Shlomo Ne'eman, head of the Gush Etzion Regional Council, was present this morning, Wednesday, during the destruction of the carpentry shop in the Netiv Ha’avot neighborhood in Elazar following a directive by the Supreme Court. Sixteen other buildings, including 15 homes, are also slated for demolition.
In an interview with Arutz Sheva, Ne'eman spoke about the pain and about hope. "This is a sad day for the people of Israel, a day that is supposed to be happy - 70 years since the 29th of November [when the UN voted to partition British Mandatory Palestine into a Jewish state and an Arab state]. Even though the nations of the world have recognized our right to this land, the government of Israel is still hesitant about our right. "
"The time has come for the government to declare that there is control here, and that we are here in the Land of Israel, in Gush Etzion, in Netiv Ha’avot, we are here now and always, and these homes must be normalized,” Ne’eman emphasized.
Ne'eman explained that the struggle is not about one structure or another but about controlling the Land of Israel. "Whoever thinks that we need a ‘solution’ for the settlers is wrong. We do not need solutions, we need our land, our inheritance, our homes. It’s not about one carpentry shop, and I even heard reporters say that it is an illegal business - it’s really delusional.”
"The struggle is for control of this land, for the court not to follow the petitions of all kinds of delusional leftist organizations whose sole goal is to destroy the State of Israel and rule to demolish buildings and houses. The carpentry shop is first because no family lives in it, so the court ordered that it be demolished first. "
The head of the Gush Etzion Regional Council sent a clear message to Prime Minister Netanyahu. "I do not know if Netanyahu can stop the evacuation of Netiv Ha’avot, but this is not his mission. His mission is to control this land, to declare sovereignty and to legislate sovereignty. If his goal is to save another house here and there, then more evacuations will follow. There are lots of ‘solutions’ for the settlers, but we don’t need them."
"Judea and Samaria is an inseparable part of the State of Israel, and there is no other place in the country that such an event would have happened. Houses that have stood for 15 years on state land are being destroyed all because of some obscure strip over which nobody claims ownership. It's because we broke the law? No, it's because there is no law here and no one is breaking the law, but the Supreme Court is creating precedents without law.
“So the one acting against the law who is causing the collapse of the rule of law is the Supreme court, and the ones protecting the law are these kids trying to protect the carpentry shop.
"When I immigrated to Israel at the age of these children, I did not expect to see such sights, but when I see it, it is a great excitement to see our youth, youth with sacrifice for the task at hand," Ne'eman said. “They sleep here at night, even when it is cold and damp, boys and girls in separate quarters in holiness and purity, protecting this place and fighting for it.”
Asked whether there is a possibility to save the neighborhood, Ne'eman replied clearly, "It is possible and necessary to save Netiv Ha’avot, but more than that, we must protect our land. We will be here, we will remain here, and we must control it here.”
He ended the conversation on a hopeful note: "Netiv Ha’avot will be built and established even if a few houses are hit, we will remain here, we will build here, we will flourish here, we will build educational institutions, Torah institutions, we will establish complete life, and that is what will happen here. In the end, the wound will leave the body, but it will remain on the soul, because this is a blow to the soul of the nation.”