How Minister Orit Strock torpedoed the mega-plan to expand Jadeida-Makr

New details reveal how Minister Orit Strock torpedoed the construction plan in the Arab town of Jadeida-Makr. Her representative on the planning committee demanded explanations for the expansion from 20,000 to 120,000 residents and requested a breakdown of the source towns of the population, a demand that left the committee without an answer. The discussion was adjourned without approval of the plan.

New details reveal how Minister Orit Strock torpedoed the massive construction plan in the Arab town of Jadeida-Makr, near Acre. The story was first exposed by Gal Tobi on Channel 14. During a discussion in the regional planning and construction committee, Strock's representative asked committee members what justification there was for the plan, which seeks to expand the town from 20,000 residents today to 120,000 residents. According to the representative, the plan includes thousands of housing units intended for four people, a figure that does not indicate justified natural growth, but rather an artificial leap in the size of the town. Committee heads replied that it is a receiving town, meaning a town with positive migration from other towns in the area. At this point, the representative raised a demand that embarrassed the committee: he asked to receive the list of towns from which the new residents of Jadeida-Makr come, in order to examine whether there is a need to reduce future planning in those source towns. Committee members had no answer to this question. The discussion reached a dead end, the meeting was adjourned without a vote and without approval of the plan. To this day, no new date for discussion has been set. This is one example of many moves in which Strock exploited the power of the representative at her disposal in the regional planning committees, power granted to her under the coalition agreements.