The following are remarks by Rabbanit Rivka Shimon, who summarized in her own words, what we saw on the Sovereignty Movement’s tour of the area of Khan al-Ahmar, entitled “The Untouchables”.
"And may the wicked soon be uprooted and broken and overthrown and destroyed and humiliated and quickly subdued in our days."
It seems to me that I have never said the prayer of the heretics in the Minha Amidah like I prayed it this week after the Sovereignty Movement’s tour, as our group stood at the observation point in the city of Ma’ale Adumim, overlooking the road leading from the Dead Sea to the capital Jerusalem and my neighborhood, Pisgat Ze’ev.
Day by day, I see from the balcony at my house how, beyond the separation fence, towers and houses are built illegally by Arabs, dangerously – lawlessly – like the “wild west”. This is what the Arabs of Beit Hanina call the Arabs of A-Zaim, Anata or by the general name of Shuafat.
How aware is the Pisgat Ze’ev community administration of the fact that we are very close to “the State of Israel’s back yard”? I don’t know. This is what we heard it called by the representative of the Regavim movement on the tour, as he pointed at the quarries marring the scenery near the town of Kochav Yair, managed by the powerful and rich Tarifi family.
In the photographs taken by Meir Elipur, one can see how, refuse is piled up inside the quarries, waste water flows from El-Bira and Ramallah, polluting the streams of the Ayn Perat and Ayn Puar nature preserves. I wonder what the Nahal Prat Nature Reserve – The Nature and Parks Authority is doing to prevent the phenomenon.
The Israeli citizen has paid NIS 360,000 from his own pocket without knowing, to bury the previous pile of refuse! It stinks up the area! No, it was not the criminals who paid, but we, the victims.
This is only a small sample of the facts that the Palestinian Authority is determining on the ground. Since 2009, methodically, stealthily, first they bring a small, cute yellow water tanker. A few Bedouin families gather around the container. They quickly build a school, very "humanitarian", even from tires covered with mud mixed with oil used to fry felafel. Very "ecological".
Naomi Kahn, who guided our tour, described what is happening regarding the story of Khan al-Ahmar, “a real crime film”.
And I am reminded of the film “The Untouchables”, starring Sean Connery and Kevin Costner, about the period of prohibition in the United States. A mafia film. How they put the arch-criminal and mafia boss al Capone behind bars. You have to follow the money. That’s the message. Who benefits? Who loses? What is going on behind the scenes? Can it be that for all these years, the governments of Israel have purposely ignored how the Arabs are determining facts on the ground? Who benefits, who loses?
We, the citizens of Israel, are the big losers.
The Maoz Esther outpost is consistently uprooted by the Israeli government. Not long ago, a vineyard was destroyed near the town of Yizhar – a religious town in Samaria, but Khan al-Ahmar, which was slated for evacuation and reorganization, is still standing and gives rise to a number of similar encampments, funded by the Swiss government, the European Union, bodies in Italy and other left-wing activist bodies.
So if we are living in a film, I was glad to be once again on a tour organized by those amazing ladies of our day, Nadia Matar and Yehudit Katsover, to hear about work done by Avraham Binyamin, another representative of the Regavim movement, which creates additional untouchable members working tirelessly to locate illegal building by the Palestinian Authority on State of Israel lands. We joined an extreme experience, riding on dune buggies to the Tuba al haKhan observation point. I recommend it!!! A real experience, but disturbing, infuriating and frustrating.
We very much hope that the new government will be able to exercise governance over the territories of Judea and Samaria and that we will realize our full rights to the Land. We will implement what we sing enthusiastically in our national anthem, to be a free people in our Land.
I await your deliverance, O Lord (Genesis 49:18)