’ir This local council is often cited as an ideal model as to how a democratic community should function, with well-organized residents who are aware of their rights, struggle to ensure them and manage to maintain a pluralistic and highly motivated community.The Ginot Ha’ir council actually represents eight smaller neighborhoods, which together represent one of the largest communities in the city – about 50,000 residents. The Colonies (German and Greek), Rehavia, Kiryat Shmuel, Katamon, Mahaneh Yisrael, Yemin Moshe, Talbiyeh and Nayot are far from the same. Community members are religious, secular, elderly and young, and include veterans, new immigrants, locals and students who might not still be living there in a few years. Nevertheless, Ginot Ha’ir has managed thus far to function smoothly and is a model of community life that has found appeal in many other neighborhoods.But not everyone in this community is happy to be included in the pilot election process.“Suppose the board of the local council is so totally changed that, through a democratic process, we have all of a sudden a board that won’t care anymore to fight real-estate tycoons in order to save the special character of this neighborhood, and instead of creating an outstanding cultural community here, will only deal with very narrow local issues,” says a municipality source who is also a neighborhood resident.But Shaike El-Ami, director of the local council, says that he is not too worried. “The main issues that concern the residents here are well-known – we care that this neighborhood is preserved from the devastating appetite of real-estate tycoons, we care that this pluralistic society we managed to create here will continue to exist after the elections, and that is not to be taken for granted.“The fact that there are changes in the demographics of the neighborhood has its impact too,” he adds. “For example, while we know that there are two haredi candidates for Rehavia, we also know that there are four secular candidates for this same neighborhood – meaning that beyond some changes that have occurred over the years, there is still ground for pluralism.”There are 23 candidates. seven of whom are women, for the elections in Ginot Ha’ir. The current chairman, Dan Ronen, is not running, and his deputy, Elan Ezrachi, one of the nine candidates from Rehavia, is running again. There are three candidates for Yemin Moshe-Talbiyeh, eight for Katamon and three for the Greek and German colonies.
More power to the people
Five neighborhood councils will ask residents to choose a new leadership on December 14.
Pisgat Ze’evWith 42,000 residents, this neighborhood, built since 1967 in northeastern Jerusalem, is the largest in the capital. The eastern, central and western sections of Pisgat Ze’ev are mostly inhabited by young couples and new immigrants. For the past few years, following the construction of the security barrier, the neighborhood has also become home to Arabs who hold residency cards and don’t want to be pushed outside of the fence. At present, they number about 200 families, and their presence has spurred many discriminatory reactions, including attacks against them.One popular accusation against the Arab families is that they caused a rise in real-estate prices, as most of them are well-to-do people who are ready to pay any price to find housing on this side of the fence. Among the candidates, at least one is leading a campaign focused on this issue.At first, Pisgat Ze’ev was not included in this round of elections, but following pressure by Yael Antebi, a resident and a member of Barkat’s coalition, the neighborhood was eventually included. The main issue at stake for Pisgat Ze’ev is traffic and transportation – this huge neighborhood has only one route to reach the city center, which is also the only access road for residents of settlements and Arab villages north of Jerusalem to the city.“About 120,000 people use this only road [Pisgat Ze’ev Junction] every morning,” says Levy. “This is perhaps the hugest daily traffic jam in the country, and so far, nothing is done by any authority – the Transportation Ministry or the municipality – to reduce it. On top of this, the roadworks for the light rail have transformed our lives here into a continual nightmare.”Levy says that one of the results of this situation is a profound – and worrisome – change in the socioeconomic profile of the neighborhood. “The wealthy, who can afford it, leave Pisgat Ze’ev – they move to Mevaseret, even to Modi’in if they don’t work in Jerusalem anyway, and they are replaced by residents with more modest means, who move here from Neveh Ya’acov. As a result, we are going from being a strong middle and high socioeconomic neighborhood to becoming much less well-to-do, and thus, a much less attractive option for young working couples.”Meanwhile, although 4,500 young people are living in Pisgat Ze’ev, according to Levy, they don’t have even one club or activity center. “It’s not surprising that in recent years we have witnessed a worrying rise in vandalism and juvenile delinquency in the neighborhood – they don’t have anywhere to go, they don’t have sports facilities. They only hang around in the mall, where they meet young Arabs who moved in here or come from the surrounding villages, and clashes are never far away.”On the agenda of the candidates are a swimming pool, sports and leisure time facilities, youth centers, an outdoor playground and the neighborhood’s first park.Fourteen candidates, including one woman, are registered for this neighborhood. The current director, Eli Ben-Hamo, is not running again.Shmuel Hanavi While the neighborhood originally called by this name is actually a rather small place, as a result of the new zoning restructuring to combine like populations, Shmuel Hanavi will likely become one of the largest in the city after the elections, second only to the Yuvalim local council (Kiryat Hayovel and surroundings). As a result, its official name has been changed to Eight Neighborhoods Council.The expected results of the upcoming elections here will “officially put on the table the demographic changes in this city,” sources at Kikar Safra say, and Shmuel Hanavi’s new borders will make it one of the largest haredi communities in the city and lead to changes in the municipal tax budget.“For the first time, a very large portion of the taxpayers’ money will be handed to a population whose participation in taxpaying is among the lowest in the city,” says one of the sources, noting that including Shmuel Hanavi in the elections faced much opposition to begin with. “While this is a purely democratic process, there is no question that it raises a lot of concern, and even frustration, among the city’s leadership, since budgets are distributed according to the number of residents in each neighborhood.”The newly restructured, 40,000-resident council will include the original part of Shmuel Hanavi, as well as parts of nearby Ma’alot Dafna, Ramat Eshkol, Sanhedria, Sanhedria Murhevet, Arzei Habira, Beit Yisrael and Homa Shlishit. The most pressing concerns in this community are the poverty of most of its residents, population density, lack of activities for youth and lack of training centers and programs for women and Orthodox men who choose to leave the yeshivot.“One of the most urgent issues we face is the worrying number of youth who desert the yeshivot and have no other outlet: They cannot complete their secular studies for lack of knowledge of the curriculum, they didn’t learn English or math, so most of them hang around in the streets,” says a source at the municipality. “The newly elected local council will have to look for adaptive solutions: training centers, activities and completion of their studies so they can become independent.”The source adds that the council will need a “very high level of diplomacy and sensitivity in order to promote these goals to some of the most radical Orthodox leaders in the neighborhood.”Another matter that needs immediate attention is professional training for haredi women, who, in some families, are the only breadwinners but lack any professional capabilities.“Everybody knows that it is important and urgent, yet here also, there is a need for extreme sensitivity, for not all the haredi rabbis in the spiritual leadership of this neighborhood are happy about it,” says the source.Because parts of the neighborhood are inhabited largely by Sephardim and others by Ashkenazim, the municipality is concerned that the number of “deals” necessary between the two fac-tions will reach such levels that the elections will become a farce.“We understand it is not possible to avoid it totally; we just hope that it won’t have too much impact,” admits the source.The list of candidates for Shmuel Hanavi has not yet been published.Har HomaThis neighborhood is still undergoing perpetual construction, lacking much of the infrastructure and public institutions necessary to a community, such as schools, youth centers and even synagogues – despite the fact that the area was largely religious at the beginning.As a result, over 50% of the children and youth in the neighborhood have to travel outside for their studies. Today’s population in Har Homa is approximately 55% secular and 45% religious. Recently, however, there has been a slight change in the composition of the religious component with the arrival of new Anglo and French immigrants, who are closer to the haredi side – “hardalim,” followers of the writings of Rabbi Abraham Isaac Kook.The influx of this population has raised concerns among the secular residents that the equilibrium between the two neighborhood parties might be shaken. For example, a generous proposal from the Mifal Hapayis lottery to build a soccer field for the community was turned down by the religious representatives at the current local council, who feared it would cause public Shabbat desecration.“This is not a religious neighborhood, despite the large number of religious residents there,” says the source at Kikar Safra. “This neighborhood is open on Shabbat, no street is closed and so far, there has been a harmonious relationship between religious and secular here. But the newcomers, mostly haredim, are changing the tone and the facts on the ground. Who, in these times of budget cuts, turns down such a generous offer for such a reason? This is not a good sign.”There are 40 candidates for the Har Homa council; seven of them are women.The current chairman, Herzl Yeheskel, is running again.Ginot Ha’ir This local council is often cited as an ideal model as to how a democratic community should function, with well-organized residents who are aware of their rights, struggle to ensure them and manage to maintain a pluralistic and highly motivated community.The Ginot Ha’ir council actually represents eight smaller neighborhoods, which together represent one of the largest communities in the city – about 50,000 residents. The Colonies (German and Greek), Rehavia, Kiryat Shmuel, Katamon, Mahaneh Yisrael, Yemin Moshe, Talbiyeh and Nayot are far from the same. Community members are religious, secular, elderly and young, and include veterans, new immigrants, locals and students who might not still be living there in a few years. Nevertheless, Ginot Ha’ir has managed thus far to function smoothly and is a model of community life that has found appeal in many other neighborhoods.But not everyone in this community is happy to be included in the pilot election process.“Suppose the board of the local council is so totally changed that, through a democratic process, we have all of a sudden a board that won’t care anymore to fight real-estate tycoons in order to save the special character of this neighborhood, and instead of creating an outstanding cultural community here, will only deal with very narrow local issues,” says a municipality source who is also a neighborhood resident.But Shaike El-Ami, director of the local council, says that he is not too worried. “The main issues that concern the residents here are well-known – we care that this neighborhood is preserved from the devastating appetite of real-estate tycoons, we care that this pluralistic society we managed to create here will continue to exist after the elections, and that is not to be taken for granted.“The fact that there are changes in the demographics of the neighborhood has its impact too,” he adds. “For example, while we know that there are two haredi candidates for Rehavia, we also know that there are four secular candidates for this same neighborhood – meaning that beyond some changes that have occurred over the years, there is still ground for pluralism.”There are 23 candidates. seven of whom are women, for the elections in Ginot Ha’ir. The current chairman, Dan Ronen, is not running, and his deputy, Elan Ezrachi, one of the nine candidates from Rehavia, is running again. There are three candidates for Yemin Moshe-Talbiyeh, eight for Katamon and three for the Greek and German colonies.