A special service will take place tonight at the Tomb of Eleazar the High Priest in the village of Awarta in Samaria tonight. Among the worshipers will be Samaria Brigade Commander Colonel Gilad Amit.
The tombs of several of the children and grandchildren of the biblical figure Aharon are located in Awarta, including Eleazar, who served as the high priest when the Israelites first entered the land of Canaan, his younger brother Itamar, and Eleazar's son Pinchas, who served as high priest after his father died. The spot where they are buried is known as the Hill of Pinchas.
Samaria Regional Council Head Yossi Dagan said 'That the grave of Eleazar the high priest is here, in the place where some of the most evil men in the world set out to murder babies in their beds, reminds us that even in the darkest places there is a ray of light and hope."
In 2011, two terrorists from Awarta massacred the Fogel family in the nearby town of Itamar, including a three month old baby in her crib, along with two other small children.
"Wherever you go in the land of Israel there is proof that the land belongs to the Jewish people. This proves how ridiculous the UNESCO resolution that tries to deny the connection between the land and the Jews is. Not only on the Temple Mount, but here in this village in Samaria, where those evil murderers came from, there is proof that this land was always Jewish. Even the most heinous murders fail to break the connection between the Jewish people and their land." Dagan added.