Minister Benny Begin of the Likud will participate in the dedication ceremony of a new neighborhood in the southern Judea community of Beit Haggai. The event, which will include a Tu B’Shvat planting in honor of the Jewish New Year for Trees, will be held on Sunday afternoon.
The foundations for the new construction were built before the ten-month Jewish construction freeze in Judea and Samaria (Yesha) was imposed just over two months ago.
Begin did not oppose the construction freeze when it was announced, saying it was important in view of the international geo-political landscape in which Israel finds itself, and specifically the U.S. pressure exerted upon Israel.
Begin has also said of late, more than once, that no Zionist party today, “even the most liberal one, can reach an agreement with the PLO in the foreseeable future, as long as Mahmoud Abbas does not change his program.”
Around the same time on Sunday, a similar ceremony will be held on the other side of Yesha, in the northern Shomron town of Mevo Dotan. Entitled “Planting and Building,” the event will include the planting of saplings and the laying of a foundation stone for a new neighborhood. Prominent figures such as Shomron Council head Gershon Mesika, veteran settlement leader Benny Katzover, Tzfat’s Chief Rabbi Shmuel Eliyahu, and MK Yaakov Katz (Ketzaleh) will address the assembled. For information on planting trees in Mevo Dotan, visit "www.yeshuv.org/events/trees."