The Jewish Town of Bet El, located just outside of Ramallah, has launched three separate public building initiatives in the last three weeks:

1) an 18-unit housing project in the Hasmonean Neighborhood,

2) a 30-unit housing project of replacement homes for the 30 units taken down on the Ulpana Hill last year, and

3) a new multi-million dollar Bet Midrash (House of Study) for the Bet El Yeshiva Center.

In a conversation this morning with newly-elected Bet El Mayor Shai Alon, I learned that additional housing projects totaling over 600 units are at various stages of planning (some advanced!) in Bet El, adjacent to the ancient archaeological site which carries the same name.

The first three projects above are the initiative of Bet El Institutions. This educational network is driven to build units for its growing student body which include many young families. To help fund the projects, they will offer some of the units for sale to others including Jews immigrating to Israel from the Diaspora.

The Palestinian Authority also lays claim to Bet El. It says that there never was a Jewish Commonwealth in Israel, that King David and King Solomon were Muslim, that there never was a Jewish temple on what is commonly known as Jerusalem’s Temple Mount, and that the numerous bible stories about Jewish life and prophets in Bet El are part of a modern Zionist plot.

Can the Bet El Institutions’ building blitz actually influence the outcome of this ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Authority?

The answer is a resounding “yes.” And that “yes,” was reinforced in a December 2013 article by Israeli commentator Ben Caspit.

Caspit, who wholly supports the surrender of Judea and Samaria (AKA the West Bank) to the Palestinian Authority, wrote in the Al Monitor Newspaper:

“But the fact is that many in Israel are starting to believe that this attempt [to hold negotiations that would bring a two-state solution and the end of the conflict] has no chance. That the settlers and their powerful lobby have succeeded in creating an irreversible reality. That there’s no force in Israel that is capable of removing tens of thousands of settlers. That there’s no feasible political scenario that will enable Israel to carry out honest and real negotiations, or implement any kind of agreement, that is reached — if it is reached — by the two sides. The feeling in the Israeli left and center is that the settlers won. That they have set the facts on the ground.”

To read the entire article, please click HERE.

(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem/Written by Baruch Gordon)