Settlement activity is “illegitimate and counterproductive to the cause
of peace. Continued settlement activity and expansion raises honest
questions about Israel’s long-term intentions and will only make
achieving a two-state solution that much more difficult,” Kirby told
reporters in Washington on Friday.
He spoke days after Defense
Minister Moshe Ya’alon agreed to expand the Gush Etzion bloc to include a
4-hectare site with eight stone buildings that is located off of Route
60 between the Gush Etzion junction and the Kiryat Arba settlement.
Settlers
want to operate a tourist center on the property geared to helping
visitors take advantage of Jewish tourist sites in the area, including
the Cave of the Patriarchs in Hebron.
The property was owned by
the US Presbyterian Church until 2008 where it ran a tuberculosis
hospital and then a hostel on the site. Inclusion of the site within the
Gush Etzion boundaries would make it easier for settlers to further
develop the property.
When queried about the compound by a
reporter at the daily briefing, Kirby said the US was “deeply concerned”
about the move, “which effectively creates a new settlement on 10 acres
in the West Bank.”
He then spoke in general about Area C of the West Bank, which is under Israeli military and civil rule.
“It’s
important to note that some 70 percent of the West Bank’s Area C has
already been unilaterally designated as Israeli state land, or within
the boundaries of these regional settlement councils,” Kirby explained.
“The
new decision only expands this significant majority of the West Bank
that has already been claimed for exclusive Israeli use. “Along with the
regular retroactive legalization of unauthorized outposts and
construction of infrastructure in remote settlements, actions such as
this decision clearly undermine the possibility of a two-state
solution,” Kirby said.
He added that “continued settlement
activity and expansion raise honest questions about Israel’s long-term
intentions and will only make achieving a two-state solution that much
more difficult.”
The US has asked both the Israelis and Palestinians to demonstrate their commitment to a two-state solution, Kirby said.
“Actions such as [the Gush Etzion] decision, we believe, does just the opposite,” he stressed.
Sharon, Massachusetts teenager murdered in terror attack in Israel
Greetings from Chicago where I have VERY limited internet access.
An 18-year old on his 'gap year' in Israel was murdered today in a terror attack near Gush Etzion. Below is the email sent out by my alma mater, Maimonides School in Brookline, Mass. from which Ezra Schwartz HY"D (May God Avenge his blood) graduated just a few months ago (Hat Tip: Lance K).
Dear friends,
It is with a broken heart that I must share with you the very sad news that Ezra Schwartz, z"l, a graduate of the Class of 2015, was murdered in a terrorist attack in Israel earlier today. Ezra was spending his gap year studying at Yeshivat Ashreinu in Beit Shemesh.
While here at school we are focused on supporting our 550 students and our alumni in the Class of 2015, I am writing you this brief note because we are all part of the Maimonides School family and today we suffered an unbearable loss.
We offer our deepest condolences to Ezra's parents Ari and Ruth Schwartz of Sharon and siblings Mollie '14, and current Maimonides students Avi, Elon, and Hillel.
May the Schwartz family and the Maimonides School family be comforted among the mourners of Zion and Jerusalem.
Very sincerely,
Naty Katz
Head of School
No, he was not in the IDF - he was in the Ashreinu Yeshiva in Beit Shemesh. Here's Arutz Sheva.
[Ezra Schwartz] and the other students who were hurt in the attack had come to
help build the Oz Vegaon site, which was established in memory of the
three yeshiva students who were abducted and murdered last summer.
His funeral will be held in Boston on Sunday.
ZAKA emergency services have contacted his family in the US, as well as a relative in Israel who is to identify his body.
The Beit Shemesh Municipality announced that it is "shocked and
grief-stricken by the murder of the yeshiva student, in the shooting
attack at Guush Etzion."
Schwartz had come, together with five other students from abroad, to hand out food to soldiers in Gush Etzion.
The five other students were lightly wounded and are being treated at Shaare Tzedek Hospital in Jerusalem.
The students are in Israel as part of a program in which youths
volunteer for 9.5 months, studying at yeshiva during the day and
volunteering in the evenings.
The adult who was killed in the attack was Yaakov Don, an alumnus of Yeshivat Har Etzion, where I also studied.
Full story of the Alon Shvut terror attack here. There was also a terror attack at a Tel Aviv synagogue today. That story is here. 'Peace' is not at hand.
The unbridled interference of Israel's Supreme Court in political and military issues of which it understands nothing has led to a situation in which Israel is about to place most of the land designated for the city of Gvaot outside the 'security fence' while still angering the fence's proponents and opponents.
In 2004, the International Court of Justice at the Hague issued a
non-binding advisory opinion, explaining that construction of the [security fence] over the pre-1967 lines was illegal.
Israel designed the
barrier to prevent the type of suicide bombings that killed around 1000
thousand people during the second intifada. It has refused to heed the
ICJ opinion, which it believes is legally flawed and the result of a
biased process.
But the pace of construction has been slow and
according to the United Nations, 12 years after the barrier's inception,
only 62% of its 712 kilometer route has been completed.
Among
the uncompleted sections is the route in the Gush Etzion region, just
outside Jerusalem, including a 45 kilometer stretch that was approved in
2006.
...
Palestinians,
settlers and environmentalists oppose the route and have appealed to
the High Court of Justice. Gush Etzion Regional Council head Davidi Perl
said that the planned route also places land outside the barrier which
is assumed to be part of Israel’s final borders in any permanent status
agreement.
This includes, he said, large portions of new project, Gevaot, where his council hopes to build a new West Bank city.
The
Defense Ministry last month reclassified the property as state land, to
pave the way for future building, but now the government intends to
approve barrier route that excludes the bulk of that project, he said.
...
In hopes
of blocking construction of the barrier near Battir, the Palestine
Liberation Organization sought help from the United Nations Educational,
Scientific and Cultural Organization, whose World Heritage Committee
registered the village's ancient terraces in June to the state of
Palestine. The Palestinians, the Gush Etzion Council and environmental
groups have also appeal to Israel’s High Court of Justice.
On
July 29th the HCJ ordered the government to review the issue by October
2nd, particularly in light of the diplomatic implications of Battir’s
new status as a World Heritage site. It noted a review was also needed
because in the last eight years the route has been altered for
environmental and quality of life reasons.
The status as a 'World Heritage' site - clearly a political move - has absolutely no effect on Israel's security needs, which should be the sole criterion in determining the fence's route.
The defense ministry’s legal expert Ahaz Ben-Ari advised the government that it could reauthorized the route.
“The
High Court of Justice’s orders to reauthorize the security barrier’s
route in the area of the village of Battir in light of UNESCO’s
decision, does not stem from legal issues resulting in the recognition
of the Battir terraces as a World Heritage site, but rather from the
diplomatic questions connected to the topic.”
And therefore the court has no place interfering. In a normal democracy, it's not up to the Supreme Court to determine the handling of diplomatic questions. Israel, however, is not a normal democracy.
“There is no legal
obstacle to authorizing [the barrier’s route], especially given that in
response to legal proceedings before the court the route has been
changed to lessen harm to the environmental and the landscape,” Ben-Ari
wrote. He added that the state has also promised to preserve the quality
of life of the Palestinians living in Battir.
The environmentalists are also whining about the route, but if the IDF was allowed to plan the route properly it probably wouldn't be anywhere near this area, but rather far deeper into the Judean desert.
USA Today admits that Jews bought 'grabbed' land in 'West Bank'
Look at Haaretz map of Israel land "grab" Fits 1969 US Rogers Plan - armistice borders w "insubstantial alterations" pic.twitter.com/l0sWxfzR3U
— Lenny Ben-David (@lennybendavid) September 1, 2014
The Gush Etzion bloc's core communities were founded before Israel's
establishment in 1948 on land purchased by Jews in the 1920s and 1930s.
Arab soldiers destroyed the communities when they fought against
Israel's founding during the 1948 war.
If the entire pretext for forcing Israel to give up all the land that was liberated in 1967 is what the UN calls 'the inadmissibility of conquest by force' then why was it okay when the Arabs forced the Jews out of Gush Etzion in 1948? Why is the UN not advocating undoing that conquest by force?
And why is it that most of you probably had no idea that Jews owned land in Judea and Samaria before 1948? (I can hear my friend Sunlight shouting 'COUNTIES' but many of these records are likely incapable of reconstruction and many of the documents held by the Arabs are fraudulent. There was never a land registry in Judea and Samaria like there is in most other parts of the West, and it's very difficult to prove anything belonged to anyone before 1967. But it is a fact that Jews owned the land on which the Gush Etzion bloc is situated before 1948).
Earlier today, a car driven by an Arab ran into a group of people waiting at a bus stop outside Gush Etzion. One 20-year old woman was injured, and was taken to Hadassah hospital.
The Arab drove off (as you can see) and was later captured near el-Arub, nearby Arab village. He claimed this was an accident.
Let's go to the videotape.
Based on that video, the police concluded that the driver acted intentionally and are pressing charges. More here.
Hamas has finally hit something. The Jewish Press reports that the alarm that went off in Jerusalem at 6:57 pm this evening was caused by rockets hitting the Gush Etzion area. Two of the rockets hit something... the 'Palestinian' parts of Hebron and Bethlehem.
BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
UPDATE SUNDAY 12:46 AM
Israel's Channel 1 (television) is reporting that Hamas hit the 'Palestinian capital' of Ramallah.
About twenty minutes ago, a Code Red warning went off in Beit Shemesh according to someone who posted on Facebook. It sounds plausible. Hamas shot 30 rockets in 10 minutes this evening and Code Red signals went off in Ashdod, Rehovot... and Tel Aviv.
Hamas fired over 30 rockets in a ten-minute period into Israel on
Monday, with hits reported in Sha'ar HaNegev, the Eshkol Region,
Netivot, Sderot, and Be'er Sheva between 8:00 - 8:10 pm IST.
No buildings were reportedly damaged. One Ashkelon resident is being treated for shrapnel injuries.
"Code red" sirens have reportedly been sounded as of 8:30 pm as far
as Tel Aviv and in Gush Etzion; rockets could be seen from as far away
as Beit Shemesh, just West of Jerusalem, eyewitnesses told Arutz Sheva.
The barrage follows the Security Cabinet decision to prepare for escalation in the South, including a possible military campaign.
Time to root the vermin out. To hell with Obama and Kerry.
UPDATE 8:59 PM
Within minutes of posting this, I got back tweets claiming that the sirens in Jerusalem and Mevasseret (which I did not report) were a false alarm, and another from someone claiming not to have heard anything in Tel Aviv. See the report above.
As you all know, I am in the US right now. I am leaving back to Israel tonight, and will be there tomorrow.
When Hamas Eyal Yifrach, Naftali Frenkel and Gilad Shaar HY"D (May God Avenge their blood), it was looking for another Gilad Shalit. Unfortunately, its terrorists got three of them, panicked and murdered them all.
The three teens were waiting at Geva’ot
Intersection, west of the settlement of Alon Shvut in the Etzion Bloc
south of Jerusalem, soon after 10:15 p.m, looking to catch a ride
heading west on Route 367 toward Beit Shemesh and from there to
locations in central Israel where each of them lived.
The prevailing assessment within the defense
establishment is that the kidnappers, at least at first, only saw one of
the hitchikers, perhaps Yifrach, who did not know Shaar and Fraenkel.
Only once the kidnappers’ Hyundai i35 came to a stop did the kidnappers
realize that they would be outnumbered by their hostages within the
small confines of the car. This may be what changed the nature of the
crime from kidnapping to murder, security sources suggested.
Inside the Hyundai, Israel alleges, were Hamas terrorists Amer Abu Aysha and Marwan Kawasme.
Recognizing, too late, that the car was not an
innocent Israeli vehicle, one of the teens called the police at 10:25
p.m. and whispered, “We’ve been kidnapped.” The call was transferred
immediately to a senior female officer, who continued to ask questions
but received no reply.
The call lasted for 2:09 minutes and was then cut
off. The officer called the number eight more times, but received three
busy signals and reached voicemail five times.
The kidnappers, apparently realizing that a
call had been made, shot the three teens dead soon afterwards in the
backseat of the car, military sources said.
...
The killers then drove a further 10 minutes or
so before switching vehicles. They abandoned the Hyundai i35, a
relatively new vehicle, and set it on fire.
They transferred the bodies to the second
vehicle, and drove close to the field in the Halhul area where the three
corpses were ultimately discovered, bound, partially buried, and in
what eyewitnesses said was “in not good condition,” on Monday afternoon.
The land where the bodies were found belongs to the Kawasme family,
Channel 2 news reported.
Unfortunately, I would bet that Aysha and Kawasme are beyond the reach of the IDF - either in Gaza or Qatar.
Breaking unconfirmed report: 'Palestinians' shoot at border police in Gush Etzion area UPDATED
I should preface this by saying that the picture is from a terror attack on the Gush Etzion tunnel road in November 2003.
I have an unconfirmed report (someone who has a relative in the security forces in the area sent me an email) that a Border Police unit was shot at in Har Gilo a short while ago. The shots came from el-Wallaje he said. Gush Etzion is the area from which the three teenagers were kidnapped on Thursday night.
El-Wallaje is a 'safe' 'Palestinian' village that we are told to use when coming to Jerusalem from the Gush Etzion area if the tunnel is closed. The place gives me the creeps.
Once, I had to drive through there at midnight. I managed to get to the tunnel checkpoint, and protested to whomever was on duty that my car has no protection (i.e. my windows aren't even shatterproof). He asked where I came from and I told him one of the Jewish towns in Gush Etzion. His response was 'and until now you were driving in Switzerland'? Well, no. But I wasn't driving right through an Arab village either....
UPDATE 11:26 PM
Israel radio reported on its 11:00 news that an army unit was fired upon on the tunnel road near Wallaje Probably the same attack as this one. No one injured.
Beer Sheva driver tells police he picked boys up from Kfar Etzion on Thursday
A driver from Beer Sheva told police on Saturday that he picked up the three boys who have since been kidnapped at a hitchhiking post in Kfar Etzion.
Meanwhile, the last person to
have seen the boys seems to be a Beersheba resident who picked up two of
them from the hitchhiking post.
"On Thursday evening I was on my way to pick
up my son, and on the way I took two of the three boys who were
kidnapped. I talked to them about the dangers of hitchhiking in the
dark, especially in a dangerous area. They tried to calm me and said
that everything would be all right, but their trip certainly wasn't all
right. I warned them about the risks, but they said that everything
would be okay," the driver said.
He informed police and the Shin Bet that he had picked them up hours before they were abducted.
The driver said that on Thursday night he and
his wife had gone shopping. At about 7 p.m., he had to pick up his son
at an extracurricular activity. He saw two boys flagging him down. "I
gave them a hand signal that I was staying in the city, but they let me
know they needed to get to the other side of town. I picked them up and
dropped them off at the nearby road junction.
Even though they were only
in the car for a little while, I spoke to them about how dangerous
hitchhiking is, especially when they told me they were headed for the
South Hebron Hills area."
"They told me they'd be careful and everything
would be all right. I dropped them off and went on my way. I used to
live in the South Hebron Hills, and I know the dangers of traveling in
that area," he said.
The next day, the man said, he saw the boys'
pictures on social media sites and realized that two of them were the
ones he'd picked up.
"When I gave my testimony to the Shin Bet, they
confirmed that these were in fact two of the boys, and said that I'd
given them a missing piece of the puzzle," he said.
It sounds like they were heading to the South Hebron Hills. Given that they lived in areas that are all north of Gush Etzion, one has to wonder why. (And that's not to excuse the kidnapping in any way, shape or form).
Breaking: 2- 3 boys kidnapped, IDF raid rumored, rescue rumored UPDATED SEVERAL TIMES LIVEBLOG
In a story that has been blacked out by Israeli media - but reported by 'Palestinian' media - two or three Jewish boys disappeared on their way home from the Jewish town of Alon Shvut to the Jewish town of Sussya, south of Hebron on Thursday evening. There was a rumor that the boys have been saved, that five terrorists have been killed and two have been wounded however that has NOT been confirmed. Here's the story up to the raid (which was supposed to be announced around 3:50 by the IDF Chief of Staff, but was not on the 4:00 news) from the 'Palestinian' Maan news service.
The Israeli military has sent a large number of military reinforcements
to the Hebron district in search of two missing Israeli settlers they
fear may have been kidnapped, sources exclusive to Ma'an said Friday.
Israeli
forces raided a number of homes in the Sanjar area of Dura, a city
southwest of Hebron, on Friday in search of the settlers after they
disappeared from Hebron, sources told Ma'an.
The Israeli media
has apparently still not reported on the incidents, but unofficial
sources said that the two settlers disappeared Thursday evening.
The
settlers were able to contact the army earlier Friday but the line of
communication was reportedly cut. However, the army was able to identify
the source of the call as being in the region of Sanjar.
...
Israeli forces had erected checkpoints at Halhul Bridge north of Hebron
as well as in the village of Beit Kahil, northwest of Hebron, locals
added.
A Palestinian security official told Ma'an that Israeli security forces said no such incident had occurred.
The
official said that a car believed to have Israeli license plates was
found on fire last night and that civil forces had extinguished the
fire, suggesting that the car, which was a Hyundai A35, was related to
the disappearance of the two settlers.
Eyewitnesses said Friday that Israeli special forces who were searching the area inspected the car and removed several objects.
Around 3:45 there was a rumor that the IDF had found the boys, killed five terrorists and wounded two, but the rumors have not been confirmed. The boys were apparently from Yeshivat Har Etzion in Alon Shvut and were on their way home last night when they were kidnapped.
Their names are Gilad Michael ben Bat Galim and Yaakov Naftali ben Rachel.
Keep praying.
UPDATE 4:58 PM
The incident is 'ongoing' and no further details are being shared according to a reliable source.
Israel holds Palestinian Authority responsible for safety of missing Yeshiva teenagers. #Hebron
— Khaled Abu Toameh (@KhaledAbuToameh) June 13, 2014
UPDATE 5:29 PM
Dr. Aaron Lerner - IMRA: The IDF Spokesman just (17:19) said at a press
conference that no details will be provided at this time as providing
information would only interfere with operations]
Three settler teens missing in West Bank, IDF fears kidnapping
Large-scale search conducted in Bethlehem and Hebron after missing settlers;
option of abduction arose after their cell phones stopped broadcasting
location signals at same location they were last seen.
Yoav Zitun, Itay Blumental YNET Published: 06.13.14, 17:09 / Israel News http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4529944,00.html
Israeli security forces have been scanning the Bethlehem and Hebron area on Friday after three yeshiva students went missing last night. Police was also checking whether there was a connection between a burnt car that was
discovered near Hebron and the disappeared teens.
The Shin Bet and the IDF's Central Command are treating the teens'
disappearance as a kidnapping by terrorists, because, among other things,
their cell phones stopped broadcasting location signals at the same location they were last seen - between Kfar Etzion and the settlement Alon Shvut.
Large security forces were scanning open areas in Gush Etzion - on foot, by
car and using advance observation devices.
Palestinian news agency Ma'an reported that Israeli security forces were
combing through southern Hebron. According to the report, the army set up
roadblocks in several spots, and IDF forces raided some houses and made a few arrests. At the same time, Israeli drones were reportedly seen flying
over the southern part of Mount Hebron.
IDF Chief of Staff Benny Gantz instructed all relevant army units, including
a unit dealing with hostage situations, to raise their level of alert and
prepare for any scenario.
"The goal is to figure out what happened before they disappeared, to
investigate our way backwards. So far, we haven't found any items belonging
to the two out on the field," a senior army source said.
He added that the search was now focusing on the intelligence front, and
that the IDF, Police and Shin Bet were holding a situation evaluation every
few hours.
A relative of one of the missing teens said the families recieved an update
from the IDF and police about the disappearance.
"He just disappeared, never made it home," the relative said. "His parents
are worried, praying, hoping for the best. We're all praying this incident
ends on the good side."
A spokesman for a settlement in which one of the missing teens resides said
that during the night, when the son failed to return home and didn't answer his phone, his father reported him missing to the police. At the same time, family members were searching for the teen at his friends' houses.
"At 8 am we received texts. We were asked if we knew where the boy was and
we were asked to wake up our children to see if he's staying over at one of
the homes," the spokesman said.
At first the family members thought the teen had just forgotten his keys and
went to sleep at a friend's house, as he had done before.
"As soon as we realized he was nowhere to be found, the atmosphere in the
settlement became very grave. People were hiding in their homes... we opened an operations room to provide residents with information, and organized a
mass prayer and read from the Book of Songs so this incident ends on a good
side," the spokesman continued.
The spokesman added that yeshiva students often make the journey from Alon
Shvut to the Gush Etzion junction and from there to Jerusalem, and onto the settlement via Shiloh junction.
The IDF is examining whether the teens tried to hitch a ride in the Etzion
area, not far from the Gush Etzion junction, an area where many settlers hitchhike despite army warnings and repeated alerts on terror organizations planning to commit a kidnapping.
In recent weeks, the Shin Bet exposed several attempts by terror cells to
kidnap Israeli soldiers or civilians in order to use them as a bargaining chip to secure the release of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jail.
Roi Kais contributed to this report.
UPDATE 5:39 PM
RT @JudgeDan48: The English media insistence on labeling the 3 Israelis missing as "settlers" is meant to belittle the severity of it.
— Aussie Dave (@Israellycool) June 13, 2014
UPDATE 6:28 PM
Here's an update from the IDF spokesperson.
Let's go to the videotape.
UPDATE 6:36 PM
If you have a Twitter account please retweet this:
3 Israeli children missing. Feared kidnapped by Palestinian terrorists to use as bargaining chips to free other terrorists @hrw@hrf@UN_HRC
— Gerald M. Steinberg (@GeraldNGOM) June 13, 2014
UPDATE 7:08 PM
According to my sources, two of the missing boys are 16 and one is 19.
One boy is US citizen
To kidnap three teens requires a terrorist team for logistics, one or more stolen Israeli cars, a team to grab the boys and a team to prepare a place to hide them.
This suggests a terrorist cell (Hamas or Palestinian Islamic Jihad cell - maybe even Fatah's al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigade) and the 'Palestinian Authority' not acting against them.
The 'Palestinians' often kill the hostages and then negotiate over the bodies. Hashem Yerachem (May God Have mercy).
There was a drive-by shooting near Tekoa in the Etzion bloc around 8:30 on Tuesday night. Fortunately, no one was injured.
Shortly after 8:30 PM on Tuesday, there was a drive-by shooting in Gush Etzion at some IDF troops.
The shooting took place at the junction between Maaleh Amos and Tekoa, which is east of Efrat.
No one was injured in the attack.
The State's Attorney's office informed the Supreme Court on Thursday that the government plans to present plans to build 40 new homes in Nokdim, which is part of the Gush Etzion bloc but outside the 'security fence.' The announcement was made in court a few hours before US Secretary of State John FN Kerry arrived in Israel, leading the media to imply that the timing was intended to impair the goals of Kerry's visit. The court responded by issuing an injunction against continuing the construction of 14 of the 40 homes, which had been started two years ago. Coincidences? Maybe.
News of the pending authorizations was first published by Army Radio
on Thursday, hours before Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu was due to
meet with US Secretary of State John Kerry to discuss possibilities for
resuming peace talks.
The Palestinians have refused to negotiate
directly with Israel until it halts West Bank settlement activity and
Jewish building in east Jerusalem. Israel has refused to accede to that
request. Kerry is looking to break the impasse.
...
Deputy Foreign Minister Ze’ev Elkin told Army Radio that news of the
plans broke as a result of the project’s legal situation and had nothing
to do with Kerry’s visit.
Legal matters cannot be dependent on
the diplomatic agenda or visits from foreign dignitaries, Elkin said,
adding that Netanyahu’s last government established a policy to
authorize Jewish West Bank construction when possible, particularly if
it was on state land.
...[Gush Etzion regional council chairman Davidi] Perl noted that if the council approves the plans, the 14 homes would be retroactively authorized.
A
spokesman for Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon said that the 40-home
project was on state land. He added that former defense minister Ehud
Barak had given initial approvals to the project.
...
The Gush Etzion Regional Council reacted angrily to the court’s decision to issue a temporary injunction against the 14 homes.
It
charged that the court acquiesced to a baseless petition against a
project on state land located within Nokdim’s municipal boundaries.
My guess is that the timing was fortuitous, but the government was happy to let it go ahead to show the 'Palestinians' that they have something to lose through their stubborn refusal to negotiate. After all, if the can make Israel stop building forever simply by demanding a freeze, why should they ever come to the table?
What's an army to do when its political echelon makes it fight with its hands tied behind its back? It builds a bypass road. That's what's going on in the southern sector of Judea between Gush Etzion and Kiryat Arba.
A senior IDF officer said that since the IDF is unable to stop the
terrorist attacks on Route 60, between the Gush Etzion Junction and
Kiryat Arba (Hebron), and specifically the section that passes by the
Arab villages of El Arub and Beit Ummar, the army will instead be
building a bypass road and a bridge, The Jewish Press was told by reliable sources.
Etzion Brigade commander Col. Yaniv Elalouf said in a closed meeting
with local residents of Efrat that the bypass road would move Israeli
traffic around 200-300 meters away from El Arub and 400 meters away away
from Beit Umar. The road would also be raised on a bridge in that
section, and come out near Carmei Tzur.
The officer said that the current proximity of Arab houses to the
main highway provides the terrorists with the cover needed to to easily
attack Israeli motorists and then quickly escape. By building a bypass
bridge and road, the terrorists would be forced out into an open area to
commit their terror attacks (or use longer range weapons).
The officer estimated that the road would be finished within a year to a year and a half.
So until then, those of you who live south of Gush Etzion off Route 60 are sitting ducks. I'm sure that's making you feel all warm and fuzzy....
The officer said that the road is not being built because we are afraid, but because the IDF is unable to contain the attacks.
And 'we will know how to respond.' What a load of crap. The road is being built because the government won't let the IDF contain the attacks. Otherwise, we're in deeper trouble than I believe we are. Maybe the IDF had better admit that's the case rather than projecting an image of weakness.
The road will likely cost millions of dollars to build, at a time
when the government budget in general and the IDF portion of it in
particular are being cut. But there’s a more profound cost to this
decision, in morale and in the continued IDF failed strategy of dealing
with terrorism in Judea and Samaria.
No one is doubting any longer that a full-fledged third intifada has
been brewing there, encouraged by statements made by visiting President
Barack Obama, as well as more recent statements by visiting Secretary of
State John Kerry. But the IDF’s approach to this acute problem of
lawlessness and murder, is to name it “popular terrorism” — meaning it
is somehow legitimized by the fact that a lot of Arabs support it — and
to invent mad plots of “containing” it.
Report: 'Palestinians' raised flag over Moshav Elazar
The 'Palestinian' Maan news agency is reporting that 'Palestinians' raised their flag outside of Moshav Elazar, a small Jewish village in the Gush Etzion area. However, as you can see from the picture above, all they did was walk along the road next to the village's entrance holding flags.
Activists raised Palestinian flags at the entrance to a Bethlehem-area
settlement on Friday, at a protest in solidarity with Palestinians
jailed in Israel.
Activists gathered at the Elazer settlement,
south of Bethlehem, chanting "Free the prisoners," local committee
activist Muhammad Braijieh said.
...
Israeli troops intervened in the protest and a fistfight erupted, he
said. An Israeli military spokeswoman said around 30 Palestinians
blocked the entrance to Elazer and forces asked them to leave, but she
was not aware of any physical confrontations.
After the protest, activists blocked the bypass road in front of the settlement.
One of these days there's going to be a serious incident from these 'protests.' One has to wonder whether the IDF has the manpower deployed to stop them sooner.
A bravery fiercer than death: The 35 heroes of Gush Etzion
For those of you who are not familiar with the story of the Gush Etzion 35, this will be especially enlightening. Gush Etzion, which is in Judea, was purchased by Jews and five towns were set up there between 1943-47. When the War of Independence started they came under attack. 65 years ago this week, 35 Haganah troops trying to resupply the towns were murdered because they allowed two Arab women gathering wood (I had previously heard an elderly Arab shepherd, but the video talks about two young Arab women) to live.
Here's the story of the 35. Let's go to the videotape. More after the video.
Someone with whom I used to work was one of the defenders left in Gush Etzion when it fell; we have not been in touch in many years. He was a Leftist when I knew him (he and his wife were members of Peace Now). He told me that the surviving defenders were taken prisoner by the Jordanian legion and taken to a prison camp in Jordan. The only reason they were not massacred was that the British were watching over the legion and would not allow them to massacre the Jewish prisoners. Many of the prisoners were civilians - the Jordanians took all the males (over age 16 if I recall correctly), but the British made the Jordanians let the women and children go, as was the case in Jerusalem. Eventually, the Jews were the subject of a prisoner exchange.
In case you missed what the video was hinting at when they talked about body parts from the 13:00 mark, the Arabs mutilated the bodies, as is their wont, and they had to do a Goral HaGra in order to bury some of them:
"One dramatic instance of the use of the Gra Goral was in the
identification of the bodies of 12 members of the Lamed Heh (the Convoy
of 35, with the Hebrew letters lamed and heh being equivalent to the
numbers 30 and 5, respectively ). The 35 fighters, members of the
Haganah pre-state militia, were killed in January 1948, during the War
of Independence, at the foot of the Arab village of Tzurif, during their
attempt to reach the Etzion Bloc of Jewish settlements, south of
Jerusalem. The bodies of the fighters were mutilated by the Arab
attackers who killed them, and only in 1951 were the corpses gathered.
By that time, it was possible to identify only 23 of the bodies
conclusively.
The chief rabbi of Jerusalem at the time, Tzvi Pesach Frank, ruled
that the identification of the remaining bodies would be determined by
the Gra lottery, and the task was assigned to the revered Jerusalem sage
Rabbi Aryeh Levin.
The identification took place in Levin's beit midrash, in the
presence of representatives of the bereaved parents. Twelve candles were
lit, the Bible was opened at random seven times and Rabbi Levin ruled
that as they stood in front of the remains of each of the fallen
fighters, the last verse on the page had to include the name, or an
allusion to the name, of each of those whom they were trying to
identify. "How amazed everyone was when one of the verses that first
appeared was 'The earth is the Lord's, and the fullness thereof; the
world, and they that dwell therein,' a verse that [in Hebrew] begins
with the word 'to the Lord,'" which is abbreviated in Hebrew with the
initials lamed-heh. "Moreover, to everyone's amazement, every page spoke
unequivocally. In the first verse they reached there was a specific
name that clearly identified one of the fallen ... One after the other
... the identity of the fallen was determined." (Quoted in "A Tzaddik in
Our Time: The Life of Rabbi Aryeh Levin," by Simcha Raz, who also
provides the official minutes of the lottery. ) While a lottery was
often used for private matters, here the lottery was conducted for the
purpose of a decision of great public significance."
May we be privileged to see God Avenge the blood of the 35.
Netanyahu tells Obama to stick it where the sun don't shine
Projecting strength a week before the Israeli elections, Prime Minister Netanyahu has effectively told President Obama to take his objections to 'settlement expansion' and stick them where the sun don't shine. On Wednesday, the Housing and Construction Ministry issued a tender for 200 new housing units in Efrat (which is part of the Gush Etzion bloc which President George W. Bush promised would be retained by Israel as part of any 'final settlement' with the 'Palestinians') and Kiryat Arba.
This is from the first link.
According to Channel 2, the tenders are for 84 new housing units in
Kiryat Arba near Hebron, and for an additional 114 tenders in the West
Bank settlement of Efrat.
...
The publishing of tenders for new settlement units on Wednesday drew condemnation from Netanyahu's political opponents.
Will this help Likud in the polls? Maybe. Until now, at least, Netanyahu has not been seen as the Likudnik most likely to go to bat for housing in Judea and Samaria.
Alaluf's assessment
of the situation was a pessimistic one: "The process lead by Abu Mazen
is over, replaced by the attitude promoted by Hamas. Abu Mazen
is trying to survive the Arab Spring and he understands that the path of negotiations with Israel is over.
"The question is – what will follow? We may see regional anarchy along a military campaign of our own."
The sector chief expressed concern that should Israel mount another military operation in Gaza,
or have to deal with a regional deterioration, "The IDF may face a shortage in reservists."
But not all is bleak:
Alaluf was optimistic as to the IDF's ability to deal with terrorist
threats, saying he does not foresee a string of suicide attacks, which
became the gruesome hallmark of the al-Aqsa Intifada.
"The third intifada won't be like the second one, which
surprised us. We're ahead of the game now and terror won't be able to
slither up to central Israel because we're better prepared."
I am an Orthodox Jew - some would even call me 'ultra-Orthodox.' Born in Boston, I was a corporate and securities attorney in New York City for seven years before making aliya to Israel in 1991 (I don't look it but I really am that old :-). I have been happily married to the same woman for thirty-five years, and we have eight children (bli ayin hara) ranging in age from 13 to 33 years and nine grandchildren. Four of our children are married! Before I started blogging I was a heavy contributor on a number of email lists and ran an email list called the Matzav from 2000-2004. You can contact me at: IsraelMatzav at gmail dot com
