A real estate scandal in Jerusalem reveals Israel’s government’s dangerous stance on the privatization of land development, and use of open spaces, Yosef argues.
As the Israeli press reveals one new real estate scandal after another including but not limited to the Holyland complex in Jerusalem, the ease with which “developers” were able to purchase zoning clearances through the payment of bribes from leading public officials continues to stun the society. In an article in Haaretz (April 22, 2010, p. 11), Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu is reported to have commented on both the scandals and pending government legislation to further liberalize the approval process for building projects by stating:
“It is very important to remove bureaucratic barriers and to make the planning and building process faster and more efficient. That’s exactly what we have done with the proposed legislation to reform planning and building procedure.”
The comments reveals much about the government’s ideological commitments to resource use in the country, part of the general “reform” instituted by Israeli governments since the first Likud-led government came to power in 1977. The party and its allies advocate the predominance of the free market system (see the Likud’s Economic Outlook). In its grand rush to privatize land use in Israel, the government now seeks to further enable free market forces to wrest control of the country’s land resources for private development.
We know that billionaires with their minds and hearts in right place, can do right by the planet.
