Goldknopf Extends Urban Renewal to Judea and Samaria Ushering In Thousands of Housing Units

Photo Credit: Nati Shohat/Flash90

A Jewish construction worker in the Jewish settlement of Bat Ayin, September 15, 2014. Only Jewish workers are employed at the Bat Ayin.

Led by the Ministry of Construction and Housing, Defense, Government Authority for Urban Renewal, Tax Authority, and the Civil Administration, and following extensive staff work by all the parties involved in the regulatory processes in Judea and Samaria, a general order was published on Sunday extending urban renewal for the first time to Judea and Samaria.

The order was given out by Major General Avi Balut, Commander of the Central Command, a move that imposes Israeli laws on the Jewish settlements of the liberated territories which are still considered officially a military occupation zone.

The potential for new urban renewal projects in Judea and Samaria is wide-ranging and amounts to tens of thousands of new and improved housing units.

Urban renewal projects seek to renew old residential structures, including improving, upgrading, strengthening, and protecting residential buildings, and upgrading public spaces and infrastructure. The projects usually involve adding new apartments to old residential areas, by strengthening and thickening existing buildings or by demolishing old buildings and building new ones in their place. Projects of this type are promoted by both government and private initiatives.

When it comes to the Jewish settlements of Judea and Samaria––where every time a resident closes a balcony the UN Security Council condemns it and the State Dept. threatens to embargo weapons shipments––becoming included in an urban renewal project, the renovation contracts might as well be handed out by the Messiah.

An urban renewal project is an opportunity for apartment owners to strengthen and protect their apartments, as well as expand them, adding new rooms and other amenities and thus improving their quality of life and enhancing their assets. This has never been done in Judea and Samaria as part of the normal renewal projects which are an everyday reality for Israelis inside the “Green Line” and an impossible panacea for settlers.

In this type of project, the existing apartment is expanded or demolished, and a new apartment is built in its place. This is done without the costs of renovation and construction being imposed on the apartment owners. And it is likely to change the face of Jewish settlements, especially in towns across the “Green Line” such as Ma’ale Adumim, Ariel, Beitar Illit, Givat Ze’ev, and Modi’in Illit.

Wait, there’s more: in addition to the tax benefits that will now apply to urban renewal projects in Judea and Samaria in accordance with Israeli law, these projects in Judea and Samaria will receive additional tax benefits, such no legal obligation to pay improvement levies – significantly increasing the economic viability of real estate projects in Judea and Samaria.

In other words, folks, if you’re a young couple looking for your dream house at a reasonable cost (for now, at least), come get yourself a little palace for the same money you’d have to shell out on a studio apartment on Rotchild Blvd in Tel Aviv. And the more of you establish your new lives in our liberated territories, the bigger and safer they will be.

UTJ Chairman Rabbi Yitzchak Goldknopf arrives at the coalition talks in Jerusalem, November 6, 2022. / Yonatan Sindel/Flash90

Or, as Minister of Construction and Housing, Rabbi Yitzhak Goldknopf, put it: “The approval of the new order opens the door for companies and entrepreneurs to promote urban renewal projects and construction in Israeli municipalities in Judea and Samaria.

“The cradle of the Bible, Judea and Samaria, are an inseparable part of the State of Israel. The development and expansion of Jewish settlements will significantly contribute to strengthening security in all parts of the country and increase the supply of apartments, which will help solve the housing shortage.”

Cradle your Bible, brothers and sisters!