The Habayta Forum is continuing its campaign to prevent another massacre in communities in Judea and Samaria and nearby areas, releasing a new public information video intended to illustrate to the public and decision-makers what it describes as the security dangers posed by the current situation in the region.
The video centers on a demand for a strategic shift: canceling the Oslo Accords, expanding Jewish construction into open land in Areas A and B, and abolishing the existing division of Judea and Samaria into Areas A, B and C. The forum believes that continuing the current policy could lead to a serious security threat to communities in the region and cities in central Israel.
The release comes amid political tensions and talks on forming a government. As part of the campaign, members of the Habayta Forum, together with bereaved fathers Yehoshua Sherman and Eliav Libi, recently issued a public appeal to party leaders not to form a government dependent on Arab parties that they say support terrorism. They said such a move could undermine Israel's security and perpetuate the security doctrine that collapsed during the October 7th massacre.
The video opens with a reminder of promises made to the public during the disengagement from the Gaza Strip that evacuating the communities would help advance peace and security. The forum argues that the move instead led to terrorism and insecurity, and warns against repeating the same mistakes in Judea and Samaria.
The video is presented by settlement and media activist Ezri Tubi, who warns against complacency regarding security threats in the region. According to Tubi, Judea and Samaria is 15 times the size of the Gaza Strip and is home to some two million Arabs. He argues that the region has a hostile ideological infrastructure similar to that in Gaza, alongside large quantities of firearms and tens of thousands of Palestinian police officers equipped and trained by foreign militaries.
The video also highlights the topographical threat posed by the Judea and Samaria mountain range, which overlooks large parts of central Israel. The forum emphasizes the geographical proximity of Judea and Samaria to population centers and vital infrastructure in Israel.
According to the figures presented in the video, driving times are particularly short: about five minutes to Afula and Kfar Saba, about 10 minutes to Netanya and Kiryat Gat, about 15 minutes to Tel Aviv and about 10 minutes to Ben Gurion Airport. The forum argues that this proximity illustrates the potential danger in the event of a deterioration in security, and that in some places the fence is the main barrier between the Palestinian population and Israeli citizens.
Forum members say that addressing the threat requires a fundamental change in the thinking that led to the Oslo Accords. They call for abolishing the division into Areas A, B and C, which they argue restricts Jewish construction and undermines the ability to defend the area.
In the video, Tubi cites a figure of approximately 1, 280,000,000 meters of open land in Judea and Samaria. He says whoever develops these areas first will determine the reality on the ground and influence the region's future.
Based on this approach, the forum proposes expanding the agricultural farm model currently operating in Area C to open land in Areas A and B. Forum members argue that expanding construction would strengthen the Jewish presence on the ground and influence control of the territory, without the need for a military confrontation or granting citizenship to Palestinians.
The leaders of the Habayta Forum and bereaved fathers Yehoshua Sherman and Eliav Libi stress that, in their view, this is not merely a construction issue but a security and national necessity.
They said, "Settling these areas represents a return to the fundamental values of Zionism, under the historical principle that where the plow goes, so goes the border. The demand to settle the open areas is not a political issue of right and left, but the most moral, Zionist, security-driven and just demand, and we call on the leadership to take preventive action before disaster strikes."