Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's recent statement about the need to evacuate Jews from towns in Judea and Samaria such as Shiloh seemed to make little impression upon the residents there. On Monday, local Shiloh residents gathered together with public figures for a ceremony to lay the cornerstone for a new neighborhood of 40 housing units. The new development is being built adjacent to an existing neighborhood which then Defense Minister Ariel Sharon built in 1981. The Jewish town of Shiloh is located 18 miles north of Jerusalem. It served as the capital of the State of Israel in biblical times for over 350 years, but now finds itself half way between the two PLO-controlled cities of Ramallah and Shechem.
The Speaker of the Knesset [Israel's Parliament], Ruby Rivlin (Likud), attended the cornerstone laying ceremony and declared, "You, the people of Shiloh, are doing an important service for the entire nation. No one will dictate to Jews not to build their homes in the Land of Israel." On his way to Shiloh, Rivlin and his staff stopped in Bet El, another Jewish town recently mentioned by Prime Minister Sharon as slated for "painful concessions." Bet El Mayor Yisrael Rosenberg told his distinguished guests that the population of Bet El now numbers 5,000. Knesset Speaker Rivlin responded, "Five thousand people? To move 5,000 people from their homes constitutes expulsion, and we are against expulsions."
Member of Knesset Uri Ariel (National Union) was also at the Shiloh ceremony. He told those gathered, "The faith and courage of the Jewish People is stronger than all proposals, plans, and roadmaps. The current Jewish population of Judea and Samaria - a quarter million - is living testimony to that fact."
For pictures and more info on Shiloh, click the following link:
www.shilo.org.il
The Speaker of the Knesset [Israel's Parliament], Ruby Rivlin (Likud), attended the cornerstone laying ceremony and declared, "You, the people of Shiloh, are doing an important service for the entire nation. No one will dictate to Jews not to build their homes in the Land of Israel." On his way to Shiloh, Rivlin and his staff stopped in Bet El, another Jewish town recently mentioned by Prime Minister Sharon as slated for "painful concessions." Bet El Mayor Yisrael Rosenberg told his distinguished guests that the population of Bet El now numbers 5,000. Knesset Speaker Rivlin responded, "Five thousand people? To move 5,000 people from their homes constitutes expulsion, and we are against expulsions."
Member of Knesset Uri Ariel (National Union) was also at the Shiloh ceremony. He told those gathered, "The faith and courage of the Jewish People is stronger than all proposals, plans, and roadmaps. The current Jewish population of Judea and Samaria - a quarter million - is living testimony to that fact."
For pictures and more info on Shiloh, click the following link:
www.shilo.org.il