Sunday, September 26, 2010

Permits Permits Permits

David Wilder
The Jewish Community of Hebron/The Hebron Fund
26 September '10

Journalists have asked me 'do you have a permit to build the new kindergarten?'

The answer is quite simple. We have had a permit to build in Hebron for the past 3,800 years.

Did the first Jew in Hebron, Avraham Avinu, have a permit to purchase the caves of Machpela and the surrounding fields? Did he need a Prime Minister, Defense Minister or anyone else to verify and okay the transaction?

Two thousand years ago Herod, King of Judea, constructed a magnificent monument to the Patriarchs and Matriarchs, a building still in use, to this very day. Did he ask Barak or Netanyahu to approve this classic structure?

In 1929 the age-old Jewish Hebron community was massacred and the survivors expelled. It is time that the nations of the world recognize that the roots of modern civilization are found in Jewish Hebron, the foundations of which commenced almost 4,000 years ago.

In 1967 Jews returned to Hebron and Machpela, (which was declared off-limits to Jews and Christians for 700 years). We did not conquer and occupy a foreign city. We returned - we came home.

The most normal act of existence is to grow and develop, to expand. To build. That is what we are doing in Hebron. First and foremost, providing a good thorough education for our children, from the very beginning.

This is why we are starting with a kindergarten, to be built on Jewish land, in the first Jewish city in Israel, in Hebron. No artificial freeze, no talks of an imaginary peace, can deny the Jews of their most elementary right: to live in city of Abraham, to grow in the city of Abraham, to build, develop and expand in the city of Abraham. This is our G-d - given right; an obligation, ensuring a continued thriving Jewish presence in Hebron for generations to come!

If you enjoy "Love of the Land", please be a subscriber. Just put your email address in the "Subscribe" box on the upper right-hand corner of the page.
.

2 comments:

  1. No Jew needs permission from any one to build in their own country.

    No dictatorship interfered with its people's right to live where they wished.

    Only the "democratic" state of Israel presumes to relegate some Jews to second class citizenship because its afraid of what the Arabs and the rest of the world think.

    That is what we have come down to today.

    ReplyDelete
  2. This was posted to FB today by Danny Hershtal (Yisrael Beiteinu) as a comment on David's article. Below is a brief reply.
    Danny Hershtal- I have to agree with David Wilder here: (1) Avraham did need a permit to buy land, he even insisted on public payment rather than a freebie so that it would be "official" knowledge that the filed and cave were his.
    (2) Herod didn't seek Barak or Netanyahu's permission, no. besides the stupidity of this statement, does David Wilder see Herod as a role model? Also, ideally, what kind of world does David Wilder want to live in? Let's say there were no Arabs in Hevron and Yosef Hartuv decided to renovate and upgrade his house by extending the walls on to David Wilder's property. Would Wilder then say, "well, he's a Jew who has a right to build in Hevron?" - wouldn't he like some elementary enforcement of property rights and public zoning? I understand the frustration over the political will to prevent building a kindergarten in Hevron, but using stupidity and hyperbole are not a good way to advance one's cause. Protest Bibi or Barak's motives - but don't protest the entire concept of building permits and zoning unless you are an anarchist.

    (Reply-Y.) Daniel-I am not clear as to whether you are speaking as a Yisrael Beiteinu Representitive or privately. Does Yisrael Beitenu support the prohibition of Jewish purchase of property in Hebron? Does Yisrael Beitanu equally support prohibiting Arab property purchase in any specific areas of Israel. Does the withholding of building permits in E. Jerusalem, and Judea and Samaria constitute zoning law application, and has it been applied to new Arab building throughout said areas or selectively applied or to Jewish construction. What role has Yisrael Beiteinu as part of the current coalition played in the freezing of Jewish building enforcement and or providing relief to those effected? While I am concerned about both the PM's position, as well as the DM's use of his post to deny housing permits or purchase, I am taken aback that you as a Yisreal Beiteinu representative endorse these draconian decrees against Jewish residents in need of housing, and hide them behind issues of zoning. Disappointing.

    ReplyDelete