An ultra-Orthodox achievement? After a week of particularly tense discussions and meetings, Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat decided to postpone the discussion on the country club complex in the Ramot neighborhood, which was scheduled to take place on Sunday.
The temporary compromise was reached after a conversation between Barkat and Shas Chairman MK Aryeh Deri. This week, the two met at an event at the Knesset building and discussed the affair. Several more conversations were then held between Barkat and Deri, with the decisive one taking place last night.
At Deri's request, Barkat met today with Shas Deputy Mayor Zvika Cohen and with the chairman of the Shas faction in Jerusalem, Nati Lasri, and reached an agreement with them that the discussion in the Finance Committee, which was supposed to take place this coming Sunday, will be postponed for a month. During the timeout, special discussions will be held on the issues on the agenda regarding the needs of the Haredi in Jerusalem, with the central issue being the mixed neighborhoods.
As is known, the Barkat doctrine states that each sector will live in its own neighborhoods, and therefore allocations to the Haredi sector are almost never approved in neighborhoods defined as mixed, such as Kiryat HaYovel, in order to prevent those neighborhoods from becoming Haredi. Now, comprehensive discussions will be held in an attempt to reach an agreed-upon outline.
Senior sources familiar with the details told Haredim10 that Barkat promised Deri and Shas members in Jerusalem that he intended to be pragmatic on the issue, and to approach the Haredi public with an open mind and with the intention of reaching an agreed and comfortable compromise.
A senior official in Jerusalem Torah Judaism told Haredim10 that the postponement of the discussion was the decision of all Haredi factions, but because United Torah Judaism has recently sharply attacked Barkat, while Shas has maintained a media silence, Barkat "punished" United Torah Judaism, and gave Shas the prize for boasting about an achievement.
Yesterday, a management meeting of the faction leaders and portfolio holders in the Jerusalem Municipality was held. It was a stormy and tense meeting, during which the Haredi representatives leveled heavy accusations at Barkat, alleging discrimination against Haredi Jews, and even "apartheid," as one of the representatives defined it.
The chairman of the Shas faction in Jerusalem, Nati Lasri, said in response to Haredim10: "After I presented with my friends the complexity of the mixed neighborhoods in Jerusalem, it was clear that the issue of the country in Ramot required an in-depth discussion that would not be exhausted in a day or a week. Indeed, this morning in our meeting with Nir Barkat, the mayor granted the request, and in the coming month there will be a marathon of discussions regarding Ramot. There are a number of proposals and the solution must be from a comprehensive and responsible perspective.".
The municipality's response has not yet been received.
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