A blessing in disguise
Building freeze a chance to spend less on construction, more on PR
The ongoing building freeze in Judea and Samaria, applicable only to Jewish construction, is obviously making life difficult for the residents who live there. In addition to the psychological pressure and political ramifications, financial losses are having an impact on the various parties connected to the building industry. From contractors to real estate agents, from municipal councils to home purchasers, everyone is feeling the pinch. Not surprisingly, the freeze is viewed negatively by both the residents themselves as well as by their various supporters wherever they may dwell.
Having said all that, perhaps there is actually a hidden blessing here. In order to fully understand and appreciate this blessing, one aspect of the 2005 Gaza disengagement must first be analyzed. The prevalent belief at the time amongst those who were opposed to the program was that Ariel Sharon was able to do what he did, ignoring his voters and his own Likud party, because of the near total protection and support afforded him by the Israeli media and courts.
Although true to a certain extent, this claim ignores a much more painful and stinging truth. As sad as it might be, the truth is that most of the nation back in 2005 couldn’t care less about Gush Katif and the other isolated communities. After years of having little or no connection to these areas, while simultaneously being bombarded with negative portrayals by the media, it should have come as no surprise that over the course of time most Jews became indifferent to the plight of their fellow Jews living in these areas.
For the average Israeli, these areas were not even considered a part of the State of Israel.
Thus, despite all the money that was invested in building beautiful communities and developing incredible breakthroughs in agriculture, when the time came to remove the roughly 10,000 Jews from their homes, very few Israelis actually got up to protest. Thus, on one level Sharon did not completely go against the will of the nation. He knew that in the face of such complacency he had a virtual free hand to do as he pleased in order to throw these people out of their homes.
Create emotional attachment
With this in mind, perhaps it's time to reassess the current building freeze. Rather than focusing on the negative, perhaps the freeze should be seen as presenting an incredible opportunity that if properly understood might just help in eventually saving these communities. Since the Gaza pullout showed that communities alone, no matter how beautiful and developed, are of no avail in stopping their eventual destruction as long as they don’t have the unequivocal support of most Israelis, then perhaps the lesson here is simple: Stop spending money altogether on building physical objects and instead start spending whatever money exists only on public relations and advertising in order to connect more Israelis to these communities.
Looked at from this angle, the main goal of the leaders of Judea and Samara should be to do whatever is possible to get the average Israeli thinking and believing that Shilo and Kiryat Arba are just as much a part of the State of Israel as are Haifa and Beersheva.
Moreover, every resident of Judea and Samaria can easily help the cause by inviting friends, family and coworkers who live in other parts of the country for a visit in order to connect them to their homes, their lives and their communities. Since familiarity with a place usually breeds an emotional attachment to the place, this measure is a must in order to change the image that the average Israeli has of Judea and Samaria.
With the recent squashing of internal opposition within Likud, a move eerily reminiscent of the days leading up to the 2005 disengagement, combined with the ongoing pressure from the Obama Administration, one does not need to be a genius to realize what is potentially in store for the residents of Judea and Samaria. Thus, in order not to make the same mistake again, it would be wise to realize that the seemingly disgraceful building freeze might actually be a blessing in disguise.
