Last Year’s March! Join us for this years March! (Info below)

The Jewish settlements of the eastern part of the Etzion Bloc in the West Bank - unlike the consensual settlements of the western part of the bloc - have not been suffering from an overdose of popularity among Israeli statesmen.

On the map of the permanent status agreement drawn up by negotiating teams in the past, Nokdim, Tekoa, Kfar Elad and Ma’aleh Amos - settlements in which about 3,000 people live - are marked as locations destined to be evacuated. The fact that up until about a year ago the trip from the eastern part of the Etzion Bloc to Jerusalem took about three quarters of an hour, whereas the distance between the western part of the Etzion Bloc and the capital amounts to only a 15-minute trip, only demonstrated the gap between the authorities’ attitude toward settlements like Kfar Etzion or Efrat in the western part of the Etzion Bloc, and the step-children to the east of the route of the separation fence.

Then everything changed, or at least this is the feeling among the inhabitants of the eastern part of the bloc. After long years of struggle, the Za’atra Bypass Road was completed, a fast road 10 kilometers long that connects the settlements of the eastern part of the bloc directly to Har Homa in Jerusalem - itself a controversial and relatively new neighborhood beyond the 1967 border.

The road has whittled the trip to Jerusalem down to 15 minutes, and has changed the atmosphere in those settlements from one extreme to another. In Tekoa and Nokdim, it is now impossible to obtain a room to rent, and the prices of building plots have soared by 70 percent.

Jerusalem’s new suburbs

Over the last few months, 20 new families have joined Kfar Eldad, where some of the houses were empty, and others have been refused because of lack of space. Suddenly the settlements of the eastern Etzion bloc have discovered that they have become suburbs of Jerusalem, like their siblings to the west.

Now this new reality is ostensibly under threat by the possibility that Shadma, an abandoned military base in Area C which overlooks the new road that connects the eastern part of the bloc to Jerusalem, will be transferred to the Palestinians.

Up until 1967, a Jordanian army base was located at Shadma. Then Israel established military bases of its own, but for the past two years the place has been empty and the settlers’ action committees have been waging a fierce battle against the Civil Administration’s plan to hand it over to the Palestinians. The latter want to establish there, by means of the Beit Sahur municipality, a neighborhood with a hospital, an amusement park and perhaps also an industrial zone.

The field echelons of the Israel Defense Forces are also opposed to the plan. They fear that the settlements of the eastern part of the bloc will be cut off again. The road, they stress, is less than one kilometer distance from Shadma, in the range of light arms and machine guns.

The struggle has already changed the reality on the ground, to some extent. Nearly every week inhabitants of Har Homa and the Etzion bloc visit the site. They demonstratively ignore the warning sign "Closed Military Zone" that confronts them; they hold picnics, hikes, heritage tours and Torah lessons there, and about two weeks ago they raised an Israeli flag on the water tower.

The struggle for Shadma has engendered unusual cooperation between a Jerusalem neighborhood committee (that of Har Homa, which is overlooked by Shadma) and action committees on behalf of the settlers, between the settlers’ establishment (the Etzion bloc regional council and its head Shaul Goldstein) and the anti-establishment action committees headed by Nadia Matar of Women in Green and Arieh and Ditya Yitzhak, and between the leaderships of the eastern and western parts of the bloc, which politicians have often sought to divide.

This struggle has put on the map another point of confrontation between the settlers and the anarchist organizations that are also active at Shadma, in an attempt to ensure that the place will be handed over to the Palestinians.

In Hebron, the encounter between the settlers and the anarchists led to open conflict. Here, everything is still hidden beneath the surface, and only the competing graffiti written by one side and then obliterated by the other, time after time, testifies to the potential for a similar uproar.

At the beginning of this month, a meeting of the Committee for a Jewish Shadma was held at the Gush Etzion community youth, sport and culture center. Shaul Goldstein outlined two stages: the first - prevention of the handover of the place to the Palestinians, and the second - the establishment of a Jewish settlement or outpost on the site.

He noted that Jewish settlement in the Etzion Bloc accounts for only 4 percent of the territory. "Shadma," he asserted, "is part of what is most precious to us."

MK Uri Ariel (National Union-National Religious Party) proposed working vis-a-vis the Defense Ministry, the Central Command and the Shin Bet security service to ensure that they will oppose "the destructive ideas of the Civil Administration."

Har Etzion Yeshiva head Rabbi Yaakov Madan spoke about "daily action, with all our might, in order to succeed in the struggle for the eastern road, which is a struggle for settlement contiguity between Har Homa and the Etzion Bloc."

A distant past

The struggle for Shadma has already engendered the first stirrings of a political lobby, and also a reminder from the distant past: Close to the abandoned military camp, at a place called Beit Betza, traces of the Greek siege on the Hashmoneans have been found. This is where Yehonatan, Shimon and Yohanan fled after the battle in which their brother, Judah Maccabee, was killed.

However, despite the historical connection, the settlers are more interested in the present. Arutz Sheva, the settlers’ pirate radio station, reported dramatically a few days ago that "the Israeli flag that was hung on the tall water tower in Shadma is visible from afar, and declares proudly that the place will not be abandoned to the Arab enemy."

The flag is the sign. Shadma is one of the stops on the trans-outpost trip that the outpost youth are holding this week. A happening and a bike ride are planned for the site, and on Wednesday, a marathon of lectures in preparation for the Ninth of Av: from destruction to redemption. 

=============================================
Women For Israel’s Tomorrow  (Women in Green)
POB 7352, Jerusalem 91072, Israel
Tel: 972-2-624-9887 Fax: 972-2-624-5380
mailto:wfit2@womeningreen.org
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July 2008

Dear Friends,

This email is to update you on our latest activities.

Women in Green have never been as active as in the past year.

Among many other struggles, we are at the forefront of the battle for a Jewish Shdema. Shdema is an abandoned Israel Defense Forces Army Camp, located on Israeli land, close to Har Choma on the Jerusalem - Eastern Gush Etzion Highway. To our shock we found out that the Olmert-Livni government is planning to hand over this strategic area to the Palestinian Authority to build an Arab neighborhood, thus endangering both Jerusalem and strangling Gush Etzion.

Women in Green initiated the struggle for a Jewish Shdema, organizing both the local Action Committees and our wonderful youth, both leading them into continued action and financing the entire struggle.

Our efforts have born fruit. Members of Knesset and other public figures have joined in the opposition to hand over Shdema to the Arab enemy.

Over the past week we have come, in small groups, to Shdema on a daily basis only to find out that the area had been declared to be a "closed military zone". This did not deter us, at the contrary. Ironically, thanks to the order calling the area a "closed military zone", no Arabs or anarchists were allowed up there and thus Shdema has basically been in Jewish hands for a week.

On Friday we organized a more massive arrival in Shdema.

Despite the order declaring the area a "closed military zone", tens of lovers of Israel, men, women, youth and children managed to arrive to Shdema this past Friday morning making it clear to all that nobody will tell us where we can and where we cant go and walk in the Land of Israel. No doubt the authorities did not expect such a large turn-out. After a nice Israeli brunch we listened to a shiur (lecture) on parashat shavua.

In addition, an athletic youth managed one again to climb onto the high water tower and raise the Israeli flag, proudly declaring to the Arab enemy in the area: the Land of Israel belongs to the Jewish people and we will not allow anyone to take it from us.

Thank G-d we see that the struggle for a Jewish Shdema is growing with more and more people joining.

Until we succeed to settle Shdema permanently, we have to continually return to prevent the Arabs, with the help of Israeli leftists and international anarchists, from once again taking over.

Parallel to the struggle for a Jewish Shdema, Women in Green continue with its chizuk (strengthening) trips to the outposts, and many other related activities connected to fighting for the survival of the Jewish People in the Land of Israel.

In addition, our major yearly event is approaching:

The Women in Green Tisha b’Av March around the Walls of Jerusalem’s Old City in which thousands of Jews participate, religious and secular, young and old, both new olim and natives, all united in their love for our homeland.

This year, more than ever, when there is talk about giving away parts of our G-d given Biblical Homeland and our Capital, we must show the world and our own government that "For Jerusalem’s Sake we will not be silent"! The Jewish People must continually defend the Land of Israel and Jerusalem.

For those who have not yet been part of this exciting Tisha B’Av event, we put up on our website a short movie about last year’s March, to give you a feeling of the importance of this moving event. Click on http://www.womeningreen.org and then click on the movie to see it. On that same page you will see a copy of this years flyer.

We hope you can join us this year in person to take part in this unforgettable uplifting experience.

This year Tisha b’Av falls on Motsaei Shabbat, August 9th, 2008.

The flyer reads as follows:

At 21:45 pm ­ Eicha reading at Safra Square. Bring a Megilat Eicha, a flag and a flashlight.

At 22:30 pm ­ Our Walk begins, led by Rabbi Israel Ariel from Machon Hamikdash, MK Prof. Arieh Eldad, Atty Elyakim Haetzni and Dudu Elharar. We will pass the New Gate, Damascus Gate and the Flower gate. At the Lion’s Gate we will assemble to proclaim, in the words of Eicha, that we will not allow "our inheritance to be turned over to strangers" and pray "to renew our days as of old". We will end our Walk at the Dung gate near the Kotel. We have a police permit. Come with your family and friends and take part in a Tisha’ B’Av evening to be remembered!

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Dear friends, we turn to you again to help us continue our activities. You are the ones who realize how important our struggle is. Not enough people understand that "activism" costs money on a constant basis. Unlike the anti-Jewish and anti-Zionistic leftist organizations in Israel who are constantly funded by the European Union and other Israel-haters, we only have you, our loyal friends, to count on.

The struggle for Shdema is a microcosm of all that is wrong in Israel with a government which hands over its own land to the enemy. Please help us continue the struggle for a Jewish Shdema!

The yearly March around the Walls is a vow of loyalty of the People of Israel to the Land of Israel and to Jerusalem as its undivided united capital. Help us repeat this march again this year.

Please send your donation (all currencies accepted) to:

WOMEN IN GREEN, POB 7352, Jerusalem 91072 ISRAEL

US citizens only: For tax deductible donations please write your U.S. dollar donation to THE CENTRAL FUND FOR ISRAEL. You must indicate that the donation is for Women in Green and send it to:
Women in Green, POB 7352, Jerusalem, 91072.

To make a contribution through Paypal please go to our website http://www.womeningreen.org and click on the Paypal logo

With Love for Israel,

Ruth and Nadia Matar
Women in Green

=============================================
Women For Israel’s Tomorrow  (Women in Green)
POB 7352, Jerusalem 91072, Israel
Tel: 972-2-624-9887 Fax: 972-2-624-5380
mailto:wfit2@womeningreen.org
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Dear Friends,

The presumptive Democratic presidential candidate, U.S. Senator Barack Obama, arrived on Tuesday for what was scheduled to be a thirty-six hour visit to Israel and the Palestinian Authority. Obama came with a large entourage which included his Middle East advisers, Dennis Ross and Daniel Kurtzer.

In a statement at Ben-Gurion International Airport after arriving from Jordan, Obama condemned an attack a few hours earlier by a Palestinian tractor driver who ran amuck on a Jerusalem street smashing into a bus, overturning a car, and seriously injuring an Israeli, who lost his leg. The terrorist was shot dead by a civilian and a police officer. This was the second time in only a month that an Arab terrorist driving a large construction vehicle deliberately plowed into traffic in a busy Jerusalem street.

The attack occurred very close to the hotel where Obama and his retinue subsequently spent the night.

(By the way my friend, Moshe Feiglin, was an eye-witness. He described the situation as follows: “The first thing the terrorist did was to lower the shovel on a female pedestrian right near me. I jumped when there was a boom when the shovel hit the street. He missed by centimeters, thank G-d. In the first second I thought it was some kind of accident, confusion, but then he continued in a zigzag on King David Street, hitting cars, and turning over many vehicles.”)

The terror attack hopefully made Obama understand what it is like to live under the continued threat of terror and death from Arab terrorists, since he and his people planned to stay overnight at the Kind David Hotel just minutes away from the terror attack.

The following is an interesting article in the Herald Tribune of Wednesday July 23, 2008.

AMMAN: Senator Barack Obama said Tuesday that there was "no doubt security has improved in Iraq," but that he would not hesitate to overrule American commanders and redirect forces to fight what he called "a perilous and urgent" battle against terrorism in Afghanistan.

"My job as a candidate for president and a potential commander in chief extends beyond Iraq," Obama told reporters in Jordan after finishing a three-day tour of Iraq and Afghanistan.

Obama, who is on a weeklong trip through the Middle East and Western Europe, lauded the efforts of the U.S. military to reduce violence in Iraq.

He conceded that top U.S. commanders had said they resisted the idea of a timetable for withdrawing troops, saying that they wanted to "retain as much flexibility as possible."

Asked whether he intended to ignore their advice, Obama declared: "No, I’m factoring in their advice, but placing it in this broader strategic framework that’s required."

With the old city of Amman in the background and the Temple of Hercules in the distance, Obama held a news conference with his delegation to Iraq, Senators Chuck Hagel, Republican of Nebraska; and Jack Reed, Democrat of Rhode Island.

All three senators, critical of the Bush administration’s policy on Iraq, renewed their support for a gradual withdrawal of troops from that country and a stronger focus on Afghanistan.

"My goal is to no longer have U.S. troops engaged in combat operations in Iraq," Obama said, declining to put a specific number of forces who should be left behind to perform counterterrorism operations and to train Iraqi troops.

The presidential campaign of Senator John McCain immediately criticized Obama for his remark about overruling commanders, saying that McCain, the presumptive Republican candidate, would always listen to commanders in war zones.

For nearly an hour in Amman, Obama took questions from U.S. and Jordanian journalists before heading to a private meeting with King Abdullah II and dining later with a delegation that included Queen Rania.

It was the first time during the highly publicized trip abroad that Obama held a news conference, and he responded to extensive questions about what he had learned after meeting with commanders and troops in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Obama conceded that the top U.S. commander in Iraq, General David Petraeus, opposed setting a timetable for withdrawing forces.

But if elected president, Obama said, he would have to factor in a wider degree of concerns, including providing a boost to the U.S. economy and expanding the fight in Afghanistan, whose situation he called "perilous and urgent."

"If I were in his shoes, I’d probably feel the same way," Obama said of Petraeus. "But my job as a candidate for president and a potential commander in chief extends beyond Iraq."

In Afghanistan, he noted, "you’ve got a deteriorating security situation, and all the commanders uniformly indicated that two to three brigades would be extraordinarily helpful in allowing them to accomplish their goals."

He added, "The only way we’re going to get those troops over there in a meaningful way is if we are taking them from someplace else. So that’s something that I have to factor in."

Tucker Bounds, a spokesman for McCain, criticized Obama for failing to listen to the guidance of U.S. military commanders in Iraq.

"By admitting that his plan for withdrawal places him at odds with General David Petraeus," Bounds said, "Barack Obama has made clear that his goal remains unconditional withdrawal rather than securing the victory our troops have earned."

At a meeting in Rochester, New Hampshire, McCain said that while he had often said that he would rather lose a campaign than a war, "It seems to me that Senator Obama would rather lose a war in order to win a political campaign."

Obama hesitated when asked in the news conference whether voters should give McCain credit for his judgment in supporting the buildup of U.S. troops (i.e. the “surge”) last year, which contributed to the reduction in violence in Iraq. Obama has mentioned other factors that contributed to the reduction, including U.S. understandings with Sunni leaders in Anbar Province.

[R.M.: Obama himself had been against the surge but refuses to admit this.]

"I will leave it to the voters to make that decision," Obama said.

Then, as he squinted into the bright sunshine, he made a call for bipartisanship. "Regardless of who becomes the next president, Democrat or Republican, I think we’re all going to have to strip away the ideology, we’re going to have to strip away the politics," Obama said.

"The next president is going to have to make a series of very difficult judgments and balance a set of risks based on the best possible intelligence and information available."

But Obama’s performance so far on the Middle East trip seems to have brought out particularly sharp digs from some McCain supporters.

Representative Heather Wilson, a Republican from New Mexico, called Obama "frighteningly inexperienced" on security and foreign policy matters. She also spoke of his "na vet " in his dealings in Baghdad.

Wilson and others tried to play down a statement by the Iraqi government that said it would like to see all U.S. combat troops out of the country by 2010, an approach that generally meshes with Obama’s call for withdrawal within 16 months of January, which is when the next president will take office. They said Iraq still planned to link withdrawal with conditions on the ground.

Obama still faces one of the biggest political challenges of his overseas trip: the navigation of the Middle East peace process.

It was expected to be one of the topics at his dinner with Abdullah, who flew back early from a visit to the United States to meet with Obama, and will be the focus Wednesday of a series of meetings with Israeli and Palestinian leaders.

Obama is scheduled to meet separately with President Shimon Peres and Prime Minister Ehud Olmert on Wednesday. He will then go to Ramallah in the West Bank to meet with Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian president.

Obama struggled during the Democratic primaries to win over Jewish voters, and his meetings Wednesday will be closely watched and examined by both sides. In Washington last month, he endorsed a two-state settlement for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict but said that Jerusalem should remain - undivided - the capital of the Jewish nation.

[R.M.: Not quite true! In classic Obama fashion he than had one of his foreign policy advisers explain, on the very next day what he really meant is that Jerusalem should be a final status issue. Of course, this is to assuage Arab objections to Jerusalem remaining the eternal Jewish capital.]

Obama also is scheduled to visit the southern Israeli town of Sederot, near Gaza, which has been hit by more than 2,000 rockets over the past four years. In March, McCain visited Sederot as well as Yad Vashem, the memorial in Jerusalem to victims of the Holocaust.

Brian Knowlton contributed reporting from Washington.

Dear friends, the remark of Obama when he says he would not hesitate to overrule American commanders, reminds me strongly of the TV show “Father Knows Best.”

Obama does concede that top U.S. commanders resist the idea of a time table for withdrawing troops, saying that they wanted to retain as much flexibility as possible. However, he stated that his job as a candidate for president and a potential commander in chief extends beyond Iraq.

Asked whether he intended to ignore their advice, Obama declared: “I am factoring in their advice, but placing it in the broader strategic framework that is required.” In other words, Senator Barack Obama, whose whole political career consisted of two rather non-distinguished years as Untied States senator, with absolutely no military background whatsoever, has the incredible CHUTZPAH to criticize commanders such as General David Petraeus, who turned a very bad situation around with his “surge” idea.

What do you, dear reader, think Obama really know best?

With Blessings and Love for Israel,

Ruth Matar

=============================================
Women For Israel’s Tomorrow  (Women in Green)
POB 7352, Jerusalem 91072, Israel
Tel: 972-2-624-9887 Fax: 972-2-624-5380
mailto:wfit2@womeningreen.org
http://www.womeningreen.org

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Dear Friends,

I was deeply shocked to learn that presidential candidate Barrack Hussein Obama has appointed Daniel Kurtzer as his key Middle East adviser!

Kurtzer, a former U.S. Ambassador to Israel, has long been recognized by Israel leaders, including prime ministers, as biased against Israel and is notorious for urging extreme concessions from the Jewish State.

The first time I came across the name Daniel Kurtzer was in December 2003, when, as U.S. Ambassador to Israel, he instructed Israel Defence Minster Shaul Mofaz that Migron, a community in the Judean Hills just minutes from Jerusalem, had to be the first "Jewish settlement" to be evacuated, so as to make possible a contiguous Palestinian State.

It is important to understand that Migron is not some little collection of huts. The community has built a synagogue and they have a library, their own health care center, a petting zoo and a kindergarten. Migron is home to 43 young Torah-observant Jewish families with over 60 young children. They are professionals, teachers, students and soldiers. They work in Migron or in Jerusalem, or in the surrounding communities, such as Michmash. (Michmash was the stronghold of Judah Maccabee, who reestablished Jewish sovereignty in this whole area during the time of the Chanukah wars.)

Migron had actually been approved by Sharon and the Defense Ministry. In fact, successive previous defense ministers have insisted that Migron was essential strategically and must never be abandoned. It had been built on land completely owned by Jews and its residents had the legal papers to prove these facts.

This affair is more than shameful on more than one level; Israel’s Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, under heavy American pressure, made the decision to destroy Migron, and Kurtzer, a supposedly Orthodox religious Jew lent himself to the attempt to the destroy the Jewish State, because of personal ambition.

Women in Green decided to demonstrate against the forcible evacuation of Migron. Two bus loads of Women in Green traveled to Migron. We brought refreshments for the adults and a teddy bear for each child.

We had received a large donation for children’s toys from a lovely Jewish American lady. Unfortunately, we cannot remember her name but we bless her for her generosity. We used all the money to purchase as many teddy bears as could be had from the donation. Fortunately, there was enough for all the Migron little children. It seemed to us to be the perfect gift for the little children, in case, G-d forbid, police and soldiers actually were sent to forcibly evacuate the Migron Jews. At least the small children of Migron would than each have a teddy bear to hug!

(Actually, Migron was not evacuated at that time; we like to think that it was partly because of publicity for our demonstration.)
  

The following is an article about Obama’s new Middle East adviser, DANIEL KURTZER, by Aaron Klein of WorldNetDaily (May 13, 2008):

Obama Adviser: Divide Jerusalem

JERUSALEM ­ Jerusalem must be included in any negotiations between Israel and the Palestinian Authority, stressed Sen. Barack Obama’s Middle East adviser Daniel Kurtzer.

"It will be impossible to make progress on serious peace talks without putting the future of Jerusalem on the table," Kurtzer said yesterday at a conference organized by the Jewish People Policy Planning Institute or JPPPI.

Kurtzer, a former U.S. ambassador to Israel, has long been recognized by Israeli leaders, including prime ministers, as biased against Israel and is notorious for urging extreme concessions from the Jewish state. He was appointed as a primary Obama adviser on the Middle East earlier this year.

During a discussion panel yesterday, Kurtzer reportedly went on to fault the Bush administration for not doing enough to pressure Israel into dividing Jerusalem. In reaction, JPPPI head Yechezkel Dror said Jerusalem must become the cultural center of the Jewish people.

Kurtzer said in response that "before we do that, we must first accept a number of facts and the political reality of Arabs who live in East Jerusalem who do not feel part of the city."

Israel recaptured eastern Jerusalem, including the Temple Mount ­ Judaism’s holiest site ­ during the 1967 Six Day War. The Palestinians have claimed eastern Jerusalem as a future capital; the area has large Arab neighborhoods, a significant Jewish population and sites holy to Judaism, Christianity and Islam.

Tens of thousands of Arab complexes in eastern Jerusalem were constructed illegally on land purchased by the Jewish National Fund, a Jewish nonprofit organization that purportedly raises donor funds for the purpose of Jewish settlement, WND previously exposed.

Obama’s appointment of Kurtzer raised eyebrows among the pro-Israel Jewish community.

"We oppose the appointment of Kurtzer because of his long, documented record of hostility to and severe pressure upon Israel," said Zionist Organization of America National Chairman Morton Klein.

Kurtzer has been blasted by mainstream Jewish organizations, including the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations.

He has angered Israeli leaders many times for pushing Israel into what they described as extreme concessions to the Palestinians.

"With Jews like Kurtzer, it is impossible to build a healthy relationship between Israel and the United States," Benjamin Nentanyahu was quoted saying in 2001 by Israel’s Haaretz newspaper.

Former Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir said Kurtzer "frequently pressured Israel to make one-sided concessions to the Arabs; he constantly blamed Israel for the absence of Mideast peace, and paid little or no attention to the fact that the Palestinians were carrying out terrorist attacks and openly calling for the destruction of Israel."

Morris Amitay, former executive director of the America-Israel Public Affairs Committee, told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency in 2001: "Kurtzer … will use his Jewishness as a protective cover for his anti-Israel views."

The ZOA points out Israel’s leading daily, Yediot Ahronot, editorialized on Kurtzer’s negative influence against Israel:

"Possibly more than any other U.S. State Department official, Kurtzer has been instrumental in promoting the goals of the Palestinians and in raising their afflictions to the center of the U.S. policymakers’ agenda," the paper stated.

Kurtzer first rose to prominence in 1988 when as a State Department adviser he counseled the Reagan administration to recognize the Palestine Liberation Organization led by Yasser Arafat. The PLO had carried out scores of anti-Western attacks, but in the late ’80s Arafat claimed to have renounced violence.

In 1988, Kurtzer was noted as the principal author of a major policy speech by then-Secretary of State George Shultz in which the U.S. government first recognized the "legitimate rights" of the Palestinians.

Haaretz reported in 2001 that Kurtzer had a "vocal conflict" with an Israeli government official in Philadelphia in the summer of 1990 after Kurtzer "attacked the Israeli government for refusing to include the PLO in the peace process [and] said that this constituted the main obstacle to peace"

In Kurtzer’s latest book, "Negotiating Arab-Israeli Peace: American Leadership in the Middle East," he largely blames Israel for the collapse of U.S.-brokered negotiations at Camp David. Contradicting accounts by President Bill Clinton and Prime Minister Ehud Barak, both of whom squarely blamed Arafat for refusing to make peace, Kurtzer argues in his book Israel did not offer enough concessions to the Palestinians.

At Camp David, Israel offered Arafat a state in the Gaza Strip, West Bank and eastern Jerusalem. According to multiple reports, Barak also offered Arafat the upper sections of the Temple Mount.

By the way unfortunately Migron is in the news again!

Migron Sentenced to Destruction in Six Months
by Hillel Fendel (Israel National News)

Responding to the Supreme Court and the radical Peace Now group, the Prime Minister and Defense Minister said that the 43 families currently living in Migron, north of Jerusalem, would be evicted by this coming August.

Migron (Samuel I 14,2; Isaiah 10, 28) is a strategically critical hilltop community north of Jerusalem, overlooking the Jerusalem-Shomron highway. It grew very quickly following its founding in March 2002, swelling to 40 families within less than a year and a half - but the government then clamped down, and barely a single new caravan (trailer home) has been allowed in since then. Migron, as well as 25 other outposts in Yesha (Judea and Samaria), is considered an "unauthorized" outpost because it was built after March 1, 2001 - the date ex-Prime Minister Ariel Sharon promised U.S. President George Bush that no new communities would be built.

Some of the land in Migron was clearly purchased by Jews, but the Supreme Court has been asked by Peace Now to rule that other parts of the community are situated on private, Arab-owned land - and to order the destruction of the entire community. Peace Now’s objective is to ensure the erasure of all vestiges of Jewish presence in Judea and Samaria.

Destroying Migron Would Lead to Violence
It is widely assumed that a dismantling of Migron would not go over without an Amona-style fight. Two years ago, the new Olmert government decided to go ahead with the eviction of nine Jewish families from their homes in Amona, a hilltop community overlooking Ofrah (and six miles directly north of Migron). What developed was an extremely violent clash between police/army forces and many hundreds of Land of Israel supporters who came to protest the government’s decision. Hundreds of the latter were injured, many of them seriously, in extreme cases of police violence, many of which were documented on film.

MAY HASHEM, THE MASTER OF THE UNIVERSE, PROTECT US FROM THE EVIL PLANS OF OUR ENEMIES, BOTH INTERNAL AND EXTERNAL!

With Blessings and Love for Israel,

Ruth Matar

=============================================
Women For Israel’s Tomorrow  (Women in Green)
POB 7352, Jerusalem 91072, Israel
Tel: 972-2-624-9887 Fax: 972-2-624-5380
mailto:wfit2@womeningreen.org
http://www.womeningreen.org

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Dear Friends,

Below please find a summary of our successful Friday activity in Shdema. After having received a letter last week from the Ministry of Defense in which it stated clearly that Israel had not yet finalized its decision to transfer the area of Shdema to the Arabs, it is clear to us that the main purpose now is to have constant events in Shdema to increase the Jewish presence there. The more we can have a Jewish presence there, the more the pressure, the more chance we have to keep Shdema in Jewish hands and ultimately create a new yishuv there.

Most important now is to make sure we have enough people this coming Monday, July 14th when we plan to go to Shdema for a night of kumsitz, painting the buildings, and singing Eretz Israel songs till early morning. We need your help! Please forward this email to friends, call them and urge them to join us on Monday.

Even if you can’t come for the entire night, make an effort to come at least for the first few hours. If you do not come with your own vehicle, please register for the bus by calling 0505-500834 or 0505-777254 or 0505-246770 or 02-9961292

Transportation will be leaving
* from Gush Etzion
5:30 pm  from Kiryat Arba
6:00 pm  from Gush etzion
6:10 pm  from Efrat South
6:20 pm  from  Tekoa
6:30 pm  we all meet (private cars and buses) at the roundabout before the turn to Nokdim

* from Har Homa
6:30 pm from the Har Choma police station

Bring sleeping bag, food, drink, flashlight, walking shoes, tefillin and siddur

Shavua Tov,

The Committee for a Jewish Shdema & Women in Green

Rabbi Yaron Durani (Nokdim- 02-9605289), Orly Glauber (Har Choma 054-4286425), Ina Viniarsky (Tekoa 054-5620017), Ruti Wolfish (Tekoa 02-9964956), Datya Yitzhaki (Efrat 0505-246770), Nadia Matar (Efrat 0505-500834), Anita Finkelstein (Tekoa 0505-777254), Yehudit Katzover (Kiryat Arba Hebron 02-9961292), Eli Rodan (Elazar 054-4993529)

SUMMARY

Pictures of the Friday trip http://www.flickr.com/photos/yishuvnow/sets/72157606103774870/
(credit to Dan Leubitz)

Yesterday, Friday July 11th 2008, the Committee for a Jewish Shdema held a conference at the Gush Etzion Community Center to plan the continued struggle for a Jewish Shdema. The sixty participants, both residents of the area and activists from all over Israel together with public figures, included MK Uri Uriel, Gush Etzion Regional Council head Shaul Goldstein, Har Etzion Yeshivah head Rabbi Medan, and Rabbi Yaron Durani, the rabbi of Nokdim and member of the Committee for a Jewish Shdema.

The Committee has begun a public struggle against the initiative by the Civil Administration to hand over the area of the abandoned Shdema army camp (which is undisputedly Area C) to the Beit Sahur municipality and extreme leftist and international anarchist organizations for the establishment of an Arab neighborhood (including a hospital and an amusement park.) And this is while the Beit Sahur municipality has thousands of acres of completely empty land at its disposal.

We need not mention the strategic importance of the Shdema camp, that controls the main road connecting the settlements of eastern Gush Etzion and Jerusalem.

The Committee seeks to receive the area of the camp in order to establish a Jewish settlement or Jewish neighborhood there, to create settlement continuity with the nearby Homat Shmuel (Har Homah) neighborhood, at the edge of Jerusalem.

Gush Etzion Regional Council head Shaul Goldstein greeted the activists who attended the conference, and emphasized the importance of the struggle, the first stage of which is the prevention of an Arab takeover of the area, and the second, the establishment of a Jewish neighborhood. He then observed that the Jewish settlement comprises only 4 percent of the total Gush Etzion area, and it would be absurd to hand over parts of this small percentage to the Palestinians.

MK Uri Uriel congratulated the participants who had raised the issue for public debate. He suggested engaging in informational efforts directed at the Defense Ministry, GOC Central Command, and the GSS, so that they would oppose the destructive ideas of the Civil Administration, that represents the Arabs.

Rabbi Medan related that he had been among the first unit of the 50th Nahal Paratroop Battalion, that established and manned the Shdema camp. The worst thing is silence. Fish are eaten in nature more than any other creatures, and they deserve this, because they remain silent, he said. The governmental system and the police want quiet, and therefore we must not remain silent. We must act with all our power, and with a daily Jewish presence on the ground. It is in this way that we will succeed in the struggle for the eastern road, which is the struggle for settlement continuity between Har Homah and Gush Etzion.

Rabbi Yaron Durani declared that we must act on two parallel levels. On the one hand, we must act vis-a-vis the government ministers and the decision-makers in the political system, which means updating members of Knesset, meetings with the heads of the defense system, and publicizing the struggle in the media. And, on the other hand - demonstrations and actions on the ground.

Ina Vinarsky, a member of the Committee, said that our goal is to take possession of the area and maintain a permanent Jewish presence there, with the participation of both adults and youth. Members of Knesset and the Local Council head will take action vis-a-vis the political organizations, rabbis will mobilize the yeshivot, and citizens will be active at Shdema.

Datia Yitzhaki, secretary of Maaleh Rehavam, summarized that the activity at Shdema is important, in both the security sphere, for the eastern Gush Etzion road and the settlement continuity to Har Homah, and in the sphere of activity against the anarchists who incite the Palestinian populace, and who initiated the Arab projects at Shdema. We must act in every way possible against the dangerous and well-funded activity by leftist and anarchist elements who are aligned against settlement in Eretz Israel. Successful Jewish activity at Shdema could constitute a turning point in the poor morale of the public that loves Eretz Israel, and offer hope for success in the struggle for Eretz Israel.

At the conclusion of the conference, the participants traveled to Shdema in a bus provided by the Gush Etzion Regional Council, in order to become familiar with the area, plan coming activities, and repaint Jewish slogans.

The first activity will be on Monday, July 14, 2008, in the evening hours. Activists and youth will assemble at Shdema for informational activity and a large picnic, including sleeping over at the area. Dozens of youth have already signed up.

=============================================
Women For Israel’s Tomorrow  (Women in Green)
POB 7352, Jerusalem 91072, Israel
Tel: 972-2-624-9887 Fax: 972-2-624-5380
mailto:wfit2@womeningreen.org
http://www.womeningreen.org

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Dear Friends,

Open your calendar and write down the many different activities that will take place in the coming weeks. Join us!

1) THE STRUGGLE FOR A JEWISH SHDEMA
FRIDAY morning, July 11th, 2008 and MONDAY afternoon JULY 14th 2008 (see below for details)

2) Protests against the judicial persecution of loyalists of Eretz Yisrael by the Israeli injustice system: SUNDAY morning, July 13th, 2008.
        * in Beersheva-  the Shimshon Cytryn case
        * in Jerusalem-  the Elitzur and Mordy Harel-Levinstein case

3) Women in Green’s 14th Annual Tisha B’Av march around the
walls of the Old city- Saturday night, August 9th, 2008

Ruth and Nadia Matar
Women in Green
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1) SHDEMA:

Will Shdema remain in Jewish hands?

This depends on us! The public is invited to participate in a meeting and a visit to the place.

1) On Friday, Tamuz 8 (11.7.08) at 10:00, a meeting will be held in the Gush Etzion Committee Center (Matnas) to thwart attempts by the Palestinians and their collaborators to gain possession of the Shdema Camp in Gush Etzion, on the Gush Etzion - Jerusalem road, near Har Homa.

2) The Shdema Army Camp is located in Zone C (under full Israeli control) and was abandoned two years ago. Despite opposition by senior officers in the IDF, the government agreed to transfer the area to the Palestinian Authority for the purpose of construction of an Arab neighborhood. People from the Palestinian Authority from Beit Sahur have recently taken over the camp with the aid of Leftist and foreign anarchist organizations, whose aim is the destruction of Jewish settlements in Judea and Samaria.

We must act in order to keep Shdema in our hands, because this is Eretz Israel, as well as:

*       To guarantee the security of the Eastern Gush Etzion - Jerusalem road.

*       To preserve the connection between the Eastern Gush Etzion and Jerusalem.

*       To facilitate the development of the Har Homa neighborhood.

*       To prevent control of the area by the anarchists and leftists who have recently intensified their activities in the region in general, and in Judea and Samaria in particular. They are acting with great cunning, aided by European budgets, and are stirring up the Arabs.

3) We are preparing a variety of activities with the aid of the Gush Etzion Regional Council and the Action Committees of the settlements to thwart the attempts by the Palestinians- and the anarchists to gain  control of the area, and to establish a Jewish settlement there.

4) The Friday meeting will start at 10:00 am in the Gush Etzion Matnas in Alon Shvut, with the participation of:

*       Shaul Goldstein, Head of the Gush Etzion Regional Council

*       Rav Ya’akov Medan, head of the Har Etzion Yeshiva

*       Rav Yaron Dorani, Rav of Nokdim and a member of the committee for keeping Shdema Jewish.

At 11:00 we will travel by bus to the Shdema Camp in order to gain familiarity with the site, and to evaluate courses of action in the field. Estimated time of return: 13:00.

5) The participation of each and everyone of us is vital.

6) On Monday, Tamuz 11 (14.7.08), with G-d’s help, we will come to Shdema and hold a kumsitz with committee singing until dawn.

The committee for Jewish Shdema:
Rav Yaron Dorani (Nokdim) 02-9605289
Orly Glauber (Har Homa)054-4286425
Ina Viniarski (Tekoa) 054-5620017
Ruti Walfish (Tekoa) 02-9964956
Datya Itzhaki (Efrat) 050-5246770
Nadia Matar (Efrat) 050-5500834
Anita Finkelstein (Tekoa) 050-5777254
Yehudit Katzover (Kiryat Arba Hebron) 02-9961292
Eli Rodan (Elazar) 054-4993529

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2) SCANDAL! Shimshon Cytryn being sent to jail…again!

Dear Friends,

Outraged!  This is how we feel after hearing that the authorities have decided to send Shimshon Cytryn back to jail for a period of 15 months.

Shimshon, 21 years old, a dear and proud Jew, recently married, grandson of longtime Women in Green activists, was during the expulsion from Gush Katif, a victim of a blood libel against him. He already spent two years in jail and administrative detention. This coming Sunday the authorities are sending him back to jail.

Details and reminder of his case are below.

Once again we are witnessing a case of judicial persecution against lovers of the Land of Israel by a leftist anti-Jewish Israeli Injustice system.
Let’s remember that the same government and powers to be that persecute loyal and innocent Jews, has, over the past year and a half, released close to 1500 Arab terrorists! It is simply unbearable!

We cannot allow Shimshon Cytryn to go to jail without making a loud geshrei and protest. The public is asked to accompany Shimshon on the day he is asked to show up to jail. That day is SUNDAY, JULY 13th,at 9:00 am at the entrance to the BEERSHEVA MAGISTRATES COURT.

We realize that on that same day, at approximately the same time, friends and family of the Harel-Levinstein brothers are organizing a vigil in front of the Presidents house in Jerusalem, demanding their release. Mordy and Elitzur Harel-Levinstein were sent to jail for 30 and 40 months, accused of "planning to block a major intersection as a protest against the Expulsion plan from gush Katif". Three days before their appeal, the friends and family call upon the public to join in a vigil in front of the Presidnets house at 10:30am, to demand their release.

We are sure that our national camp has enough activists to ensure that there will be supporters in both places- in Jerusalem for the Harel-Levinstein brothers and in Beersheva for Shimshon Cytryn.

In addition it is of utmost importance to have a lot of public pressure demanding Shimshon’s release. Not only do we need to bombard with faxes and emails the offices of the President and the ministry of Justice,
Presidents house: tel 972-2-6707211  fax 972-2-670-7272
Minister of Justice Daniel Friedman: tel 972-2-6466533 fax 972-2-6287757  email mancal@justice.gov.il

But we turn to all friends of Israel in the USA to telephone — rather than e-mail — the Israeli Embassy or the Israeli consulate nearest you and demand to express your outrage at the latest decision by the state prosecution and the Supreme Court in the case of Shimshon Cytryn, a U.S. citizen.

The embassy’s phone number is 202-364-5500.
Stress, that as an American citizen, you can ask the State Department to investigate what you feel is clearly a human rights violation.

Now, in addition, we are asking you to call your member of Congress and raise the issue of Shimshon Cytryn. Obviously, in that same phone call, you can mention the other cases of persecution and injustice against lovers of Israel (the Rivka Maierchik case, the Halamish case, the Levinstein-Harel case, etc…).

We also ask you to call the State Department’s Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor and inform them of Shimshon and demand an investigation. Tell the department officer you have also raised these cases with your member of Congress. The State Department’s main numbers are 202-647-4000 or 1-800-877-8339.

The Olmert government, with an approval rating of near zero, has refused any accountability to the Israeli people and fears only the US administration. Unless we act now, there will be many more Shimshons and Rivkas and Mordys and Elitzurs and Itziks and Dannys in jail.

If you agree with this, please act quickly. What could be more important than winning the release of a Jewish youth imprisoned for loving his/ her country and people?

(thank you to Pidyon Shvuim for the info in this latest paragraph)

SUMMARY OF THE SHIMSHON CYTRYN CASE:

 We want to give you a short account of Shimshon Cytryn.

On the eve of the expulsion from Gush Katif, may it speedily be rebuilt, Shimshon was caught in an attack against a group of Jews by Arabs from the Muassi neighborhood. Like any good Jew, he defended himself and his fellows. Naturally, not a single Arab was arrested, but - how ironic! - as is well known, in the State of Israel Jews are forbidden to defend themselves, and the police arrested Shimshon, on the charge of no less than lynch, accused of assaulting an Arab in the Gaza Strip in June 2005.

The Arab attacker, Hillal Mujiada, who said his injury was caused by a soldier, was under arrest for throwing rocks at Jews but no charges were pressed against him.

What is absurd about all this is that that same Arab who was said to be the victim of a lynch was already seen walking about, the same day. The very use of the word "lynch" in this situation is excruciatingly painful, since we all remember the brutal and shocking lynch of the two IDF soldiers who took a wrong turn, entered Ramallah and were brutally massacred by a lynching mob.

Following Shimshon’ arrest, the police asked to extend his arrest until the end of the criminal proceedings. Over the course of two long and exhausting years Shimshon spent seven months in Ayalon Prison, and was under house arrest, under harsh conditions, the rest of the time.

A year ago Shimshon married; we should mention the great tension under which the young couple lived in the shadow of the trial that refused to end. Half a year ago, it seemed that everything had come to a conclusion. A forum of three judges in the District Court sentenced Shimshon to six months of community service. But, what can be done? The State Attorney’s Office fights with all its might to put good Jews in jail, and it filed an appeal to the Supreme Court. After another half year of tortuous delay, the Supreme Court decided, with no conscience, and certainly without a Jewish heart, to sentence Shimshon to fifteen months of imprisonment, which he is to begin serving next Sunday, July 13. He has to report at 10:00am in the Beersheva District Court.

Every Jewish heart quakes when hearing that, after two thousand years of Exile, the State of Israel sends a Jew to long months in prison for defending himself and his fellows, while, in the background, we hear of more and more Arab murderers who simply are freed and sent home. For how long?

A demonstration is planned in Beersheva, at the time and place where Shimshon is to enter prison, on SUNDAY July 13th at 9:00am, at the entrance to the Beersheva magistrates court.

Please make sure to come.

We also request your financial help for the young Cytryn family, which remains without a breadwinner. And, importantly, the public must remain on the alert, and engage in follow-up: to which prison Shimshon is incarcerated - this makes a great deal of difference; whether he receives the vacations to which he is entitled by law; and, most importantly, that his time in prison be reduced by one third.

It is important to know that major public pressure significantly impacts on the taking of decisions on such matters.

For details regarding the demonstration and financial help to the Cytryn family:

David Leibman 0526-051156
Nadia Matar, Women in Green 0505-500834

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3) WOMEN IN GREEN’s Annual Tisha B’Av march around the walls of the Old City, Saturday night, August 9th.

Exact details will follow in the near future. Just make sure to come. At a time when internal and external enemies want to take away from us large parts of Jerusalem it is of utmost importance to attend that march and declare: The Land of Israel and United, Undivided Jerusalem belong solely to the Jewish people and we will not allow anyone to take it away from us!!

=============================================
Women For Israel’s Tomorrow  (Women in Green)
POB 7352, Jerusalem 91072, Israel
Tel: 972-2-624-9887 Fax: 972-2-624-5380
mailto:wfit2@womeningreen.org
http://www.womeningreen.org

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please send a blank email message to:
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Dear Friends,

A month and a half ago we started the struggle to keep Shdema in Jewish hands. Shdema used to be an IDF army camp not far from Har Choma, Jerusalem, on the Jerusalem-Eastern Gush Etzion road.

Two years ago, because of yet one more suicidal agreement by the government, the IDF abandoned the army camp. Despite the camp being in area C, i.e. in an area under total Israeli control, we were outraged to find out two months ago,that the government planned on handing over the entire area to the Palestinian Authority in order for them to build an Arab neighborhood.

For those who do not know: the Arabs are building thousands of houses all over Judea and Samaria in areas A and B. Those areas were, to our shame, abandoned by Israel under the Oslo agreement. Even though the IDF still patrols some parts of area A and B, those areas are now under total Arab occupation and the Arabs do there as they please, building houses, expanding villages into large cities and, in the process, also illegally taking over tens of thousands of dunams of State Land that belong to Israel.

We, representing the majority of the Jewish people, of course have not given up on those lands, understanding that all of the Land of Israel, whether labeled area A, B or C belong to the Jewish people. The day, please G-d, will come when we will have a new leadership that will abolish all the agreements and will reinstall Jewish sovereignty over all of Eretz Yisrael. That leadership will make it clear to the Arab enemy that they do not belong here but rather must go back to their 22 Arab States.

But until such a government comes to power we must at least make sure that all lands in area C in Judea and Samaria, i.e. under Israeli control, stay in our hands. It is unconceivable that Shdema would be given over to the Arabs.

The struggle for Shdema is a microcosm of what is going on in this country of the Arab takeover over all that belongs to us.

United we stand in our struggle for a Jewish Shdema and we call upon all of you to take the 2 minutes to read the info below and to join in our activities. Having Shdema turn into an Arab neighborhood will endanger Har Choma in Jerusalem and Gush Etzion and will incite other Arabs to try and do the same in other areas.

Last month we came with 150 activists to try and settle Shdema but were taken away forcefully by the security forces. Since then we have come back in small groups and now we are increasing our activities , especially after realizing that international anarchists are involved in helping the Arabs take away Shdema from us (extensive info below).

Please help us spread this info on all email lists and join us.

Thank you.

The Committee for a Jewish Shdema - Women in Green

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Dear friends,

The following are new and shocking details on what is happening in Shdema and in the struggle for Shdema.

First of all, mark the following dates, on which we are planning activities for a Jewish Shdema. Make every effort to come, and to bring additional activists who love Eretz Yisrael.

A) Friday, July 11, 2008, at 10:00 a.m., in the Gush Etzion community center (Matnas):

Gathering and tour for a Jewish Shdema, with the participation of public figures, settlement secretariats, and activists from all over Israel

Details regarding the speakers at the gathering will be provided in the coming days.

The gathering in the community center will be short and purposeful. At 11:00 we will travel together by bus to Shdema, where we will tour the area and plan the activities for the coming weeks.

It is very important to attend the gathering and participate in the tour in order to see with your own eyes what is happening at Shdema and how international anarchists are attempting to take over the location (details below). Estimated return to the Gush Etzion community center at 1:30 p.m.

Those planing to arrive for the gathering and tour are requested to send an e-mail, so we will have an idea of how many people will participate and order buse accordingly. Send an e-mail to: eli7@womeningreen.org.il

B) Monday, July 14, 2008: A kumsitz and sleeping at the Shdema camp

Reserve the date. Precise details of the program for the day will be sent by e-mail in the coming days.

We will arrive at Shdema in the late afternoon, and we will repaint the buildings after the anarchists painted over what we had done about a month ago.

With G-d’s help, we will remain at Shdema until morning. It is important that many people come for this activity, as well.

The more we engage in activities at Shdema and increase the Jewish presence at the site, we will succeed, with God’s help, in returning it to our hands and turning it into a Jewish settlement.

New details follow regarding Shdema and the anarchists involved in their activities there. A report by Hodayah Karish-Hazoni appeared in Mekor Rishon in the last Shabbat issue.

We are grateful to Sharon Katz,  Efrat resident, the editor of the Voices magazine, who accompanied us on one of the tours to Shdema, discovered the activity by the anarchists, and wrote a lengthy investigative article on the subject in her magazine. A link to Sharon Katz’s article in Voices will be available soon.

Also enclosed at the end of this email, is a letter signed by rabbis and public figures, mainly from the Har Homah-Gush Etzion-Kiriat Arba-Hebron area, who warn the Defense Minister of what is happening at Shdema, and demand that this be dealt with speedily.

With the blessing of "Let us by all means go up, and we shall gain possession of it" (Numbers 13:30)

The Committee for a Jewish Shdema-Women in Green

For information:

Rabbi Yaron Durani, Rabbi of Nokdim
Yehudit 02-9961292
Anita 0505-777254
Nadia 0505-500834
Datia 0505-246770

Shdema:
Shdema is the abandoned army camp on the Jerusalem-eastern Gush Etzion road, not far from Har Homah. Despite the camp being in Area C (Israeli control), the government gave the OK to the PLO Authority to establish an Arab neighborhood there in the near future.

About a month and a half ago we began the struggle for the establishment of a Jewish city at Shdema, and the security forces removed us. Since then, we have been returning in small groups to examine what is happening and to plan the continuation of the struggle. To our amazement, we recently encountered groups of international anarchists who are trying to take control of the location. Sharon Katz conducted an investigation of who these anarchists are, and the results are simply amazing.

Actually, there are many international elements involved and mixed together.

There is the CURE organization that builds hospitals in Muslim countries in order to "draw the Muslims closer" and the like. According to what is written in their site, they are building a hospital for the children of Beit Sahur in the vicinity of Shdema, but it is not certain that this is exactly where the army camp is located. They are the ones who tell us they have $16,500,000 to develop the hospital.
http://www.helpcurenow.org/site/c.nvI1IeNYJyE/b.3411401/
http://www.curenewsroom.com/webcast/

And there are two more names: Paidia, Oush Grab

Paidia is building the Forrest Adventure Gardens on "an abandoned Israeli army base."

They call the Shdema area "Oush Grab."

They work together with an NGO of very organized anarchists and artists (Arabs, Europeans, Americans, and at least one Jew from London named Eyal Weizmann) who set up a truly horrible web site based entirely on the ideology of decolonization. That is, a web site that analyzes the question, "How to deal with the great architectural problem: what to do with the remains of the settlements when they will be destroyed and dismantled in the future." Decolonization means, of course, the dismantling of the settlements. That is, we have here a band of Israel-haters who professionally plan the dismantling of our settlements.

They write "Architecture is speculation, but we are providing real answers to what can be done on the ground." And, actually, anyone who enters the site sees that they have built an instructive professional plan, with maps, aerial photographs, and the like, of a considerable portion of the settlements: how to dismantle them, how to use the houses after being dismantled, etc.

They are a group of dozens of people who meet on a weekly basis and discuss this issue.
http://www.decolonizing.ps/site/?page_id=40

They say: "We have chosen the settlement of Psagot as a test case, because it is close to Ramallah and el-Bireh." http://www.decolonizing.ps/site/?page_id=39

Eyal Weizmann explains the national need to, first of all, destroy everything that has been built by the settlers, and shows photographs of Shdema when the Arabs destroyed the military structures.
http://www.decolonizing.ps/site/?page_id=12

After the locals destroy, then comes the next stage: dismantling (or destruction).
http://www.decolonizing.ps/site/?page_id=49

What to do with the settlers’ houses - how to dismantle them and use them - to turn them into public buildings? into a school classroom? http://www.decolonizing.ps/site/?page_id=48

And on and on.

You should take a look at their site - it’s a good idea to first take a pill against nausea.

The chapter on "Vision" has photographs of Shdema and the "vision" to transform the army base into a gigantic site for the showing of movies, to give the Palestinians a good feeling about an area that was once occupied and that this will become an area from which "Palestine can be seen."
http://www.decolonizing.ps/site/?page_id=11

And then there is the Paidia organization, which sends volunteer activists into the field to live with the Arabs and to help them. These are the same ones we met there. If we wondered what strange games they are playing, then here below is a  letter to their activists.

Clearly, using "games" and faking "educational projects" has become the anarchists’ tactic to steal the land of the Jews and  to push their real goal: the destruction of the settlement enterprise and ultimately the destruction of the Jewish State of Israel.

Their letter: http://www.pidev.org/new.htm

New this month at Paidia

Paidia built the Jack Forrest Adventure Gardens on a former Israeli military camp. The area is called Oush Grab, and prior to the Israeli military base, it was a Jordanian military base built on land purchased from Palestinian owners. The Israeli military expanded the base after taking control of it, confiscating adjacent private land in order to do so. The Beit Sahour Municipality, Paidia International Development, and other NGO’s worked together to lift Israeli military control of most of the area and to establish a public park there, which includes Adventure Gardens as well as other recreational facilities. The confiscated private land was returned to its previous owners. Only the top of the hill, where the old military buildings still stand, remains under Israeli control. Thus, although it is all public land, the Municipality is not allowed to develop that part of it.

On May 15th, we went to Adventure Gardens to do some cleaning. We noticed a large number of cars with Israeli plates and grew suspicious. When we went to investigate, we found that people from the surrounding settlements had come to protest the development of the land for the use of local residents and to attempt to establish a new settlement outpost in the old military buildings. There were around 40 settlers present.

When our staff returned later that day after doing some other work, the Israeli military had closed off much of the area. There were also a number of protesters demonstrating peacefully against the settlers’ attempting to live there. We joined them in order to show that we will not tolerate illegal confiscation of the public land which we are working so hard to help develop. The settlers left the site while the protesters were still present, but they made it clear they intend to return later this week. They have spray-painted pro-settlement slogans such as "The Land of Israel for the People of Israel" (a reference to the concept of "Greater Israel", which includes Gaza and the West Bank) in Hebrew on the walls of the abandoned military buildings.

As word of a settler presence in the area spreads, locals are likely to become frightened and stay away from the park. If the settlers succeed in establishing a permanent presence on Oush Grab, with the attendant military protection, we and our partners will no longer be able to use the park to provide badly-needed constructive recreational opportunities to young residents of the Bethlehem area and their families.

Paidia and several other area NGO’s, as well as other concerned Palestinians and internationals, met on Sunday to discuss non-violent and effective ways to keep Oush Grab from being taken. We intend to maintain a regular presence on the hill on Oush Grab, holding weekly events such as barbecues, games, dances, and outdoor movies. If anyone spots settlers at the site, the organizations involved in this discussion have agreed to an "emergency" plan. Internationals and locals will meet at Oush Grab as though preparing to do a program, bringing equipment for games and other fun activities. Then we will begin playing as though the settlers are not there. This, we believe, will be more effective than a traditional non-violent protest; it will be much less likely to degenerate into a belligerent or violent affair because the protesters will have something to do in addition to and in the process of demonstrating. The presence of internationals, as well as locals, is vital because it decreases the likelihood of settler violence against the locals.

Returning Paidia volunteer Andrew Raelson and Regional Director Jason Pollock had a separate worrisome encounter last Wednesday while preparing to hike a local wadi (dry river-bed) near Teqoa with around 20 kids. They had gathered the kids in a circle and were about to begin the hike when Andrew, glancing behind him, met with an unwelcome sight­"an unhappy settler with an M-16", as he put it, describing the incident in an e-mail message. He and Jason found they were unable to communicate with the man, who did not speak English. The settler called the military, and Jason and Andrew waited for them to come. Some of the kids wanted to leave right away, as they had forgotten to bring their ID cards. Some were understandably afraid of the armed settler.

Paidia has spoken with the Israeli military about using the area for hikes and games in the past, and they have granted us verbal permission. We have brought kids to the same wadi for over a year without incident. This time, however, the soldiers gave in to pressure from settlers and asked the group to leave. The planned hike never happened.

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Interestingly, a woman from Efrat was badly stoned driving back from Tekoa one day, by a group of Arab  children and we have no doubt that those kids who were stoning Jewish cars are connected to the so-called ‘educational" hikes organized by anarchists.

In short, we have an important mission resting on our shoulders: to restore the Shdema camp to Jewish possession and establish a Jewish settlement there. With God’s help. it is in our power to do so.

Come to the gathering-tour and the activities. Shdema is only a microcosm of what those internal and external enemies want to do to us.

Lastly, here are the latest pictures of the "activities" the anarchists organized at Shdema followed by a letter of theirs http://www.flickr.com/photos/24471684@N07/sets/72157604072599879/show/

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Update Oush Grab

http://kristelsweblog.web-log.nl/.shared/image.html?/photos/uncategorized/2008/06/07/dsc_0285.jpg
About forty settlers came to the old military base at Oush Grab on Friday 30th May

(See story about Oush Grab my previous posting!)

We were about 10 people playing some Paidia games when the settlers appeared on the top of the hill of the old military base. Some of them came down and started making graffiti’s over our murals. Some of them came down to talk with us and they were very confused about what we were doing there. There were a couple of them wearing guns. Most of them were Americans, middle aged, now living in the settlements of Kiryat Arba and Gush Etzion.

What do they want? According to them they want to create a settler outpost to prevent the <?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" />Municipality of Beit Sahour from building a children’s hospital cause they are afraid for a new Arab neighborhood!

See:

http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/Flash.aspx/147463

http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/126162

http://womeningreen.org/?s=shdema

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zieRkqkZLHc

http://kristelsweblog.web-log.nl/.shared/image.html?/photos/uncategorized/2008/06/07/dsc03381.jpg

In the week after the settlers ruined our beautiful wall paintings, we went back to Oush Grab and with a group of about 15 people we re-painted the place and made it look more beautiful than before! You can see us at work on: http://www.flickr.com/photos/24471684@N07/sets/72157604072599879/

Last Friday we organized a Bingo at Oush Grab!

It was a very warm morning, the start of a very hot day! We arrived by 8am and prepared for the arrival of our guests who were asked to pay 2 shekels to join the Bingo event. In case the settlers would arrive we would cordially invite them to our bingo game, if they would be willing to pay the two shekel. Otherwise they would be welcome to watch, but not join our event…

http://kristelsweblog.web-log.nl/.shared/image.html?/photos/uncategorized/2008/06/07/dsc03393.jpg

Around 9am we had a group of 40 international and Palestinian participants and we started our first round of bingo! It took a while before the first winner shouted "BINGO" and from the table of presents he chose the DVD with dabka music !

By this time three Israeli soldier had arrived. They didn’t come down the hill, but they spoke with the guys who were selling the tickets at the entrance of the site. One of them (who was wearing a mushroom shaped hat over his helmet!!) could see the humor of it all, but the other one kept repeating that ‘this is not funny’ and ‘we will see how we will make an end to this circus’.

We kept on playing bingo for another hour, til we received a message from the mayor of Beit Sahour that we should leave Oush Grab as he had received a phone call from the military, probably with some threats or promises towards what would happen if we stayed there.

The settlers didn’t show up the rest of the day, hamdullilah! so we will not have to paint again next week! We will, however, continue our activities at Oush Grab and get more and more people involved and acquainted with this beautiful place on the outskirts of Beit Sahour!

See for pictures: http://www.flickr.com/photos/24471684@N07/sets/72157604072599879/

—————————————-

Translation of a letter sent in Hebrew to all the undersigned.

To: Defense Minister Ehud Barak
Re: International anarchists are taking over the Shdema camp on the Gush Etzion-Har Homah route

We, the undersigned, join the voices in the IDF that oppose handing over the deserted Shdema camp to the Palestinian Authority in order to establish an additional Arab neighborhood in the region.

About a month ago, we, some 150 activists, came to protest the intent to hand over the Shdema camp to the PLO Authority. Army and police forces immediately arrived and forcibly evacuated us from there.

Since then, we come every week, in small groups, to examine what is happening. To our amazement, we see groups of activists from the extreme left, international anarchists, and Arabs coming to the Shdema camp, settling in there, taking control of it, and conducting activities there, and no Israeli body removes them, despite this absolutely being Israeli Area C.

It appears to us that you are not aware of the identity of those international activists who masquerade as innocent volunteers and youth counselors. These are most likely the same type of dangerous anarchists who struggle with our soldiers at Bil’in, and whose sole aim is the elimination of the State of Israel.

Our examination revealed that this is the Paidia organization that is building a park in the area. They call the area "Oush Grab," or in English, "The Jack Forrest Adventure Gardens."

Paidia is an organization that sends volunteer activists to the areas of the PLO Authority to live with the Arabs and to aid them to struggle with IDF soldiers and Jews, masquerading under the innocent guise of "cultural games and nature tours."

We appeal to you with the urgent request:

1) to immediately change the forgiving attitude of the security forces to those international activists. It is inconceivable that in a place such as the Shdema camp, that is under Israeli control, Jews are forcibly evacuated - while anarchists are permitted to take control of the location, in the guise of "cultural" activity. They must be located, arrested, and deported from Israel for incitement to violence and harming the country’s security.

2) to return the IDF to the Shdema camp. or to allow Jewish settlement there. Abandoning the Shdema camp to the Arabs constitutes a security risk to the inhabitants of Har Homah and those traveling on the Gush Etzion-Jerusalem road, and severs eastern Gush Etzion from Jerusalem.

(signed)
* Rabbi and Mrs. Dov Lior, City Rabbi, Kiriat Arba-Hebron
* Rabbi Gideon Perl, Rabbi of Alon Shvut and regional rabbi, Gush Etzion
* Rabbi Shimon Golan, member of the Efrat rabbinate
* Rabbi Yaron Dorani, Rabbi of Nokdim
* Rabbi Shalom Klein, Har Homah
* Rabbi Dr. Avraham Wallfish, Tekoa
* Herzl Yehezkel, Chairperson, Har Homah Committee
* Eli Berkovitz, Chairperson, Homat Shmuel (Har Homah) Community Administration
* Avraham Azulai, Journalist, Har Homah
* Dr. Ruth Wallfish, Chairperson, Administrative Committee, Tekoa
* Hayyim Finkelstein, Building engineer, Tekoa
* Ina Vinyarski, former Amanah member, Tekoa
* Datia Yitzhaki, Secretary of Maaleh Rehavam

For details, contact Rabbi Yaron Dorani, Rabbi of Nokdim, tel. 0508-761886

copies:
* Lt.-Gen. Gabi Ashkenazi, Chief of the General Staff
* Major-Gen. Gadi Shamni, GOC Central Command
* Brig-Gen. Noam Tivon, Commander, Judea/Samaria Region Division
* Col. Nir Salomon, Commander, Etzion Brigade
* Commander Moshe Avshalom Peled, Commander, Hebron Police Region
* Minister Eli Shai
* MK Benjamin Netanyahu
* MK Avigdor Liberman
* MK Rabbi Porush
* MK Yuval Shteinitz
* MK Reuven Rivlin
* MK Gilad Erdan
* MK Gideon Sa’ar
* MK Aryeh Eldad
* MK David Rotem
* MK Yuli Edelstein
* MK Estherina Tartman
* MK Uri Uriel
* MK Binyamin Elon
* MK Tzvi Hendel
* MK Effie Eitam
* MK Yitzhak Aharonovitz
* MK Limor Livnat
* MK Otniel Schneller
* the former Head of the General Staff, Moshe (Bugi) Yaalon
* Mr. Uri Lupolianski, Mayor of Jerusalem

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