In the wake of the demolition of foundations for six buildings in Efrat overnight Wednesday – one of them for a synagogue – Efrat mayor Oded Revivi said that his city was being choked off by illegal Arab building that encroaches ever closer to the homes of Jews. “Together with the building freeze in which Jews are not permitted to build homes, Arabs are building on state lands designated for Efrat, and the Civil Authority does nothing to stop them,” Revivi said.
Members of the Knesset Lobby for the Land of Israel, led by Mks Aryeh Eldad and Ze'ev Elkin, said Thursday that Defense Minister Ehud Barak “had crossed a red line by ignoring the decisions of the cabinet, and demolishing in the middle of the night a synagogue located in Gush Etzion, which everyone accepts as part of the Land of Israel. This is in contradiction to the decision that construction of community structures would continue,” the Mks said.