The Sovereignty Movement continued its series of tours for public-opinion shapers, and following extensive tours in the Negev as well as Judea and Samaria, yesterday's tour (Sunday), took a group of journalists and public opinion makers to the Jordan Valley. Joining the tour for Arutz Sheva was op-ed and Judaism editor Rochel Sylvetsky.
The tour exposed the participants to the challenges of governance and sovereignty in the face of Arab agricultural terrorism and land struggles, while placing the thrust of the focus on the pioneering spirit of Jewish residents of the area.
The tour was led by Yohai Ben-Ishai, former Division Commander for the Jordan Valley, who began by explaining how the area is essential to Israel's survival, making up its eastern wall of defense and allowing for strategic depth, flight space for the Air Force and the transfer of military units from the south to the north of the country.
Ben-Yishai further elaborated on the security importance of the Jewish settlement enterprise as an organic part of the military missions involved in controlling stand-by squads, joining forces and more, while reiterating the PA's well-orchestrated attempts at illegally gaining control of Area C in general and the Jordan Valley in particular as part of the implementation of the Salam Fayyad plan for the de facto establishment of a Palestinian state.
He said that while the media is concentrated in Khan al-Ahmar, the area is lined with dozens of much larger Khan al-Ahmars that create Arab territorial continuity between Jericho and the Arab settlements in the Jordan Valley and the main PA settlements at the back of the mountain, Nablus, Ramallah and more.
In the face of Israeli inaction, stuttering of the Civil Administration and the lack of a legal mandate for enforcement by the Jordan Valley Council, the PA establishes facts on the ground, expanding illegal Arab construction that turns into villages and towns, choking off traffic arteries and effectively taking control of lands around nearby Jewish communities.
The tour started with a visit to the palm grove on the eastern edge of Route 1, in a discussion with Security Officer for the Regional Council of Megilot-Yam Hamelah, Dror Sinai, on the topic of the agricultural theft in the area. Sinai spoke about the plight of the farmers, who suffer the theft by Arabs of great quantities of produce and the helplessness of the army and the police. The Council Security Officer answered questions from the participants of the tour about his sense of the situation as one who is responsible for security in the council.
The tour continued to the town of Gilgal, which is in the Jordan Valley Regional Council, for a visit in the Jordan Valley Research and Development Center. Ziva Gilad, who is responsible for the field of research and development in the Jordan Valley said: “We are here in order to provide solutions for local farmers, enabling them to achieve better agricultural results, while limiting the cost of water. We allow agriculturalists to them to determine if it pays to grow a certain crop and then begin farming and making the Valley bloom. That's our way of supporting agriculture in the Valley and contributing to the area."
At the entrance to the Regional Council compound, participants of the tour visited the compound of the Council’s Security Center. Hadas Gozlan, a 33-year-old mother of four and Security Officer for the Jordan Valley, discussed her view of the security situation in the area. “When I started my job in the Valley, we set up a very special center here in 2015 that shortens the response to security and civil events throughout the council. This model is unprecedented and it saves lives every day. We, as a council, have a relatively large area with limited staff and ambulances and we do all we can to respond to every event in the area," she said.
The Head of the Jordan Valley Regional Council and chairman of the Yesha Council David Elhayani joined the participants of the tour. Describing everyday life faced by the residents of the Valley, he sharply criticized the conduct of Defense Minister Benny Gantz, who runs a "state within a state" in his own words, ignores political commitments and actually freezes construction in Judea, Samaria and the Jordan Valley while completely ignoring illegal Arab construction boom in Area C. "Gantz pursues an aggressive policy toward the Jews and allows freedom of action for the Palestinians," Elhayani told tour members.
As someone who initially supported the formation of the government in its current form, but now belongs to a group of local leaders calling for its overthrow, Elhayani says his loyalty is with the settlement enterprise and not a specific political party. "Without struggle we lose our moral right in the face of our children, in the face of the future and in the face of history," he stated.
“We are very happy to see all the good people who came for the third tour in the series of 'Sovereignty on the Way'. The Jordan Valley is our eastern defensive wall, it is one of the most important and strategic places for the People of Israel. But where are the State of Israel’s plans? It is now more clear than ever before that the State must decide what it wants to do in these areas for the good of its people. We already know what the answer to that question is – the immediate application of sovereignty over all parts of the Land of Israel," said Yehudit Katsover and Nadia Matar, the co-chairwomen of the Sovereignty Movement at the end of the tour.