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Part Seven - The Diplomatic Plan - Making Israel a Jewish State
Jerusalem – Goals and Policy (1/2)
"But when I come today to sing to you, and to bind crowns to you, I am less than the youngest of your sons and the last of the poets."
–"Jerusalem of Gold", Naomi Shemer
Jerusalem is not just another capital city. Jerusalem is the essence of Jewish national existence. It is made out of three thousand years of history, of the longing of 2,000 years, of hope, of holiness, of wedding vows, of blood, sweat, and tears – there is no Judaism, and certainly not a Jewish state, without Jerusalem.
Jerusalem "Not apportioned to the tribes"
"Of all your tribes – this is the Jerusalem of which all Israel is a partner" –Avot de-Rabbi Natan.
"Jerusalem was not apportioned to the tribes" –Talmud Bavli, Tractate Yoma.
Unlike other cities in Israel, even the most important ones, Jerusalem alone is the focus of identity and the significance of the State of Israel. Jerusalem belongs to the entire nation, and not only to its residents. Therefore, unlike other cities, the nation, through its representatives, has the authority and duty to be involved in its planning and design.
Within the boundaries of the city's national planning, all the development and planning freedoms[27] that will be applied to the rest of the country will be maintained, but unlike other cities, Jerusalem will have a central planning framework and basic rules[28] that will ensure the character of the city as the holy city on the one hand and the focus of Israeli sovereignty on the other.
Strategic Planning
Jerusalem, the capital of Israel, currently lacks a strategic vision for its development which will turn it back into the "heart of the country" and into an international pilgrimage center, as in the past.
The escape from and disregard of Jerusalem, which began with surrender of the Old City to the Jordanians during the War of Independence[29], and continued with the transfer of the Temple Mount to the Jordanian Waqf in the Six-Day War, continues to this day and has once again transformed the capital of Israel into a divided border town.
In fact, after the historic unification of Jerusalem in the Six-Day War and the expansion of Jerusalem's municipal line to the east and north and the establishment of the new neighborhoods, for many years almost every strategic development of lofty vision has been almost completely abandoned, and the city effectively abandoned to natural growth fluctuations and immediate life needs[30].
This approach, which is not too problematic in other places and is often the most effective approach, can not apply to Jerusalem, which is divided between Jews and Arabs, neglected in terms of its infrastructure, and stands at the crossroads of the interests of the entire world.
It is time to feel our ownership of Jerusalem and to behave accordingly, simply because any other method is irrelevant, and Jerusalem calls to us.
Greater Jerusalem and the Jerusalem Metropolis
Instead of an artificial attempt to separate Jerusalem from the Arab population around it, the main result of which has been a massive immigration march of Arab population into the city due to fear of a division, and which on the other hand strangled any possibility for the city's natural development, we should look at reality straight on. If Zehut's political plan is realized, and the war ends, and Judea and Samaria retains only a population that accepts the sovereignty of the State of Israel, it will also be possible to stop strangling the city between walls and fences.
Jerusalem is suffocated within its urban line, and the time has come to expand it, and to allow the creation of a Greater Jerusalem, which is already forming in any case. Instead of cutting down the Jerusalem Forest, as proposed by the Safdie plan to address the housing shortage, it is possible to expand and even double Jerusalem's urban area to the east and north, and to provide the city with extensive land reserves for new neighborhoods with modern access infrastructure.
Beyond that, the Jerusalem metropolitan area should include Bethlehem and Gush Etzion in the south, Beit Shemesh and Modi'in in the west, Ramallah in the north, and Ma'aleh Adumim and Jericho in the east.
Strategic Infrastructure
"In general, everything that is more sanctified than its fellow is destroyed more than its fellow, and Jerusalem is more desolate than all, and the land of Judah more than the Galilee, and with all its destruction it is very good"
–Ramban, "Letter from the Land of Israel".
Metropolitan Ring Road
In addition to the rapid train to Jerusalem that is currently being built, which will fundamentally change Jerusalem's accessibility to the Dan Region and the coastal plain, and make the possibility of living in Jerusalem and working in the coastal plain (and vice versa) a entirely reasonable option, a wide ring road to Jerusalem should be promoted, as is the case in large capitals around the world. The ring road will delineate and enclose the outer perimeter of the city, and will also connect it to the surrounding urban centers, and them – to each other. The road will surround Jerusalem from Ma'aleh Adumim in the east, through Bethlehem and Gush Etzion in the south, to Mevasseret Zion in the west and on to Givat Ze'ev and Neve Ya'akov via Kfar Adumim.
Internal landing strip and international airport
The inner landing in Atarot will be reopened and expanded, and an international airport will be built in the Horkania Valley east of the city. The airport will serve the city on an ongoing basis, and in particular will enable it to cope with the peak periods of tourism and pilgrimage, which require a higher range of passenger capacity than usual.
The need for such an airport seems surprising only to those who do not consider the size of the population that already inhabits the Jerusalem metropolitan area. This is about 2 million residents today, which is similar to the population of the entire Dan region. The rule of thumb used in city planning is that a population of two million justifies an international airport near the city, especially if it is a city that attracts waves of tourism.
Upgrading the mountain road and the Jerusalem-Gush Dan road
As detailed in the chapter on strategic planning in Judea and Samaria, the expansion of Road 60 north and south of Jerusalem and its transformation into an interurban road is proper at least in the section of it between Ariel and Hebron, and the paving of Road 45, which has been delayed for 30 years as a substitute for 443 and an alternative to Route 1, which is fundamentally twisted – are strategic steps that need to happen as quickly as possible in order to stop delaying the natural growth of the Jerusalem metropolitan area due to outdated access infrastructure.
Roads in East Jerusalem and access to the Old City
Access infrastructure in the eastern part of the city is extremely deficient and does not allow for its development. This is even more true with regard to the Old City, which is almost impossible to reach by car, and not because there is no place to pave, but because it has not received real attention.
This reality does not enable the realization of the tourism and pilgrimage potential of the Old City, nor does it enable the transformation of the Old City's environment into the city's administrative center. Both of these problems need to be resolved.
Government Compound
"A temple of the king, a royal city, rise out of the revolution!" –"Lecha Dodi", a poem by Rabbi Shlomo Elkabetz.
"There shall sit the throne of judgment as the throne of the house of David" –Tehilim, 122b.
Jerusalem in Judaism is not only a "temple of the king," that is, the city of the Holy One and of holiness. Jerusalem is also a royal city, the city of Israeli rule, and the city of Israeli law. The current location of the government complex, the Knesset building and the Supreme Court seat in the western part of the city is the result of the fact that the city is divided.
The complete separation between the new and modern city and the so-called "Holy Basin" in Israel is not a healthy separation for the State of Israel. Zehut will strive to end it.
A long-term process of eminent domain will be applied to areas adjacent to the mount, in order to allow for the gradual move of the government complex and symbols of sovereignty to the proximity of the Old City and the Temple Mount[31]. Since the process of Jewish "recovery" is significant, it is expected that the sums required for this purpose will be contributed to a large extent by the general public, just as the general public ha contributed huge sums to buy most of the City of David, and just as the public has bought homes and entire areas in the Old City so far.
Hotel Accomodation for Pilgrims
Every year about 1.5 million tourists arrive in Jerusalem, and they stay in about 10,000 hotel rooms in the capital. At the current rate of growth, the industry is expected to grow within two decades by an order of magnitude.
The development and construction of Jerusalem as a spiritual center will double and triple the current forecast and attract tens of millions of tourists and pilgrims from around the world. The city must prepare for their absorption. This, of course, is a huge growth engine, which will quickly restore private investment in new and modern hotel infrastructure.
[27] See the housing chapter.
[28] A minor example of this is the famous stone cladding law in Jerusalem dating back to the days of the British Mandate.
[29] The bitter result of the fall of the Old City to the Jordanians during the War of Independence was not a matter of lack of choice, but of explicit prioritization. Even if it is possible to discuss the difficulties at the beginning of the war and to argue one way or the other, there is no doubt that there was a practical military option to conquer the city at the war's decisive stage, and on this there is no dispute.
[30] For example, the Begin Road, the paving of the expansion of Highway 1 and the light rail – these are examples of dealing with immediate life needs, rather than long-term strategic planning. The express train to Jerusalem and Highway 1 to the east, on the other hand, are exceptional, worthy of mention.
[31] As it was in the past, from King David, to King Agrippa II, the last of the Hasmonean kings.
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