The J14 “tent protests” focused on housing and economic issues in Israel continue to grow, and the government is starting to respond. Several commentators, including Joseph Dana on the London Review of Books blog and Abir Kopty here in Mondoweiss, have taken the movement to task for ignoring the occupation and the needs of Palestinians inside Israel even as it professes to focus on social justice issues. Protest organizers have claimed their protest is “apolitical” and have avoided commenting on the occupation out of a desire to maintain a patchwork coalition that represents both elements of the left and right within Israeli Jewish society.
The days of this “strategic ambiguity” however may be coming to an end. Interior Minister Eli Yishai has signed off on the construction of thousands of new settlement units in Jerusalem, half of which are in the occupied territories. Ynet reports:
Sources in the Interior Ministry said that Yishai views the projects as one of the solutions to Jerusalem’s housing plight, adding that the recent induction of the National Housing Committees’ Law, has allowed for the projects’ authorization process to be accelerated.
The article goes on to quote Peace Now as saying the government is “cynically using the current housing crisis in Israel to promote construction in the settlements”. True as this may be, the question remains – how will the J14 movement respond?
