News Brief

(IsraelNN.com) On Friday, Rabbi Tzvi Rimon, founder and chairman of JobKatif – an organization dedicated to helping expelled Jewish residents of Gaza find work - will be talking on the meaning of mourning and destruction as part of the Friday morning program in the Judean Jewish community of Shdema, between Jerusalem and Bethlehem. The program, which begins at 9:30, is a prelude to the traditional “Three Weeks,” in memory of the destruction of the Holy Temples in Jerusalem 2,000 and 2,500 years ago, starting next Wednesday night.

Shdema, which was the site of a Hasmonean fortress 2,000 years ago, was abandoned as an Israeli army base two years ago, at which time government officials began planning to give it to the Palestinian Authority as the site of a new Arab town. Gush Etzion residents and others immediately began a series of actions designed to keep the area Jewish. As of now, the situation can be described as stalemated, with the hilltop under Jewish control – largely because of the activists’ efforts – and ongoing illegal Arab construction at the foot of the hill.

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