HELP SAVE EIN KAREM!

HELP SAVE BEAUTIFUL AND HISTORIC EIN KAREM!!! Ein Karem is a unique village in the Judean hills, on the outskirts of Jerusalem, dating back to biblical times. It is pastoral and green, and its nature spots are enjoyed by people from throughout Israel. Ein Karem is the birthplace of John the Baptist and, as such, a favored destination for Christian pilgrims. Ein Karem was nominated as a World Heritage Site. A new development plan, the Carmit Plan, would choke the village in high-rise buildings, for which the current infrastructure is completely inadequate. In addition to flooding damage and unimaginable traffic jams that this plan will cause. It will completely destroy the village's pastoral, green, historic character. $40,000 is needed to pay lawyers and building professionals to contest the plan, and it's urgent. HELP SAVE EIN KAREM. THERE'S NOWHERE ELSE LIKE IT. WITHOUT YOUR HELP AND THE HELP OF OTHERS TO STOP THE CARMIT PLAN, HISTORIC EIN KAREM, AS IT HAS BEEN FOR CENTURIES, WILL BE DESTROYED BY DEVELOPERS. The unique nature of the Ein Karem village embodies thousands of years of history. (Please see below). Its cultural, architectural, historic and religious richness is reflected in many of the village's elements. To maintain Ein Karem’s special biblical character, it needs to be separated from building towers by maintaining the green buffers surrounding the village. The Carmit Plan proposes to build towers of 25-32 floors in Carmit, the slopes rising from Ein Karem, which will rely totally on Ein Karem's infrastructure, which is currently stretched beyond its capacity. It will truly lead to the destruction of the village of Ein Karem. THE PLAN: The developers are pressuring to change the zoning from agricultural green space and public buildings to partially residential, so that they can make an astronomical profit at the public's expense. They intend to build more than 1,000 housing units in towers of 25-32 floors, and 2 hotels, one with 200 rooms and the other with 60 rooms. Above Carmit (the Ein Karem basin), about 3,700 housing units have already been recently approved in urban renewal projects, along Ulswanger and Brazil streets. These towers will rise on the ridge east of Ein Kerem. The Carmit Plan does not take this into consideration. Implementing of the Carmit Plan in addition to those plans will be disastrous for Ein Karem. The transportation infrastructure in the Ein Karem area is already unable to withstand the loads. The plan connects the project’s traffic, and that from the buildings planned above it, to the village’s Carmit Road. In addition, close by on Carmit Road will be the entrance to the parking lot of the IDF college (for about 2000 soldiers) that is to be built within a few years. Over 4,000 vehicles are expected to pass through Ein Karem's village roads during rush hours (approximately the number of cars on the Jerusalem-Tel Aviv highway during rush hours). The plan will cause a transportation failure in the entire area, nor does it allow for real parking needs. In the Carmit Plan, all the surface water runoff in the built-up areas is collected and connected to existing municipal infrastructure, which is already collapsing, causing flooding and damage to the nature in the Ein Karem during the winter. There are no doubts about the plan’s failure to deal with sewage system, and connecting it to Ein Karem's system, which is already collapsing, will be a disaster. The plan’s implementation will result in another urban nature site that will disappear forever. The view from Ein Karem will be building towers instead of the lush hills, and the village's historic and natural character will be strangled by high-density high rises. A little background: Ein Karem's history and religious traditions are very rich, spanning from 1100 BC until the days of the Second Temple period. There is evidence that the village was conquered by King Saul and, when the land was divided between the Hebrew tribes, the land of the village likely belonged to the tribe of Benjamin. There are indications that, during this period, the village was called "Beit Hakerem" – House of the Vineyard ("Beit Karma" in Aramaic). Additionally, it is possible that stones used in the Second Temple were brought from the village. According to Christian tradition, Elisheva (Elizabeth), the mother of John the Baptist, and Miriam (Mary), mother of Jesus, met when they were both pregnant, near Miriam’s spring in Ein Karem. John the Baptist was born and lived in Ein Karem, which led to the establishment of many monasteries in the area. IF THE CARMIT PLAN IS IMPLEMENTED, IT WILL DESTROY THE UNIQUE BIBLICAL CHARACTER OF THE EIN KAREM VILLAGE! This is a social, environmental and transportation disaster that can and must be STOPPED!