Continuing a tradition begun in recent years over the Sukkot holiday, Jews came to the hills of Judea and Samaria to found two new communities and to strengthen a third.


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The new sites are Reches Sela (Bedrock Ridge) – the western hilltop of Har Bracha, near Shechem – and Maalot Halhoul (Halhoul Heights), between Hevron and Gush Etzion. A third site, Reches Migron (Migron Ridge) in the Binyamin region north of Jerusalem, which has had been home to four households for several months already, also received visitors during the holiday, and some of them decided to stay on.

Marchers traveled along various routes in order to stymie efforts by security forces to prevent the project, but activists in the field said the army didn't attempt to set up blockades or stop them.

Daniela Weiss, the former Mayor of Kedumim, said that just as the outpost of Shvut Ami was a holiday initiative that has been standing for 13 months, so too the new communities will hopefully continue and become permanently established.

The Migron event featured a treasure hunt to familiarize would-be residents with the area. Jewish music was provided by Udi Davidi.

The IDF released a statement asking the visitors to Judea and Samaria not to rely only on their GPS instruments to guide them and to be extra cautious not to enter areas controlled by the Palestinian Authority.