Among the leading figures to be attending the meeting are Rabbi Dov Lior (Chief Rabbi of Kiryat Arba and co-head of the Nir Yeshiva there), Rabbi Moshe Levinger (a founder of Gush Emunim and the Jewish community in Hebron), Daniela Weiss (activist and Mayor of the Municipality of Kedumim in Samaria), and Elyakim Ha-etzni (journalist and former Member of Knesset).
The meeting is being organized by a new group called the Land of Israel Faithful.
An organizer of the meeting, Dalia Yitzhaki, said that besides working to establish more communities in Yesha (Judea and Samaria), the group will emphasize efforts to bring the values of Jewish settlement to the nation’s youth.
She said the group’s goal was also to prevent the uprooting of established communities, by “building instead of destroying.”
“Over Hanukkah, we will set up 15 new communities, mostly adjacent to existing towns, but maintaining a distinct status,” she said.
She added that torches commemorating the Festival of Lights and the liberation of Israel from Greek domination will be lit on mountain tops across Judea and Samaria and in other locations throughout the country as a sign of support for the outposts.
Most of the community outposts set up in Judea and Samaria over the past few years have been the subject of heated debate in the country’s ruling establishment. Supporters of the outposts say they were set up with government support and approval. Opponents claim they were built illegally and must be removed.
The Bush administration has been pressuring the Israeli government to take down the outposts. According to press reports, the issue invariably arises every time Prime Minister Ariel Sharon meets with the U.S. President. Bush has demanded their removal and Sharon, reportedly, has promised Israel’s compliance.
A government sponsored report on the outposts, written by attorney Talia Sasson, takes the view that the outposts were set up in violation of Israeli law. The report has sparked a controversy in the legal community with many prominent lawyers suggesting that the report reflects Sasson’s well-documented left wing bias, rather than an objective legal appraisal. They assert that the outposts were, for the most part, set up legally under Israeli law.
Yitzhaki said her new group aspires to replacing the existing leadership representing many Jews living in Yesha communities, claiming that those who led the struggle against disengagement failed. “The leaders who failed must be sent home,” she said.
The meeting is being organized by a new group called the Land of Israel Faithful.
An organizer of the meeting, Dalia Yitzhaki, said that besides working to establish more communities in Yesha (Judea and Samaria), the group will emphasize efforts to bring the values of Jewish settlement to the nation’s youth.
She said the group’s goal was also to prevent the uprooting of established communities, by “building instead of destroying.”
“Over Hanukkah, we will set up 15 new communities, mostly adjacent to existing towns, but maintaining a distinct status,” she said.
She added that torches commemorating the Festival of Lights and the liberation of Israel from Greek domination will be lit on mountain tops across Judea and Samaria and in other locations throughout the country as a sign of support for the outposts.
Most of the community outposts set up in Judea and Samaria over the past few years have been the subject of heated debate in the country’s ruling establishment. Supporters of the outposts say they were set up with government support and approval. Opponents claim they were built illegally and must be removed.
The Bush administration has been pressuring the Israeli government to take down the outposts. According to press reports, the issue invariably arises every time Prime Minister Ariel Sharon meets with the U.S. President. Bush has demanded their removal and Sharon, reportedly, has promised Israel’s compliance.
A government sponsored report on the outposts, written by attorney Talia Sasson, takes the view that the outposts were set up in violation of Israeli law. The report has sparked a controversy in the legal community with many prominent lawyers suggesting that the report reflects Sasson’s well-documented left wing bias, rather than an objective legal appraisal. They assert that the outposts were, for the most part, set up legally under Israeli law.
Yitzhaki said her new group aspires to replacing the existing leadership representing many Jews living in Yesha communities, claiming that those who led the struggle against disengagement failed. “The leaders who failed must be sent home,” she said.