As an expression of the vision of sovereignty, members of the Land of Israel Lobby in the Knesset concluded a tour of the area with a visit to the Oz veGaon preserve. Netanyahu and Trump have dropped the matter. We have not. We will strive to realize the vision”.
The Land of Israel Lobby in the Knesset held a special tour (22nd of October, 2020) in Gush Etzion, which members of the lobby concluded with a visit to the Oz veGaon preserve as an expression of their personal and public commitment to promoting the vision of sovereignty.
The director of the lobby, former Member of Knesset Orit Struk, tells of the visit that was intended to familiarize the members with the issue of open areas that are not yet settled with Jewish communities, as well as to acquaint them with the struggle for Area C, which Struk defines as another aspect of the same issue, the issue of who is the sovereign over the territory.
“We studied the issue of the areas, why they have not yet been regularized and the significance of this situation on the ground. We learned the importance of the existence of agricultural farms as a solution for the protection of state lands and we learned from close-up about the Arab takeover of Area C. While we hesitate, the Palestinian Authority has an organized plan to occupy the area”, says Struk.
“We chose to conclude the tour at Oz veGaon as an expression of the lobby members’ commitment to the application of sovereignty. We have not dropped it. Netanyahu and Trump have dropped the matter, but we have not dropped it and will continue to strive for it”, says Struk.
When we asked whether all members of the lobby share this commitment to the idea of sovereignty and its promotion, Struk says that it is a commitment that is a cornerstone of the lobby. “We enlist members of Knesset to the lobby according to whether they agree to the page of principles that every member of Knesset signs, in which the commitment to sovereignty appears. Forty-one members of Knesset have signed on the page and they indeed are committed to sovereignty. It is impossible to join the lobby without this”.
She also says that besides signing up members of Knesset, the lobby held a special conference attended by ministers who support the lobby, “and every minister who wanted to participate signed that he would not retreat from the demand for sovereignty”.
At the beginning of the concluding her remarks at the end of the visit, Struk told the members of Knesset that “There is no way of knowing whether we have come out more satisfied or more upset because we have seen a lot of incorrect things”. She expands on this by noting that even member of Knesset Haim Katz, one of the leaders of the lobby, “said at one point that the government is abandoning the Land of Israel and that we have seen many cases where the Land of Israel has been abandoned. We have seen serious failures and bad consequences of this abandonment. We were on a hill where an Israeli settlement was supposed to be built; it was not built and we have seen how, instead of it, the entire area has been methodically taken over by the PA. This is outrageous”.
Struk emphasizes that it was a learning tour for the members of Knesset “and as a result, we will now embark on energetic work in order to correct these failures”.
The co-chairwomen of the Sovereignty Movement, Yehudit Katsover and Nadia Matar, summarize the visit, and especially the messages arising from it, with satisfaction: “The visit of the Land of Israel Lobby in Oz veGaon is another important opportunity to raise the subject of sovereignty for those who have been working towards it and will continue to do so. And now, we must define a practical direction for continued action”.
The Land of Israel Lobby is a lobby that cares about and is saddened by the current state of the young settlement enterprise”, say Katsover and Matar, noting especially the members of Knesset from Shas, Moshe Abitbol and the new MK, Yosef Tayeb, “who spoke of faithfulness to the Land of Israel exactly as the leaders of Gush Emunim did in the past”. The two women also note the special contribution made by the director of the lobby and its leaders: “Orit Struk is the conductor of this orchestra, and the leaders of the lobby, members of Knesset Haim Katz and Bezalel Smotrich, are very grateful for her work. Special thanks to the Gush Etzion Council and its head, Shlomo Ne’eman, for the successful tour, which left a strong impression on all of the participants”.
Photography: Gershon Elinson
