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Chairman of the Forum, Prof. Alon Tal, in an interview with “Globes” about current trends in population density in Israel.

“When Israelis complain about traffic jams, schools, hospitals, courts, air quality, the disappearance of the Dead Sea, or poverty – they can not see that this is one phenomenon: demographic growth.”
“Technology may allow us to grow taller, produce more food on every piece of land. To partially optimize public systems. But the right question is whether this is the Land of Israel we want. Do we want to build cities here like Mumbai, with 10 million residents? We did not come to the Land of Israel to destroy it or to build a city-state of buildings only. Mother Earth does not lie. It sets limits. Every year since they began measuring in 1968, 10 square kilometers have disappeared, and since 2013 it has jumped to 20 square kilometers a year, and since then it has remained that way, simply because the demographic pressure is not linear. You reach the threshold and then boom, a jump occurs that you did not prepare for. So we can say, let’s get smaller, we’ll reach 30 million and more, but we have to do it with our eyes open. Let us know what the price is, to have a very crowded place here and there will be no nature here. “

“The quality of life in Israel is not bad at the moment, but the decline in quality of life will not be linear,” he says, “when I wrote the book there was 108 percent occupancy in hospitals and now I’ve seen that they’ve already reached 130 percent in some places. Over 40 students A child who needs more attention will not get it, and the overcrowding in general and the traffic jams, in particular, make people more violent, and psychologists and research say: If today you drive 9 mph to Tel Aviv, it’s clear that it’s going down to 5 mph. Exactly the real estate story and the insanity of apartment prices – you run on the treadmill and can not catch up and change the price trend.”

“As a father, I want my daughters to stay in Israel. Will they stay here if they have to live in 80- or 100-story skyscrapers? I shudder at it. Obviously, not everyone is suitable, and it is important to remember that not every apartment in a skyscraper is a luxury penthouse. The density is blessed until it becomes overcrowded. Real estate, like transportation, is already leading us to a mediocre quality of life at best – this is the exemplary company we wanted to establish here – the blessing of the Land of Israel – these are not clichés, today’s decisions will determine this. “

For the full article in Gobles click here