Residents of the 18 Jordan Valley communities will turn off all their lights this evening - as a warning to the country of what is liable to happen to the once-blossoming settlement enterprise. Some 51 families have left the area in the past year, a result of the \"security situation\" and associated problems. For instance, traffic has dropped by 85% on the area\'s main national artery, the Jordan Valley highway leading from the Jerusalem/Dead Sea area to Beit She\'an/Tiberias. The remaining 600+ families, by turning off the lights, wish to demonstrate the dangers:
\"We look across the Jordan River, and see the bright lights of the Jordanian towns - but here it will be all dark,\" says Tamir Shlomi, a resident of Tomer and economic organizer of the Yafit cooperative. \"The rest of the country should know what will happen if there are no communities or residents here… Things here are very very difficult, and it appears as if the entire enterprise is disintegrating…\"
Tomer and a colleague enumerated the problems: \"We feel as if the Jordan Valley is no longer a matter of public consensus, and that we are on the operating table. Secondly, we have to pass through very dangerous roads to reach our homes; just recently, Zohar Shurgi of Moshav Yafit was killed in a shooting attack in the Shomron... The main immediate problem, however, is economic, and is the reason why most of the 51 left… The other 600+ families, however, are still planning to stay and fight, not because they have to, but because they want to. This is their home.\"
\"We look across the Jordan River, and see the bright lights of the Jordanian towns - but here it will be all dark,\" says Tamir Shlomi, a resident of Tomer and economic organizer of the Yafit cooperative. \"The rest of the country should know what will happen if there are no communities or residents here… Things here are very very difficult, and it appears as if the entire enterprise is disintegrating…\"
Tomer and a colleague enumerated the problems: \"We feel as if the Jordan Valley is no longer a matter of public consensus, and that we are on the operating table. Secondly, we have to pass through very dangerous roads to reach our homes; just recently, Zohar Shurgi of Moshav Yafit was killed in a shooting attack in the Shomron... The main immediate problem, however, is economic, and is the reason why most of the 51 left… The other 600+ families, however, are still planning to stay and fight, not because they have to, but because they want to. This is their home.\"