Over 100 residents of Peduel laid a cornerstone Friday for a new structure that will house a youth club. The action was carried out in defiance of the “Obama freeze” – the order to halt construction of new buildings in Judea and Samaria, which was handed down last month by the Israeli government at the insistence of US President Barack Obama.
The ceremony was held in the pouring rain. The cornerstone was laid, and concrete-and-steel foundations for the structure were put in place, in the presence of the community's rabbi, Rabbi Yisaschar Menashe, Samaria Regional Council Head Gershon Mesika, and Yesha Council Chairman Danny Dayan.
Sources in the Samaria Regional Council said that the laying of the cornerstone makes the “folly and inhumanity” of the freeze more easily apparent. “According to the cabinet decision and the Prime Minister's announcement, the freeze will not be enforced as regards public structures,” they explained. “However, the Minister of Defense deviated from his own decision and today, a structure like this cannot be built. This is an example that shows clearly the evil inherent in the freeze and in the Defense Minister's behavior.”
Shomron Regional Council Head Gershon Mesika voiced his pleasure at the ceremonial laying of the cornerstone. “A day in which a new house is built in the Land of Israel is a holiday,” he said. “Construction in the Land of Israel in general, and in Samaria in particular, is the most important deed [one can do] in our times. The State needs to make an effort and stand up to the pressures exerted against it by foreign countries and extreme leftist elements working from inside the country.”
Yesha Council Chairman Danny Dayan said at the ceremony: “The decision to freeze construction from Arad to Afula and from Petach Tikva to the Jordan is not legitimate.”
Peduel's youth representative Ron Lahav said that “the youth of Peduel does not fear a lengthy road.”