Public anger is mounting in Ramat Beit Shemesh D', one of the largest chareidi neighborhoods in Israel. The massive neighborhood, expected to reach the population size of entire chareidi cities, relies on just two entry points.
Over the past month, work began to narrow traffic lanes and reduce parking spaces at the entrance to Ramah D' 3, sparking protests from residents and business owners. New reports indicate that at the second entrance, in Ramah D' 1, a large medical center is planned by a kupat cholim, which could add severe strain to the neighborhood's transportation network.
Residents' main concern is not limited to a shortage of parking at the site itself. A medical center of this scale is expected to draw patients, staff and vehicles daily, adding congestion to one of only two entrances to the massive neighborhood.
This is before the commercial towers at the neighborhood entrance are fully occupied, and before construction of the planned hospital near the neighborhood, which is expected to worsen the already heavy traffic. Residents fear that the combination of these projects, alongside continued population growth, will turn the neighborhood's entrances into a transportation disaster.
The battle over parking and the space that "appeared":
About a year ago, legal proceedings took place over parking arrangements in the project that includes the Sun Mall shopping center and the towers above it. During those proceedings, claims were raised about a parking shortage, use of public open space, and parking calculations based on overlap between different uses. The picture that emerged was one of significant space shortage, requiring planning solutions to meet parking requirements.
Now, shortly after those proceedings, it turns out that thousands of square meters in the office tower above the mall were recently sold for the establishment of a large medical center, and suddenly several hundred square meters were "located" in the parking level to create a protected space, a basic requirement for opening the commercial center.
The development raises questions among residents. One neighborhood activist tells Kikar Hashabbat:
"After legal battles over every parking space, including claims about use of public space, a massive deal with a kupat cholim suddenly 'lands,' leading to a series of decisions that resemble shtiebel-style management, suddenly they 'locate' several hundred more square meters in the parking level to serve as a protected space. Suddenly the kupah announces it needs a clinic specifically on a few specific streets around the mall and office tower; the tower owners want the municipality to approve another zoning change after the municipality already violated its own restrictions and went beyond its authority to approve repeated changes to the plan. And all this at the expense of residents groaning under massive traffic jams at the neighborhood entrances."
What is puzzling is that in those proceedings, which discussed the project's future parking needs, the medical center was not presented as part of the expected activity. Moreover, in the appeals committee decision from August 2025, it was noted that the developers' representative stated there is currently no clinic in the complex.
Last-minute surprise: the tens-of-millions deal and the questionable sole-supplier process
In August 2025, at a very late stage of the towers' construction, the kupat cholim published a surprising notice of its intention to contract with a sole supplier for purchasing property to operate a clinic, with an area of at least 3,000 square meters. The requested area was limited to just a few streets around the mall and towers, not the entire neighborhood, where numerous clinics of the same kupat cholim already operate.
Although the sole-supplier document included an explicit requirement for shelter protection of the property (the space "located" in the parking level), this condition was not fulfilled. More than a year after the notice was published, the shelter solution has not yet been arranged with the municipality, and according to municipal sources, is not expected to be arranged. A deal worth tens of millions of shekels of public funds remains in limbo, with no clear prospect for operating the medical center.
Beit Shemesh municipality responded to the report: "No application for any change at Sun Mall has been submitted to Beit Shemesh municipality to date. If an application is submitted, professional staff in the engineering administration will examine it on its merits, and a decision will be made according to their recommendation."
