Following Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu's recent proposal to have Jews living under the Palestinian Authority (PA) in Judea and Samaria, dozens of concerned Israeli mothers have taken up position outside of the Prime Minister's Residence in Jerusalem for a week-long vigil.
The vigil, organized by the Women in Green movement, is entitled "Mothers say YES to Israeli Sovereignty over Judea, Samaria and the Jordan Valley." Professors for a Strong Israel, which is headed by former MK Prof. Aryeh Eldad, and Mattot Arim, assisted in arranging the event.
Posters advertising the vigil, which will run from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. until Sunday, February 9, declared "the left threatens the people in Israel with isolation, financial sanctions, boycotts and threatening scenarios. In the name of all these things, they try to force a plan on us to rip up the land and create a Palestinian state in the heartland of the Jewish people; but the people are smart."
Just this Saturday, US Secretary of State John Kerry threatened Israel with international boycotts and delegitimization if peace talks fail. Kerry has been pushing a plan by which Israel would withdraw to the 1949 Armistice lines.
"We're tired of retreats and concessions. We're tired of the eternal lie of the left that claims the establishment of a Palestinian state in spitting distance of the Ben Gurion Airport will bring peace," argued the activists.
Yehudit Katsover and Nadia Matar, co-chairs of Women in Green and initiators of the event, said "in the coming days we choose not to keep silent anymore when faced with national erosion and international pressure. We, mothers in Israel, will leave our daily routines and homes to arrive before the Prime Minister's Residence and say to him: Mr. Prime Minister, don't fear and don't succumb."
Netanyahu reportedly has offered a long-term lease of Judea and Samaria from the PA. As noted, he also proposed having Jews live under the PA, a notion he termed "absurd" in a 1999 interview.
"We came to strengthen not to demonstrate. We came to let our voices be heard and not to protest against the prime minister, who certainly is worried about the security of the country and its citizens," said Katsover and Matar, who noted they hope to speak to Netanyahu's wife Sarah during the week and explain their position.