Citizens of the well-to-do Ramat Aviv neighborhood in northern Tel Aviv have begun collecting money for the besieged residents of Judea and Samaria. The Ramat Aviv residents recently came under attack when Public Security Minister Uzi Landau accused those who live there and in other upper-class towns of being \"removed\" from the security concerns of most Israelis and of busying themselves only with their \"wine and cheese.\" Tzvika Oren, head of the Ramat Aviv Gimmel neighborhood committee, told Arutz-7 today, \"We decided that we apparently have an image problem. To try to solve this, and for humanitarian reasons, we decided to graduate from giving \'private donations\' to taking more public action. We met with the head of the Yesha Council and asked him what are the needs of the Yesha population. He told us that they need bulletproof vehicles, and we decided to raise money for an ambulance, which costs 400,000 shekels (close to $95,000). It will not be an easy task, but we think we can do it...\"



Oren said that he does not think that the image other Israelis have of him and his neighbors is deserved: \"Well-off people who build factories and the like are also contributing to the State… We are not making a political statement, but rather a person-to-person effort. Hopefully, these efforts will soon graduate to meetings with those who live in Yesha; it would be nice for each side to have a chance to explain itself to the other. We should invest at least as much time in understanding one another as we do in understanding the Palestinians…\"