The United Torah Jewry representatives in the Jerusalem municipality met this past Monday with Mayor Nir Barakat to unequivocally clarify the position of the chareidi public regarding the city's unending attempts to alter the character of those neighborhoods with mixed [i.e. secular-religious] populations, while adamantly insisting that the plans for establishing sport centers and open swimming pools in the Country Area in south of the Ramot Alef neighborhoods be abolished. They clearly and unwaveringly demanded that these plans be halted immediately, including any intervention in the natural course of commercial tenders in this neighborhood that are opened to the general public.
A new area south of Ramot Alef is being developed. In an open bidding process, one section was sold to chareidi developers. When it became apparent that chareidi developers were likely to bid successfully for another section, the government announced that it will cancel the public tender and allocate the area for housing for military and civilian security personnel who are largely not religious.
The meeting which took place on Monday afternoon included the heads of the UTJ party, Rabbi Eliezer Rauchberger and Rabbi Yaakov Halperin, deputy mayor, Rabbi Yosef Deutsch and deputy head of the Planning and Construction Department. The representatives presented a series of strong objections against the steps recently taken by the mayor, and an emphatic demand to rescind the various initiatives being executed which blatantly defy the coalition agreements in which the city obligated itself to refrain from tampering with the character of the mixed-population neighborhoods in the city.
"This especially in regard to the Ramot neighborhood," the representatives declared, "where the majority of the population is now chareidi. As we see it, the Ramot neighborhood is primarily chareidi in every aspect. Eighty percent is a heavy and decisive majority so that this neighborhood should be regarded as totally chareidi. In light of this, we shall not agree to any attempt to change the nature of the community or influence a change in non-democratic fashion."
Furthermore, "It is inconceivable to allow blatant attempts to change the character of the neighborhood by importing outside institutions and carving areas open to outside public tender for the erection of sport centers which seriously threaten massive public chillul Shabbos and severe breaches in modesty," the representatives declared.
They stated at this meeting that their party as a whole objected to creating changes in the housing areas and allocating them for military residential purposes, as well as attempts to establish sports centers within the chareidi neighborhood, since these steps constitute a threat to the nature of this neighborhood and the lifestyle of its residents. They clarified that such moves constitute a crossing of all forbidden red lines.
"We will, under no circumstances, agree to chareidi persecution and demand that an open tender be issued to the public at large and that the natural laws of the market hold sway. We totally object to the plan of housing in the country area being offered only to military and security personnel because this step clearly stifles the chareidi population and is a deliberate means of discrimination, harassment and a crossing of defined democratic lines."
The representatives also demanded dealing with the problem of adequate accommodation for the schools, kindergartens, shuls and all communal facilities in Ramot, where thousands of children study under utterly shameful and subnormal conditions. There is a crying need for more shuls for the populace and in the past five years, no budget has been allocated for the building or expansion of any shul in Ramot! In addition, since the beginning of this political term, the chareidi representatives have toiled to address this subject but have met with enormous difficulties culminating in a dead end.
"We refuse to make peace with this," they insisted. "Out of the hundred attempts and requests [for said expansion etc.], we have ended up with zero results."
