Urban renewal vs urban desertion

Residents of Gush Etzion always considered themselves the "elite" of YESHA, part of "consensus." Many don't consider themselves as "settlers" and refuse to take part in the struggle for Eretz Yisrael.

Recently they were shocked and traumatized when not all of their regional council was included within the ghetto walls mutilating our precious Land. Now for another slap in the face. Their buses will no longer go through downtown Jerusalem. Their bus routes were our envy. We in the Binyamin Local Council and the Shomron have a less convenient bus. It goes via Romema, Shmuel Hanavi, Ramat Eshkol, French Hill and Pisgat Zeev.

The new terminal for the Gush Etzion and Hebron area buses will be the Malcha train station with a stop at the Malcha Mall. This will more than double the travel time to downtown Jerusalem and the popular neighborhoods the buses used to go through.

There is something much worse about the changes, much worse than the logistical inconvenience. This is another attack on the downtown businesses!

Jerusalem, like many other cities all over the world, is suffering from "mallitis," the growing popularity of malls, which is taking a big chunk out of the economic viability of downtown businesses. By removing the suburban bus routes from the center of town and the Jerusalem Central Bus Station, the government is weakening the center of the city.