Over the past months, Shomron leaders Gershon Mesika and Yossi Dagan have led a number of diplomatic delegations meeting with European officials in Brussels, Berlin, Stockholm, London and Paris. For the first time ever, leaders in those countries have had opportunities to hear directly from the leaders of the Jewish communities of Judea and Samaria (aka “the West Bank settlements”) and learn their side of the story that has drawn so much extended attention in the international political arena.

Many representatives in EU houses of parliament where amazed to learn that thousands of Palestinians are employed in industry in the Jewish towns (settlements), and found it hard to understand why Israel’s opponents are working so hard to mark and boycott products that are manufactured there.

This diplomatic initiative has caused an immediate buzz in many European capitals, and this interest has encouraged many officials to come see this for themselves. Over the past week and a half, the Shomron Regional Council has hosted parliamentary delegations from four different countries.

Last week, MEP Dr. Fiorello Provera, Deputy Chairman of the EU Parliament’s Foreign Committee, visited the Shomron. He visited the Ariel University of Samaria and the Barkan Industrial Park where 3,000 Jews and 3,000 Arabs work together. Provera also visited the Knesset, Israel’s parliament in Jerusalem, as a guest of Samaria’s Regional Council. He met with Knesset Speaker Yuli Edelstein, Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister Zeev Elkin and Economy and Trade Minister Naftali Bennett.

“I don’t support restrictions in this area (the settlements) because they can harm factories where Israeli and Palestinian employees work together, have similar salaries, make the same sacrifices and have the same possibilities for attaining a good standard of living in dignity,” The Jerusalem Post quoted Provera saying during his visit to Israel. “Harming these factories’ ability to function would damage coexistence,” he added.

“Coexistence on the ground between Israelis and Palestinians is a good example of practical policy. I’m in favor of this bottom-up coexistence,” Provera said.

“Most European Parliament members do not know what’s happening in Israel. Since I’ve been exposed to the settlement movement in Samaria, I feel a responsibility to open up my fellow European Parliament members to the reality here,” he explained.

Provera said that the best way to fight settlement product labeling in the EU is to make sure members of the European Parliament are informed. “Information is crucial for us to make up our minds and have an opinion,” he said. “Without real information, we cannot decide what is right and wrong.”

His visit was followed by larger delegations of members of the Swiss and Swedish parliaments, who also visited the industrial park in Barkan, the university in Ariel, and the organic farms and green energy research center in the Shomron community of Itamar.

Director of Shomron Foreign Department Shay Atias said that these reciprocal visits are just the beginning of an expected increase in international visitors. We have found great interest on the part of the international community in seeing the firsthand facts behind the media reports. Our new strategy is based on people to people diplomacy; we have decided to open up the Shomron and invite people to come and see, and to meet our representatives one on one. Seeing the facts on the ground has proven again to be the best defense, in light of the massive ongoing campaign to delegitimize Israel. Israel is doing good things in Judea and Samaria, and we are glad that more and more people would like to come and witness them.

MEP Dr. Fiorello Provera with Gershon Mesika speaking with Dr. at Moskowitz Emergency Center

Swiss parliamentary delegation visiting factory in the Barkan industrial park

Swedish parliamentary delegation visiting the Zimmermann organic farm in Itamar

The post The Shomron Regional Council has established its own Foreign Ministry Department appeared first on The Shomron Liaison Office.

Evyatar Borovsky OB”M

This evening at 6:30, residents of the mountain ridge Gav HaHar communities in central Shomron will gather at Tapuach Junction to protest a terror attack that left one dead this morning.

Evyatar Borovsky was killed this morning at about 8:15 by an Arab terrorist who stabbed him from behind and then shot him to death. Borovsky, 31, was married and father to five small children. He and his family came from Kfar Hasidim in the north to live in Yitzhar some five years ago.

He was an actor who performed in educational plays on Bible stories and other educational topics. He also worked as a part time security guard. His neighbors describe him as a happy and friendly family man and educator.

Tapuach Junction is the most central crossroads in the Shomron connecting the east to west 505 Trans-Samaria Highway with north to south Road Number 60, which residents call the “Path of our Fathers,” due to the many significant biblical events that occurred along this road in the Jewish Bible. It runs from Shechem, which is just north of the Tapuach Junction, and leads to Be’er Sheva via Jerusalem, Bethlehem and Hebron.

On normal days, local residents from Jewish and Arab communities pass by the Tapuach Junction on their way to work and school in nearby cities. Many people from the towns in the area wait for rides at the bus stop where Borovsky was killed this morning.

Shomron leader Gershon Mesika called on the government to clamp down on the terrorist groups and stop their funding, in order to provide security to all residents of the Shomron.

Members of the community of Yitzhar where Borovsky lived point to lax security measures that have enabled the terrorists to become bold and carry out such attacks.

The funeral of Evyatar Borovsky was held this evening at the cemetery at Kfar Hasidim.

At 6:30pm, residents of the communities of Shomron will hold a demonstration at the site of the murder at the Tapuach Junction, calling on the authorities to use all measures needed to provide safety in the region.

Clip of Evyatar Borovsky OB”M preforming in educational play

Watch this video on YouTube.

The post Residents of Shomron Protest Terror Attack appeared first on The Shomron Liaison Office.

(Photo credit: Meir Berachia, Shomron Regional Council)

Top Official of European Parliament landed last night and came straight from Ben-Gurion Airport to… a Lag B’Omer bonfire in Kfar Tapuach. “Foreign Ministry” of Samaria gears up.

————–

 

An unexpected guest at a Lag B’Omer bonfire in Samaria: Last night (Saturday night) MEP Dr. Fiorello Provera, Deputy Chairman of the EU Foreign Relations Committee, landed in Israel as the guest of the Strategy Unit of the Samaria Regional Council, which to date functions as an active foreign ministry of Judea and Samaria, in Europe and the rest of the world. After bringing 60 EU Parliament members, 5 US Congressmen and 2 Senators to Samaria, as well as two members of governments from eastern Europe, and after managing to bloc the Palestinian Authority from gaining recognition as a state in the Security Council, Samarian officials decided to host a senior member of the European Parliament, Dr. Provera, on Lag B’Omer, thereby casting away ignorance about everything pertaining to Judea and Samaria and portraying their vibrancy on the Israeli map.

 

So straight from Ben-Gurion airport, a senior official of the EU showed up at the Lag B’Omer bonfire in the community of Kfar Tapuach, in the heart of Samaria.

 

Approximately a year and a half ago the Samaria Regional Council expanded the public relations operations of the Strategy Unit formed in the Council. If at first the Strategy Unit concentrated on tours by VIPs such as journalists and politicians and on public relations on topics pertaining to the State of Israel, about a year and a half ago the Council opened a sort of independent “foreign ministry” of Samaria, directed by the acting deputy head of the Samaria Regional Council who heads the project entitled: “The International Public Relations War”.

 

After a year and a half of strenuous activity within its framework, among others, 60 European Parliament members, 5 American Congressmen, 2 Senators, 2 members of governments from eastern Europe and other senior figures from Africa and Europe arrived for tours, and the Samaria Regional Council has moved on to regular appearances in Houses of Parliament in Europe and the United States.

 

Last night, Deputy Chairman of the European Parliament’s Foreign Relations Committee, MEP Dr. Fiorello Provera, landed in Israel as a guest of Samarian residents. This is the second visit by the senior European Parliament official to Samaria, after his arrival about a year ago for a visit to the Samaria Regional Council gained a supporter and friend. The guest was invited to participate, for the first time in his life, in a Lag B’Omer bonfire in the town of Kfar Tapuach. Samaria Regional Council head Gershon Mesika and Deputy Yossi Dagan warmly received their guest, who won applause from the hundreds of participants.

 

Rabbi Elyakim Levanon, Rabbi of Samaria, explained the festival’s customs to Provera, while the guest blessed residents of Samaria:

 

“I feel at home with you here, because I feel the warmth and the friendship. We find ourselves in a complicated era, when most European Parliament members do not know what’s happening in Israel. Since I’ve been exposed to the settlement movement in Samaria, I feel a responsibility to open up my fellow European Parliament members to the reality here in Samaria.

 

“I’m sure that you will succeed, because you are strong and have faith. I wish the State of Israel and Samaria all success.”

 

At the conclusion of his speech, Provera was honored to light a huge bonfire about 10 meters high. He lit it together with Gershon Mesika, and the settlement’s Rabbi Shmuel Rosenzweig.

 

After the bonfire was lit, the crowd started dancing to Lag B’Omer tunes together with the guest, who received upon his request a translation of the lyrics to the song: “You will say he lives, Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai”… (translation from Hebrew)

 

During the week Provera will have a comprehensive tour of Samaria communities and hold meetings with Jewish and Arab workers in the Barkan industrial zone. Provera became a supporter of the settlement enterprise about a year ago, when the Strategy Unit and its then-head, Yossi Dagan, invited him for a short tour of Samaria. The tour, to which he agreed to allocate no more than 2 hours, completely changed his views.

 

Except that only a month after an official visit by a delegation of members of the Samaria public relations dept. to the European Union, Dr. Provera is not alone. In the month that elapsed since the meetings, Samaria Council members have succeeded in creating a coalition, the first of its kind, with the EU Parliament, sending 10 MPs, 8 of them members of the Foreign Relations Committee, to the other side of the conflict.

 

“Almost 10% of the members of the Foreign Relations Committee of the EU are currently committed to Judea and Samaria” – explains Yossi Dagan – “this is just the beginning, but a very encouraging one. The European Parliament Foreign Relations Committee has the capacity to act against transferring money to extremist Leftist organizations and to raise publicity about Judea and Samaria and the State of Israel to the top of the agenda.

 

“This meeting between a top official of the European Union and residents of Judea and Samaria, like many other meetings, are an important step in the War of Public Relations and Consciousness-Raising” – concludes Gershon Mesika – “which is these days perhaps one of the most important things for the State of Israel and for the settlement enterprise in Judea and Samaria.“

The post Top Official of European Parliament at Lag B’Omer bonfire in Kfar Tapuach appeared first on The Shomron Liaison Office.

Swiss MP Yves Nidegger at Tura winery in Rechelim

While some members of the EU are calling for sanctions on products from the West Bank, others have taken their own steps to learn what’s really going on here by actually visiting the Shomron region and meeting with locals.

Today, Yves Nidegger – a member of the Swiss Parliament, and his wife Maria took time off from their personal vacation in Israel to get a close up look inside the Jewish settlements in Shomron.

Hosted by the Shomron Liaison Office’s David Ha’ivri, the dignitaries started out with a tour of the University of Ariel. They were surprised to learn that over 85% of the 14,000 students bus in everyday from the other side of the Green Line because the school’s dorms only have room for 2000 students. At the university, they met with Dr. Ron Schlifer and heard about the school’s development plans that project growth to 20,000 students by the year 2020.

They were pleased to taste the award winning wines produced by the Tura Winery in Rechelim, and to meet with owner Vered Ben Saadon, who shared her story of the amazing journey that led her and her husband Erez to become wine farmers on the mountains of Shomron.

Later on, they visited the vineyards on Mount Gerizim and looked down on Joseph’s Tomb in the city known as Shechem to the Jews and Nablus to the Arabs. They were shocked to learn that the Oslo accords have resulted in the city becoming off-limits to Jews, which has effectively cut them off from access to Joseph’s tomb.

Before they left the region, they met with Israel public diplomacy executive Shay Atias, who explained the new strategy of the Shomron leadership, which is aimed at revealing the facts on the ground to the international community and promoting person to person diplomacy. MP Yves Nidegger left with a promise to advise his colleagues to come and see this for themselves. The next delegation visits are already in the works.

The post International Representatives Continue to Seek Facts in Shomron appeared first on The Shomron Liaison Office.

Last week, Deputy Director of the Shomron Regional Council Yossi Dagan and Shay Attias, Chairman of Foreign Affairs, met with elected officials in Berlin’s Bundestag and Swedish Parliament in Stockholm to counter anti-Israel efforts which are promoting a boycott of Israeli products and labeling of products manufactured in Judea and Samaria.

Upon learning of this issue, some EU representatives decided to make an immediate visit to Shomron to visit the industrial parks in the region and show their support.

The multinational delegation, consisting of representatives from Austria, Belgium and Turkey, will visit factories in the Barkan Industrial Park, meet with Director of Shomron Region Gershon Mesika, visit the Ariel University, and then hold meetings in Knesset with government officials.

Another delegation headed by Shomron leaders Gershon Mesika and Yossi Dagan is headed to the EU Parliament next week.

The post Shomron Regional Council Takes on the International Arena appeared first on The Shomron Liaison Office.

Gershon Mesika, head of the Shomron Regional Council

Title: The appointment of Livni: Both strategic error and political folly

The head of the Shomron Regional Council, Gershon Mesika, today (Thursday) condemned the agreement whereby Tzipi Livni will serve as Justice Minister and will be in charge of the negotiations with the Palestinian Authority.

“To let Tzipi Livni conduct these negotiations, is like saying that a serious traffic offender can be the police chief of traffic” – says Mesika. “We all still remember the folly of the Annapolis conference. Tzipi Livni is currently the most extreme representative of the Oslo concept aura, and the only one who still speaks about it, while even Meretz keeps it hidden today.”

Mesika emphasized that Livni’s appointment is both a strategic error and political folly.

“Tzipi Livni will not only not help Netanyahu in the least, but will also make things harder for him in the world, again and again. After years of effort the Prime Minister managed to present Abu Mazen to the world as an instigator and obstacle to peace. Tzipi Livni will turn Netanyahu into that. Her appointment to the job is an international strategic error and political folly.”

Mesika called on the Right-wing parties, religious and charedi, to sit together: “I call on the Likud, Jewish Home and the charedi parties to sit down together in one room until there’s white smoke and to solve the disputes between them agreeably. This is the real partnership the State of Israel needs.”

The post Statement of Gershon Mesika on Appointment of Tzippi Livni as Minister of Justice in Netanyahu government. appeared first on The Shomron Liaison Office.

Adolescence is a period rife with problems. Adolescence is a period rife with problems, emotional, social and other. These problems are exacerbated by the economic, social and security difficulties in Israel and where relevant, by the immigration process. These problems are exacerbated by the economic, societal and security difficulties in Israel and where relevant, by the immigration process. This complex environment makes some of the youngsters all the more vulnerable to a variety of risk situations. This complex environment makes some of the youngsters all the more vulnerable to a variety of risk situations. We believe that a majority of the youth is in need of an attentive ear, support, guidance and counseling, whether it be about bothersome mundane problems or severe cases of alienation and neglect. Many end up dropping out of established frameworks and end up on the streets.

The world of the streets is another world, different and daunting. Every night, many teens roam public parks, squares, cities and recreation centers, many of these roaming youths dropped out from schools and other settings.. In the absence of support and assistance, many of them fall into drug and alcohol abuse and engage in antisocial activities.
These lost teenagers come from all sectors of society: veteran Israelis and new immigrants, secular, religious and Haredi Jews. , These teens are suffering from neglect environmentally, socially and emotionally.. They are often characterized by aggressive behaviour, have difficulty in trusting, and are beset with self-image problems.
Shomron Teens.
In the Shomron region there are some 4000 teenagers. Of those there are some 350 teens at risk both boys and girls. 50 are self acknowledged dropouts and another 200 have “secretly” dropped out. In addition, some 50 are substance abusers.

Teenagers growing up in the Shomron have all the problems of youth growing up anywhere and several more specific to their region.

Exposure to terrorist events.
Sense of alienation from the state due to expulsions of family and friends
Police records/arrests – many from fighting expulsions
Disconnect / tension with family on religious grounds
Low socioeconomic status in certain areas.

Small Dispersed Communities

In addition to all these the Shomron region is unique in that it has many small communities spread out over a very large region. The Shomron is 2,800 square kilometres in size and represents some 12% of the total land mass of the State of Israel. The 31 communities of the Shomron Regional Council are dispersed throughout this area. The communities are relatively small, so the youth population varies from tens to a few hundred in each community. The youth often suffer from boredom due to their geographic isolation, are limited to a small choice of friends and have great difficulties getting out to town to socialize and for activities. The large distances also make reaching these youths difficult.

Map of Shomron Communities
Mobile Teen Support

Rebellious youth are unable to avail themselves of the services of institutional aid, and in the absence of a helping hand they find themselves on a path of deterioration. צוותי ניידות הידידות של עלם מאתרים אותם ויוצרים עימם קשר ובהמשך מפנים אותם אל שירותי הנוער בקהילה להמשך טיפול. The most important part of dealing with youth at risk is to be with them at the critical moment in the right place. One can’t expect them to visit a counsellor or a psychologist in their office at a set hour.
Instead of waiting in vain for these youths to come and seek the help they need, the aid must reach out to them. The Shomron’s Youth at Risk Department has developed a special Mobile Teen Support Initiative to encounter youth on their own territory.

Mobile teams of youth counsellors consisting of professionals and volunteers go to night time activity areas, where they make contact with the youths. These teams make initial contact with the teens and provide them with assistance, while offering a warm, accepting and open environment, without preconditions.. The vans have friendly seating areas, offer hot drinks and refreshments, telephones, informative handouts, and provide other preventive measures. At a later stage these adolescents are referred to relevant services for further treatment.
The Mobile Teen Support initiative is modelled on a similar program successfully run by ELEM for Youth in Distress, a national organization which counsels youth throughout Israel. Their mobile counselling teams meet tens of thousands of youngsters every year, thousands of whom are teenagers seeking help for the first time, others are young people who return for assistance and support.. These mobile teams help these youth in obtaining medical care, food, shelter, assistance in criminal proceedings, and more. Hundreds turned to the Community Youth Services for further treatment.. Others are to help locate the educational frameworks and finding jobs or other appropriate frameworks.
Helping Teens Graduate High School

The Minifah program (school) opperating now in its third year with 45 students and 30 graduates.
Once contact has been established and a relationship of trust has been built, these troubled youth are helped to return to a special educational framework designed just for them. The Shomron Regional Council has developed an award winning school for high school dropouts. Teens who have left their regular schools study five days a week in a specially tailor-made program which both keeps them off the streets and also takes them by the hand educationally providing them with special tutors right up to their final high school Bagrut exams and later even enlistment into the IDF. “With boundless love and patience, our staff aim to create a positive, non-judgmental environment where each student is guided towards a renewed belief in themselves, and his or her future,” says one staff member. 100% of the kids in this program finish their studies with full certification – a figure far above the national average. The program has been so successful municipalities outside of the Shomron have asked to allow their at risk teens to take part in this program.

Outlay

The cost of buying a van – $72,000.

Gas for the vehicle for one month – $700.
Games, Beverage, Equipment for one month – $700.
___________________________________________
Total 12 months = $13,000

Total grant request $85,000.

Fulfilling Our Responsibility
We believe that caring for youths at risk is the responsibility of the entire society. The majority of youths are in need of an attentive ear, support, guidance and counselling, whether it be about bothersome mundane problems or severe cases of alienation and neglect. As one well known educator in the field noted, “These young men and women usually have a heightened stature, great stamina and chutzpa (audacity) which if channelled correctly, can propel them to great self and societal achievement.” Our goal is to help youth-at-risk become productive citizens, contributing to the society and the nation. Please join us in this important endeavour.

or by check to:

Shuva Israel, PO Box 27255, Austin TX 78755, USA

Shuva Israel, which is registered in the US as a 501c3 charity.

The post The Shomron Mobile Support Initiative for Teens in Distress appeared first on The Shomron Liaison Office.

Last week, the European Union issued a statement declaring this city a “West Bank settlement,” and as such, products manufactured there will be hit with a special tax, if imported and sold in the EU. This action falls under the European effort to discourage its citizens from supporting what they consider “illegitimate Jewish settlement activity” in the areas captured by Israel from Jordan in the Six Day War of 1967.

The EU ignores the fact that a boycott of products from Judea and Samaria hurts local Arab workers who are getting Israeli salaries and work benefits from their ability to work in industries in the Jewish communities. They don’t bother asking themselves where the billions of Euro they have been supplying to the Palestinian Authority have disappeared to, or why the PA has not used that international aid to develop workplaces for the people those monies were meant to assist. But now, the EU is adding additional workplaces to the list of those to be boycotted.

The bright side of this policy statement by the EU is a very quick growth of the Jewish population in Judea and Samaria. If, the day before, we knew that there were 750,000 Jews living beyond the pre-1967 lines in Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria, that number has now risen to 830,000. Population growth of a little more than 10% in one day is amazing, by any standard.

Why is this significant? Population counts are very important to all who work for the future of this region. The purpose behind the EU’s statement is to somehow remove the Jewish residents of the region, to make way for a Palestinian country free of Jews, like they now have in Gaza and most other Arab states.

The agenda of the Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria is to ensure the permanence of the communities of this region forever. Residents here take pride in being the quickest growing area in all of Israel. The Shomron boasts 10% natural growth annually, even without the help of the European union.

Those who visit here are impressed with our University, homes, playgrounds, schools, and industries. Even those who believe that we are the problem have no choice but to agree that our intention is permanent. The truth is that we will continue to grow with or without the business and the blessing of the EU.

In regard to Modi’in, the EU actually made a strategic mistake by adding this community to their settlement list. For one, it does enable advocates for Judea and Samaria to count the residents of Modi’in as part of our population. We are now coming much closer to a million; a much larger percent of the Jewish population of Israel just unintentionally crossed the Green Line and joined us as “settlers.” They have also now forced many more industrialists and interested parties into the coalition which must fight the boycott agenda.

I thank all of the hard working anti-Israel activists in the EU who have once again granted Israel a blessing. Had they had good intentions, they might have been blessed in return. In this case, I doubt that will happen.

The post The Jewish population of Judea and Samaria has grown by 10% this week appeared first on The Shomron Liaison Office.

The flow of VIPs coming on our eye-opening tour of the Shomron keeps increasing and reaching ever-wider circles. When we began working on this initiative some three and a half years ago, we needed to work very hard to convince even Zionist and Jewish leaders to take the time to come out to the Shomron for a day tour.

Many presumed that they knew all about the “settlements,” not to mention that a commitment for a full day from a busy leader who is only in Israel for a week is not easy to get. VIP tours of Israel normally have a very packed schedule, including high profile meetings in Jerusalem – often in Ramallah, too.

If these guests can get half a day off, they usually escape for some recreation at the Dead Sea or do some other personal vacationing. Some might agree to come out for an hour or two, but that is really only enough time for the drive out and back from Jerusalem.

Now, after our major efforts to bring out many of Israel’s elected officials and media personalities, our tour of the Shomron is becoming the “in” thing to do. Guests to Israel are now realizing that this tour is an important part of a visit to this country, and those who haven’t been to the Shomron are missing a major part of the puzzle.

I was not totally surprised to get a request from Kathleen Peratis, a founder of J Street and board member of Americans for Peace Now, who asked to meet with me and take part in our tour of the Shomron. Some of my associates were not overjoyed with the offer of a visit from a top activist in organizations whose main agenda is to oppose the existence of Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria.

My perspective is that we have nothing to hide and on the contrary, we have much to show and much to be proud of. While Israel’s image is being smeared around the globe with all arrows pointed at the issues here in Judea and Samaria, the policy of mainstream Zionist advocates has become avoidance of those uncomfortable issues. They have focused on highlighting Israel’s “nice” points, like providing humanitarian aid during international crises, leading technological development for the good of mankind, and beautiful, bikini-clad girls on the beaches of Tel Aviv.

But in fact, here in Shomron, we have discovered that Israel advocates need not run and hide when confronted with labels like “Occupation,” “Roadblocks,” “Apartheid” and the like. Jewish settlements in Judea and Samaria are not something we need to be ashamed of. What we need to do is to open up and demonstrate the facts on the ground for the world.

After visiting the industrial park at Barkan, which employs 6000 workers – half Arab and half Jewish – all receiving the same work benefits, as entitled by Israeli law, Ms. Peratis could only comment that she was glad to see the positive sides of the reality here. After her previous tour of the region, led by Peace Now, she had only seen a very limited view of only the negative aspects of reality here.

As I sat down to chat with Ms. Peratis in a beautiful playground in my hometown of Kfar Tapuach, I pointed all around us to the many construction sites on all sides. To one side, the building of a new kindergarten is being completed (this will be the fourth in the past decade, due to the growth of the preschool population in our community). Just behind that building, and on two other sides, new neighborhoods are in different stages of construction. Behind us, a huge indoor sports center is almost complete. I explained to my guest that the reason I was highlighting these things for her was to make it perfectly clear that we, as residents of these communities, see our future here forever, and not just as some type of demonstration, or to provide bargaining chips for future negotiations.

The visit did not make Ms. Peratis change her sentiments about the “settlements,” which she sees as the core of the problem. But she did realize that the Two State idea is not going to work, and that new alternatives need to be considered.

The post Shomron Hosts Leader of J Street and APN on Tour appeared first on The Shomron Liaison Office.

“And the bones of Joseph, which the children of Israel brought up out of Egypt, buried they in Shechem, in the parcel of ground which Jacob bought of the sons of Hamor the father of Shechem for a hundred pieces of money; and they became the inheritance of the children of Joseph.” (Joshua 24:32)

Sign at Joseph’s Observation Point

Records of pilgrims show that this was a site visited throughout history. A photograph taken in 1917 by a German army intelligence plane shows the site of Joseph’s Tomb as a lone building in the entire area of Mount Gerizim, with no other buildings nearby. That is not the case now. Less than 100 years later, Joseph’s Tomb has been surrounded on all sides by the quickly growing city of Nablus.

The holy site – once home to the Od Yosef Chai Yeshiva, and a place of daily Torah study for some 25 years – was taken over by an Arab mob that killed Israeli soldier Medhat Yusef, who was guarding the site. Since that bloody day in October 2000, the site has been inaccessible to Jewish worshipers, who are not allowed to enter the PA controlled city of Shechem (Nablus).

Over the past four and half years, since Gershon Mesika stepped in to lead the Shomron Region, monthly midnight visits to the tomb have been made possible with cooperation from Israel’s army, the IDF. These monthly visits are limited in the number of people who can attend. Many wait for months for their turn to reach the holy place for prayer.

The lookout point on Mount Gerizim offers an alternative for those who cannot reach the tomb, or wish to pray nearby during daylight hours. Mount Gerizim towers over the site, and the IDF has agreed to grant free access to a specific location for Jewish visitors at all times. The area right over Joseph’s Tomb has been designated as Joseph’s Overlook Park.

Last year, the military commanders who are responsible for the area granted our request to erect a decorative fence at the site, which protects visitors from any potential falls down the steep mountainside. Although erecting the fence is only a small part of the overall plan for site, which is expected to draw major tourism, we see it as great progress towards eventually completing the entire project for the observation park, according to its architectural planning.

We have recently received word from the military that they will allow an additional stage of the development to be done now for a total cost of $20,000. Again, this might seem a small step in a project with an overall price tag of $350,000, but in this type of situation, we feel that every little bit of progress will have great influence on the end result, and will help push it forward.

The army has agreed for us to carry out the work for building a tiled patio floor for a platform, and benches for a seating area. But they are pushing for us to do it right away, so we don’t to lose our window of opportunity. From our past experience, we believe this is a wise plan. Many things can influence changes in policy, and it would be best to accomplish this ASAP.

I would like to ask for your help and sponsorship for this holy project, in honor of Joseph the Tzadik. Joseph was a great blessing to the Jewish people and the world, in his position as the Egyptian Pharaoh’s second-in-command during a time of famine. Providing a safe place for prayer over his tomb will surely be a great blessing for all involved.

The post Joseph’s Overlook Park appeared first on The Shomron Liaison Office.