Warm coats for cold hilltop residents
Warm coats for cold hilltop residentsIsrael news photo

Volunteers for the Meir Chesed charity organization are distributing winter coats to residents of hilltop communities surviving cold winter temperatures and the government’s building freeze against new construction. The group said the contributions are a direct response to the building freeze and an attempt “to warm the hilltops and thaw out the communities.”

Meir Chesed official Bentzi Gufstein said, “Residents of the hilltops are the front line of the struggle, and now is the opportunity to support their pioneering efforts.” He emphasized that every community in Judea and Samaria is “in the same boat”, whether it is the growing city of Efrat, south of Jerusalem, or small villages such as Gilad Farm in Samaria, which has suffered from Arab attacks and Border Police patrols that its residents say are aimed at harassing them.

“The death sentence on Gilad Farm is the same as if it were for Efrat,” he added.

National Union Knesset Member Dr. Michael Ben-Ari accompanied the volunteers to dozens of communities, also known as “outposts,” as part of a movement among nationalists to cancel the 10-month policy, due to expire next August.

MK Ben-Ari said, “Every activity, such as that by Meir Chesed, is like a bee sting in the eyes of Defense Minister Ehud Barak and Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu who are destroying the development of Judea and Samaria. The freeze is a noose around our necks, and Meir Chesed has taken the initiative to strengthen the hilltop communities."