Officially, Jerusalem City Hall reports that caravan homes stationed in Jerusalem’s Ramot neighborhood, on Truman Street, are intended for community use, as a social facility for the neighborhood’s youth, but residents insist they have learned this is just not so. Angry residents accuse outgoing Mayor Lupoliansky and his head of chareidi education of trying to pull a fast one during their last days in office, explaining the caravans are intended for a chareidi kindergarten, which they oppose.

Opposition leaders in the neighborhood explain the city is trying to bypass the proper channels and is using the caravan homes as kindergartens during the morning and may permit them for other use during the afternoon hours – all towards creating facts on the ground and establishing a new chareidi school. The city explains they will indeed be used during the afternoon hours for the scouts.

Since the start of the school year, there has been a battle in Ramot Alef regarding a dati-leumi school and a Beis Yaakov which is seeking the building since it is all but empty and they have no space. Residents now fear the caravan homes/kindergarten is another signal that there dati leumi area is becoming chareidi.

Residents explain “we all know the five caravans are not intended for our youth, but for the kindergarten. Even the Arab workers are aware this will become a chareidi kindergarten.”

Residents further explain that City Hall knows we would never give approval for the caravans, which is why they bypassed proper channels and did not permit us to object to the move.

Back to the dati leumi school building. The battle is picking up steam. The temporary permit given to the Beis Yaakov ran out but head of the dati leumi PTA, Moshe Effergan reports they are still using the building. Effergan is accusing them of trespassing and is calling on law enforcement agencies to oust the trespassers.

(Yechiel Spira – YWN Israel)