Prime Minister Sharon said yesterday that he would look into the widely-publicized media story of six reserve soldiers who were drafted to guard a "lone settler" living in an outpost outside Mevo Dotan in the northern Shomron. The man, Yossi Ayalon, refused to speak with Israeli media - except Arutz-7, to whom he agreed to grant an exclusive interview.
"I'm not exactly a 'lone settler,'" he told Haggai Segal, "and in fact, there are five of us. Three live here permanently, and two others who are in the army arrive when they can… I'm originally from Nes Tziona, and the other two are from Haifa and Tzfat… The distance from here to Mevo Dotan is 400 meters as the crow flies, but because a deep valley separates between us, we have to drive three kilometers to get there - all on state-owned land, passing no Arab-populated areas."
Ayalon said that he never asked the army for protection: "When the Oslo War started, the army stationed guards here, without asking me. I had been here eight months without protection, and I would have continued that way."
Segal asked, "What do you tell the soldiers when they ask why they have to come and protect you?" Ayalon responded, "I tell them that the Kibbutzim also started this way, and that they're not protecting me, but rather the Land of Israel, which belongs to the people of Israel, period."
Asked if he wasn't afraid to live in such isolation, he said, "I am afraid, but I overcome it. Someone has to be here. If not me, then the Arabs would be here; it's as simple as that." His outpost is called Maoz Tzvi, "named after Tzvika Shelef, one of three people from Mevo Dotan who were killed by terrorists in the past two years... It is part of the Mevo Dotan zoning plan - and a very beautiful spot, in the middle of a natural forest, and we're just waiting for people to come and join us."
In response to stories of this nature, and to claims that Israelis resent the Yesha communities because of the extra guard duty they cause, the Yesha Council announced today that only "5% of the soldiers serving in Judea and Samaria are guarding communities, while the rest are searching for the guns and terrorists that came here thanks to the Oslo Agreements." The Council also emphasized that "there is not a single outpost in which the number of soldiers is greater than the number of residents, with the exception of one case in which the Supreme Court, in a temporary injunction, bars adding more residents."
In other Yesha Council news, the Council has decided to take the government to the Supreme Court in order to force equivalency in security arrangements between towns in Yesha and those in the rest of Israel. The Council wants the government to provide the civilian security chiefs in Yesha with the same budget available to their counterparts in other Israeli communities.
In addition, the Council seeks the same "preferred status" for Jewish communities in Gaza as that awarded to the city of Sderot. The latter was awarded this status, which includes tax incentives and other benefits, following the recent string of Kassam missile attacks on Sderot by Arab terrorists in Gaza. The Yesha Council notes that just a few miles away as the crow flies, Gaza Jewish communities have been under similar mortar barrages for much longer than has Sderot.
"I'm not exactly a 'lone settler,'" he told Haggai Segal, "and in fact, there are five of us. Three live here permanently, and two others who are in the army arrive when they can… I'm originally from Nes Tziona, and the other two are from Haifa and Tzfat… The distance from here to Mevo Dotan is 400 meters as the crow flies, but because a deep valley separates between us, we have to drive three kilometers to get there - all on state-owned land, passing no Arab-populated areas."
Ayalon said that he never asked the army for protection: "When the Oslo War started, the army stationed guards here, without asking me. I had been here eight months without protection, and I would have continued that way."
Segal asked, "What do you tell the soldiers when they ask why they have to come and protect you?" Ayalon responded, "I tell them that the Kibbutzim also started this way, and that they're not protecting me, but rather the Land of Israel, which belongs to the people of Israel, period."
Asked if he wasn't afraid to live in such isolation, he said, "I am afraid, but I overcome it. Someone has to be here. If not me, then the Arabs would be here; it's as simple as that." His outpost is called Maoz Tzvi, "named after Tzvika Shelef, one of three people from Mevo Dotan who were killed by terrorists in the past two years... It is part of the Mevo Dotan zoning plan - and a very beautiful spot, in the middle of a natural forest, and we're just waiting for people to come and join us."
In response to stories of this nature, and to claims that Israelis resent the Yesha communities because of the extra guard duty they cause, the Yesha Council announced today that only "5% of the soldiers serving in Judea and Samaria are guarding communities, while the rest are searching for the guns and terrorists that came here thanks to the Oslo Agreements." The Council also emphasized that "there is not a single outpost in which the number of soldiers is greater than the number of residents, with the exception of one case in which the Supreme Court, in a temporary injunction, bars adding more residents."
In other Yesha Council news, the Council has decided to take the government to the Supreme Court in order to force equivalency in security arrangements between towns in Yesha and those in the rest of Israel. The Council wants the government to provide the civilian security chiefs in Yesha with the same budget available to their counterparts in other Israeli communities.
In addition, the Council seeks the same "preferred status" for Jewish communities in Gaza as that awarded to the city of Sderot. The latter was awarded this status, which includes tax incentives and other benefits, following the recent string of Kassam missile attacks on Sderot by Arab terrorists in Gaza. The Yesha Council notes that just a few miles away as the crow flies, Gaza Jewish communities have been under similar mortar barrages for much longer than has Sderot.