Young English-speaking Jewish youth from America and Israel came together recently to build the community of El Matan in Samaria. The six day program, organized by the Samaria Liaisons Office and Zionist Freedom Alliance, brought ZFA activists to live and work in the Jewish village under the slogan of “Become a pioneer and claim your stake in Jewish history.”
Several volunteers spoke to INN TV's Yoni Kempinski about their experience.
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ZFA Director-General Yehuda HaKohen told Israel National News that the project was designed to defy "discriminatory policies" by Western governments in the Land of Israel "that single out Jews as an ethnic group and place restrictions on our ability to live normal lives in our own country."
Participants commented that just as Tel Aviv, which can be seen from El Matan, was built by Jews coming home and working the Land of Israel, this generation of Jews returning home must also build the land in order to secure the Jewish future.
Director of the Shomron Liaisons Office, David Ha'ivri said, “It is a pleasure working with the ZFA in order to offer a hands-on experience for Jewish youth who wish to add their personal mark on the Jewish national movement called Zionism... they are in fact actually joining the ranks of Trumpeldor and Ben-Yosef who did the same exact thing in Tel Chai and Rosh Pina decades ago.”
Samaria Regional Council Head Gershon Mesika expressed his appreciation to the volunteers, and said it was “inspiring to see young Jews from the West coming out to our hilltops, rolling up their sleeves and working the land of the Shomron.”