The classic Zionist response to a terrorist attack has been implemented once again, in the abandoned Adurayim army base south of Hevron.
Just hours after Monday morning's murderous terrorist shooting in which policeman Yehoshua Sofer of Be'er Sheva was killed and three other policemen were wounded, dozens of Jews from Gush Etzion, Kiryat Arba/Hevron, the South Mt. Hevron communities and Meitar gathered in Adorayim, a base abandoned by the IDF just two months ago
The initiative was organized by the Judea Action Committees, Women for Israel's Tomorrow (Women in Green), and the Committee for a Jewish Shdema,.
The Adorayim army base is located in the southern Hevron Hills, between Beit Haggai and Otniel, a few hundred meters from the fatal shooting.
The activists who gathered there said they were determined to restore a Jewish presence in Adurayim, just as they did in Shdema, which was similarly abandoned several years ago and now features a permanent Jewish presence. They said their motto is: "Instead of withdrawal, settlement!"
The pioneering activists held afternoon Mincha prayers at what used to be the base's synagogue but was destroyed by the Arabs following the IDF's departure. Leaders of the effort said they would return on Friday to begin cleaning and rebuilding the site, with the goal of restoring its permanent Jewish presence, and they called upon the public to join them.
The activists called upon Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu to "draw strength from the People of Israel, who have shown high morals, strength of character, determination and patriotism."