Kibbutz Movement Leader Slams Planning Amendment as 'Sodom Bed'
Translated & summarized from Mida by baba
Yaakov Bachar, chairman of the Federation of Kibbutz Economic Organizations, strongly opposes a new amendment to National Outline Plan 35, labeling it a "planning Sodom bed." He argues the amendment imposes rigid, centralized Soviet-style planning, restricts new home sizes to an average of 80 square meters, limits land for settlement expansion, and creates excessive bureaucracy. Bachar believes the plan unfairly hinders Jewish settlement growth while allowing Arab communities to expand.
The story in 5 lines · by baba
- Kibbutz leader Yaakov Bachar calls planning amendment a "planning Sodom bed."
- Amendment mandates new rural homes average only 80 square meters.
- Land additions for settlement expansion would be limited to 20 or 40 dunams.
- Bachar criticizes amendment for creating excessive bureaucracy and hindering growth.
- He argues the plan is discriminatory against Jewish settlements.
Yaakov Bachar, chairman of the Federation of Kibbutz Economic Organizations, has sharply criticized a proposed amendment to National Outline Plan 35 (TAMA 35), calling it a "planning Sodom bed." In a letter to Rafi Elmaliah, Director General of the Planning Administration, and Ruti Schwartz, Chairwoman of the District Planning and Building Committee in the Haifa District, Bachar argued that the amendment imposes a "centralist, Soviet-style, centralized planning approach" that dictates a rigid and uniform pattern for all settlements, including kibbutzim.
Bachar specifically attacked the amendment's new "mix" requirements, which mandate that most new construction in rural areas will consist of small homes averaging only 80 square meters. He decried this as an "absurd dictate" and discriminatory, questioning why similar requirements are not imposed on Arab towns. He also criticized a proposed clause that would limit land additions for settlement expansion to 20 dunams in most areas and 40 dunams in the periphery, calling it a "draconian and uniform quantitative limitation" that pushes settlements into "reservations" while Arab communities expand.
Furthermore, Bachar highlighted the proposed elimination of a previous exemption for building small housing units (under 55 square meters) without them counting towards a settlement's allocated housing quota. This change, he warned, would significantly hinder settlements' ability to grow, regardless of any changes to the overall quotas. He also lamented the "tons of new and barren bureaucracy" the amendment would introduce, including extensive data collection and reporting requirements that he likened to a "doctoral thesis."
Bachar concluded by likening the amendment's mechanism for settlement growth, which he termed a "numerus clausus," to a system where settlements must "beg for the right to natural growth and to bring Jewish children into the world." He described this as a "distorted, pathological, and unconstitutional idea" that reflects government control over the right of Jewish settlements to expand, urging that the amendment be discarded as "bureaucratic garbage."