Defense Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer's office says that the minister is determined to continue dismantling Jewish outposts in Yesha. He has so far taken down 17 of 24 outposts on his list, and is now reaching the "problematic" ones: those with people living in them. As of today, the Assaf Junction outpost, which controls an important point on the Jerusalem-Ofrah highway, numbers among its residents also Rabbi and Mrs. Zalman Melamed of Beit El, MK Uri Ariel (who helped build the outpost when he served as mayor of Beit El), and Rabbi and Mrs. Moshe Shapira of Ofrah. Mrs. Geulah Hershkovitz, whose son Assaf was murdered by terrorists near the site of the outpost named for him, plans to move in tomorrow.
Infrastructures Minister Effie Eitam (National Religious Party) arrived early this evening at the Assaf outpost in a show of solidarity with the residents' struggle not to be uprooted. Arutz-7's Haggai Huberman reports that Sharon received a letter today from Assaf, asking him to return to his original path "of building settlements, not uprooting them." Both Sharon and Ben-Eliezer will not be in the country for the next couple of days, as Sharon is headed for the U.S. and Ben-Eliezer for France. The latter left instructions, however, to carry out the uprootings as planned. Ha'aretz reporter Hannah Kim reported on Friday that a top advisor to Ben-Eliezer had asserted that dismantling the outposts was a political must for the Defense Minister. It has been widely reported that a radio poll last week found that over 70% of the public feels that Ben-Eliezer's rush to dismantle Yesha outposts was borne of political, not security, considerations.
Residents of Beit El and Ofrah are spearheading a campaign to prevent the dismantling of Assaf, and several hundred people came last night to show their solidarity and determination not to allow its removal. A large emergency meeting of Yesha rabbis is planned at Assaf for tomorrow afternoon.
Similar efforts are being made at the Gilad Farm near Kedumim, which was established six months ago after last year's terrorist murder of local security officer Gilad Zar. Some 150 youths spent this past Sabbath there, and many more are expected to come from as far away as Dimona and Kiryat Arba today and tomorrow. The outpost is located adjacent to 400 dunams (100 acres) of land owned by the Zar family. "We're not fooling ourselves that the army won't be able to uproot us," said Esther of Kedumim. "Thank G-d, we have a strong army, and we certainly don't want to fight against it. But this could be a signal to the politicians that will hopefully get them to reconsider."
Infrastructures Minister Effie Eitam (National Religious Party) arrived early this evening at the Assaf outpost in a show of solidarity with the residents' struggle not to be uprooted. Arutz-7's Haggai Huberman reports that Sharon received a letter today from Assaf, asking him to return to his original path "of building settlements, not uprooting them." Both Sharon and Ben-Eliezer will not be in the country for the next couple of days, as Sharon is headed for the U.S. and Ben-Eliezer for France. The latter left instructions, however, to carry out the uprootings as planned. Ha'aretz reporter Hannah Kim reported on Friday that a top advisor to Ben-Eliezer had asserted that dismantling the outposts was a political must for the Defense Minister. It has been widely reported that a radio poll last week found that over 70% of the public feels that Ben-Eliezer's rush to dismantle Yesha outposts was borne of political, not security, considerations.
Residents of Beit El and Ofrah are spearheading a campaign to prevent the dismantling of Assaf, and several hundred people came last night to show their solidarity and determination not to allow its removal. A large emergency meeting of Yesha rabbis is planned at Assaf for tomorrow afternoon.
Similar efforts are being made at the Gilad Farm near Kedumim, which was established six months ago after last year's terrorist murder of local security officer Gilad Zar. Some 150 youths spent this past Sabbath there, and many more are expected to come from as far away as Dimona and Kiryat Arba today and tomorrow. The outpost is located adjacent to 400 dunams (100 acres) of land owned by the Zar family. "We're not fooling ourselves that the army won't be able to uproot us," said Esther of Kedumim. "Thank G-d, we have a strong army, and we certainly don't want to fight against it. But this could be a signal to the politicians that will hopefully get them to reconsider."