Some 400 young hikers left from the Samaria community of Elon Moreh on Sunday morning, walking in the direction of Tapuach along trails and paths unused by Jews for nearly twenty years. After a night's rest, they set off early this morning for Shilo and an outpost-in-formation, Kol Tzion (Voice of Zion).
The young people, enjoying their just-begun summer vacation, hailed from communities across Judea and Samaria, as well as from Haifa, Rehovot, Jerusalem and Tel Aviv. Posters had been put up and distributed in schools by the grassroots Youth for the Land of Israel movement in the final days before the summer break.
The posters read: “Like Abraham our forefather, who walked the length and breadth of the land; like our fathers who walked from Shechem to Hevron and from Jerusalem to Beit El; like King David who walked the fields of Bethlehem; like Rabbi Akiva and his students who walked throughout Judea; like Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai and his students, lovers of the Galilee; like the students of the Vilna Gaon and the Baal Shem Tov who saturated the land with their blood, tears and love – against the strangulation policies, we will take to the roads on a Land of Israel hike.”
“We finally feel like we are conquering the land,” one of the organizers, Sheva Ratzon, told Arutz-7. “We don’t need to ask anyone where to place our feet.”
The youth group has strengthened and spread its influence in schools on both sides of the Green Line. “There are those of us who are no longer youths who want to spread this enthusiasm and this fearlessness among adults as well,” Land of Israel Faithful spokesperson Datia Yitzchaki told Arutz-7. “We are breaking out of the paradigm of hiding behind concrete walls. The youth are going back to hiking through the mountains and the fields, and reminding our community and all of Israel that every retreat behind cement walls – like we saw in Kerem Shalom and we see at Netiv HaAsarah – leads only to tragedy.
“Our public, which suffered a great blow this past summer, cannot sit back and say 'we are tired' [a reference to a phrase used several months ago by Prime Minister Ehud Olmert]. We must lift the flag back up and counter the feeling of hopelessness and defeat being sown by the heads of the government. We have concentrated on reopening roads that have been closed to Jews, such as the Wallerstein Road and the Jerusalem-Tekoa road. We intend, through our feet, so show that the land is ours.”
By Sunday afternoon, the girls had passed through the Scali outpost - currently endangered by Defense Minister Peretz's latest outpost-destruction plans - as well as the Avri outpost, and then to Neriah Spring. The boys, for their part, passed through the new Sulami hilltop neighborhood until they reached Tel Aroma, opposite the Itamar mountain ridge, enjoying the view of the region from above.
How was the mood? "One of joy and uplifting," said Nechemiah, "- the joy of the Land of Israel." "Girls are singing and happy," Emunah said.
After they reached the community of Itamar Sunday evening, the boys were bused to Tapuach, and the girls to Eli.
Monday, with sunrise, the hikers continued once again: the boys from the Tapuach Junction southward, past Rechelim, Eli and Shilo, and to the hilltop communities in the Shvut Rachel region in northern Binyamin. They were joined by less-rugged hikers as they passed the larger communities, and were on their way this afternoon to a festive ceremony in Kol Tzion.
The girls made their way from Eli to Shilo to Shvut Rachel, and from there to Kol Tzion, 4-5 kilometers east of Shvut Rachel in the direction of the Jordan Valley.
Though planned before his murder, the march is dedicated to the memory of Eliyahu Asheri, the 18-year-old Itamar resident kidnapped and murdered by Arab terrorists last week.
Marchers listened on transistor radios to media reports that Arab fields had been vandalized, allegedly by them. Outraged, they contacted the news agencies and were told that Arabs had made the allegations. They said that there had not even been any friction with local Arabs during the course of the march. The marchers said they plan to bring charges against at least one of the media agencies that chose to continue to broadcast the allegations even after they received the facts from participants.
The hikers informed the IDF of their plans in advance, but did not request security from the army, opting to hire private security guards and rely on volunteers. “Had we requested assistance from the army they would want to surround us with barbed wire and have us walk along the roads and communities,” Yitzchaki said, “but that is exactly the world view we are trying to change.” In the end, the army provided security on its own volition for part of the hike.
The young people, enjoying their just-begun summer vacation, hailed from communities across Judea and Samaria, as well as from Haifa, Rehovot, Jerusalem and Tel Aviv. Posters had been put up and distributed in schools by the grassroots Youth for the Land of Israel movement in the final days before the summer break.
The posters read: “Like Abraham our forefather, who walked the length and breadth of the land; like our fathers who walked from Shechem to Hevron and from Jerusalem to Beit El; like King David who walked the fields of Bethlehem; like Rabbi Akiva and his students who walked throughout Judea; like Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai and his students, lovers of the Galilee; like the students of the Vilna Gaon and the Baal Shem Tov who saturated the land with their blood, tears and love – against the strangulation policies, we will take to the roads on a Land of Israel hike.”
“We finally feel like we are conquering the land,” one of the organizers, Sheva Ratzon, told Arutz-7. “We don’t need to ask anyone where to place our feet.”
The youth group has strengthened and spread its influence in schools on both sides of the Green Line. “There are those of us who are no longer youths who want to spread this enthusiasm and this fearlessness among adults as well,” Land of Israel Faithful spokesperson Datia Yitzchaki told Arutz-7. “We are breaking out of the paradigm of hiding behind concrete walls. The youth are going back to hiking through the mountains and the fields, and reminding our community and all of Israel that every retreat behind cement walls – like we saw in Kerem Shalom and we see at Netiv HaAsarah – leads only to tragedy.
“Our public, which suffered a great blow this past summer, cannot sit back and say 'we are tired' [a reference to a phrase used several months ago by Prime Minister Ehud Olmert]. We must lift the flag back up and counter the feeling of hopelessness and defeat being sown by the heads of the government. We have concentrated on reopening roads that have been closed to Jews, such as the Wallerstein Road and the Jerusalem-Tekoa road. We intend, through our feet, so show that the land is ours.”
By Sunday afternoon, the girls had passed through the Scali outpost - currently endangered by Defense Minister Peretz's latest outpost-destruction plans - as well as the Avri outpost, and then to Neriah Spring. The boys, for their part, passed through the new Sulami hilltop neighborhood until they reached Tel Aroma, opposite the Itamar mountain ridge, enjoying the view of the region from above.
How was the mood? "One of joy and uplifting," said Nechemiah, "- the joy of the Land of Israel." "Girls are singing and happy," Emunah said.
After they reached the community of Itamar Sunday evening, the boys were bused to Tapuach, and the girls to Eli.
Monday, with sunrise, the hikers continued once again: the boys from the Tapuach Junction southward, past Rechelim, Eli and Shilo, and to the hilltop communities in the Shvut Rachel region in northern Binyamin. They were joined by less-rugged hikers as they passed the larger communities, and were on their way this afternoon to a festive ceremony in Kol Tzion.
The girls made their way from Eli to Shilo to Shvut Rachel, and from there to Kol Tzion, 4-5 kilometers east of Shvut Rachel in the direction of the Jordan Valley.
Though planned before his murder, the march is dedicated to the memory of Eliyahu Asheri, the 18-year-old Itamar resident kidnapped and murdered by Arab terrorists last week.
Marchers listened on transistor radios to media reports that Arab fields had been vandalized, allegedly by them. Outraged, they contacted the news agencies and were told that Arabs had made the allegations. They said that there had not even been any friction with local Arabs during the course of the march. The marchers said they plan to bring charges against at least one of the media agencies that chose to continue to broadcast the allegations even after they received the facts from participants.
The hikers informed the IDF of their plans in advance, but did not request security from the army, opting to hire private security guards and rely on volunteers. “Had we requested assistance from the army they would want to surround us with barbed wire and have us walk along the roads and communities,” Yitzchaki said, “but that is exactly the world view we are trying to change.” In the end, the army provided security on its own volition for part of the hike.