If anything was required to further undermine my faith in the Israeli government, this letter was it. You see, the minute we are cut off from the so-called Green Line, the point is made that we are expendable. In addition, the surrounding of Yishuvim with concrete fences and barbed wire (yes, I'm not making this up) would render us more vulnerable than ever to Arab terror.
To all the residents of Gush Etzion,
A few minutes ago I had a conversation with a senior source from one of the government ministries that is dealing with the "security fence". During the conversation a number of issues came up that I felt concerns all the local residents. Please distribute this letter to all your friends and acquaintances as soon as possible.
1.. The planning authorities in the Ministry of Defense have now concluded their work concerning the fence on the Green Line that will keep Gush Etzion out of the main fence of the state of Israel. So as not to arouse the residents of the Gush it was decided to first implement the eastern fence (around the Gush) and only after the elections to build the fence on the green Line (the direct quote of the source: "The decision to build an additional fence on the Green Line has already been taken with tens of thousands of shekels already invested in the planning and with instructions being not to disclose the actual building of the fence on the Green Line till after the elections."
2.. The actual work on the fence is to begin this week with the actual area chosen being the Abu Suda Forest between Migdal Oz and the Gush Etzion Junction (since the area is a nature preserve there was no fear of an appeal to the Supreme Court). It should be mentioned that this is a blatant violation of the agreement with all the local councils that there would be no work begun on the fence until there is total agreement on the route.
3.. During the situation evaluation that was held in the Ministry of Defense considerable fear was raised of the possibility of opposition to the fence by the residents of the Gush. To this end Danny Terza, the head of the fence authority, was sent to be interviewed for Makor Rishon for the edition published this past Friday (the most comprehensive interview ever conducted with Terza).
4. The Ministry of Defense is fully aware that they do not have a chance of successfully defending then present route of the fence in the Supreme Court so they want the work to be commenced so that afterwards the Supreme Court will rule that the fence should be built as close as possible to the settlements (as the proposed route of Shalom and Bitochon including a fence 500 meters north of Neve Daniel, a fence between Efrat and Neve Daniel, etc.) this way permitting the Ministry of Defense to claim innocently that it is not them but the Supreme Court that decided on the dangerous route.As it seems now the Gush will be surrounded by fences that will be as close as possible to the settlements with an additional fence to be built on the Green Line affectively cutting us off from the State!
To summarize:We have been hoodwinked in broad day light.
Yaron Rosenthal
Kfar Etzion
[Note: The Council for Peace and Security is a Leftist organization that works for a return to the 1967 borders. Imagine! With the great job Sharon did with the people from Gush Qatif (unemployment, depression, suicides, divorces, drug use....), it will now move on to do the same to another quarter of a million. ]
Further thoughts on the matter, here.
3 comments:
Again, there is no reason to be shocked by this as there are parts of Jerusalem proper that are "on the chopping block". Only those who "fooled themselves" into thinking that Gush Etzion was somehow a "consensus" settlement are surprised. Those who understood very early on that "din Kfar Etzion k'din Kfar Darom and din Efrat k'din Nevei Dekalim" are not shocked in the least. Recall that the whole hulabaloo over the Zayit and Tamar hills in Efrat happened under the Rabin government. There never was any consensus.
There's been plenty of time since the Rabin days to disbause onself of the notion that Gush Etzion is somehow in the "consensus. Yet, the council leader is still playing his games with the "establishment", planting his cactii fences and thinking he still knows what's best and that he's the ONLY one who can know what to do (and this is the guy who said that Moetzet Yesha needed to place more emphasis on the referendum issue as part of the campaign against the disengagement!!).
That being said, there's been lots of propaganda and dis-information being spread around from all sides in the last few weeks. To each their own agenda.
One needs to think twice before paying more than $1,000 a sq. meter for housing in Gush Etzion these days and probably shouldn't buy a home over 200 sq meters in size. Based upon what the Gush Katif law read, doing so would seem to be a bad investment. Then again, it shouldn't surprise anyone if the government comes one day and says that there's no more money for "relocation" (not that they've done such a wonderful job this time around), but the army is leaving as of such and such day........
I know Dr. Wolff you live in the Shetachim-but as a "close Talmid" of the Rav you know that for peace and to save 1 Jewish life he would even give up the kotel maaravi. I am not an expert in what is likely to be inIsrael's best interest but at a minimum there are people who in good faith believe you have to amputate an arm to save the body. Very painful decisions will be made. The fact that leaders may be crooks-does not necessarily lessen the correctness of decisions being made.
By the way re comment I think Israel made a mistake forcing Jews out of homes in Gaza-they should have announced in such and such a day we are leaving and handing territory to the PA. Anyone with brains would leave-because with at best equal neshek with the surrounding population that would be it.
Agree that anyone buying in shetachimj is stupid today. Frankly R. Riskin was deluding himself that Efrat was within consensus-what Israelis are going to suffer for wealthy Anglo Saxonim?
To settler@zion.org:
Such "everything or nothing" rhetoric is exactly what got us into this mess in the first place. The fact that people are complaining that Sharon & shut don't even intend to get political concession in return for disengagements, or even consider holding on to some territory beyond the green line, is hypocritical, since those same people refused, and still refuse, to even consider such options.
If things do indeed go as you wish, then din harova yiheyeh c'din yamit (has vehalilah).
To Mycroft:
According to your logic (retreat to save one life) we should abolish the state entirely, since neither Hamas nor Jihad recognize the right of Israel to exist in any capacity.
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