After more than a decade of an unofficial freeze on construction in Beit El, work on the long-promised 300 housing units is finally underway.
Beit El Mayor Shay Alon met with the contractors who won the tenders to build the units as they brought their equipment to begin the preliminary phases of construction Thursday morning.
Alon recited a traditional blessing on reaching a major milestone. "I cannot believe that we have started the new year with 300 housing units," he told Arutz Sheva. "This would not have happened without the determination of all the residents of the settlement. I feel that this is more than closing the circle. I wore a white shirt this morning because it is a holiday. It's a dream come true."
"The last time there were tractors, they came to demolish [people's homes]," he he said, adding that "now the tractors are coming to the land of Beit El to build. We are bringing to quality of life of the center to Beit El. We'll see a lot of public buildings and boys and girls playing in the streets."
Kedma Real Estate director Gago Klugman told Arutz Sheva this morning, "We won an ILA tender, two ten-story buildings with an underground parking lot in the heart of the settlement, and we plan to build two high-rise buildings like in the center of the country."
"To come to Beit El is something special, and beyond the business aspect, here is the added value of the importance of the place, and we are embarking on a new path," Klugman added.
Danny Davidi, sales manager of Avnei Derech, said, "We were waiting for a long time for this project, to build in the settlements in Eretz Israel, and we are in the lion's share of the tender, 182 units in ten buildings with two elevators [each]."
Yoni Drainoff, who was the contractor who built the two buildings in western Beit El that were destroyed five years ago and is currently working with the Eretz Israel company that won the tender, told Arutz Sheva that he feels a strong sense of closure. "After the destruction of the two buildings, I decided to move on, to return to the building in Beit El, and I have not given up on the buildings there, and I hope that Ayelet Shaked will solve this and build there too."