The Knesset subcommittee on Judea and Samaria decided Wednesday not to recommend the creation of a regional sport and recreation park for Arabs at the site of the IDF's abandoned Shdema base. The plan for the park, which was to include a medical facility as well, was submitted by the Beit Sahour municipality with the support of leftist and foreign bodies.
Can't see the video? Please click here .
The subcommittee is a part of the Foreign Affairs and Security Committee and is headed by Otniel Shneller (Kadima). The subcommittee's members – MKs Rabbi Meir Porush (UTJ), Tzvi Hendel (NU/NRP), Nissim Ze'ev (Shas), Ze'ev Elkin (Kadima) and Yuli Edelstein (Likud) – toured the Shdema site Wednesday.
The IDF established the military base at Shdema in 1972 but recently abandoned the site, which overlooks the strategic Gush Etzion - Jerusalem road.
Datya Yitzchaki, of the Committee for a Jewish Shdema, joined the tour and expressed hope that the MKS would see that Shdema is "a small spot but very important strategically," and is surrounded by other land that is completely vacant. She said that hoped to convince them of "what a mistake it will be to give it to the Palestinians."
Hashmonean fort
Military historian Aryeh Yitzchaki said that the Arab Abbayat clan had perpetrated dozens of terror attacks from this area including grenade attacks and machine gun fire. He added that as far back as Hashmonean times, Jews built a fort on the ridge at Shdema, called Beit Batza.
Yehudit Katzover of the Committee for a Jewish Shdema said that the plan for a "sports center" constituted "blatant European and anarchist interference." The enemy "understand the strategic value and that is why they insist on building it here," she said.