based on an article by Haggai Huberman, Israeli journalist and author (written for the religious zionist periodical - Matzav Haruach), translated by Hillel Fendel.
Generally we report here on the
establishment - or the announcement of the establishment - of new communities, housing
starts, neighborhoods, or outposts in the hills of Judea and Samaria. This
time, however, given that such reports have happily become commonplace of late,
the real news is this: The public response to the news of the 18 new
communities about to be built in the northern Shomron has been of unprecedented
proportions!
The Shomron Regional Council's campaign, together
with the Amanah Settlement Movement, to recruit families to join in building
these pioneer communities has seen more than 3,000 families request to join up!
The current program involves the
reestablishment – which has already begun – of the four northern Shomron
communities that were destroyed in the Disengagement of 2005: Ganim, Kadim,
Sa-nur, and Chomesh. The other 14 will be built, beginning in the coming weeks
and months, in strategic locations throughout the northern Shomron. For
information's sake, current well-known communities in the northern Shomron
include Elon Moreh, Shavei Shomron, Kedumim, Maskiyot, and more.
The released statistics show that nearly 30%
of the interested parties consider themselves secular or traditional, while the
rest self-define as national-religious. Half of them already live in Judea and
Samaria, another 15-20% are from central Israel, and slightly less than that hail
from Jerusalem. There have also been 12 requests from families currently
living abroad, including from Miami and Cincinnati in the U.S., Cyprus, Great
Britain, Canada, and Switzerland. New immigrants from France and Ukraine
have also filed applications.
Half
of the families who are considering taking part in the challenge of Making the
Shomron Great Again are young couples in their 20's, and some 20% are over age
60. The applicants from a diverse range of occupations: About 40% of them work
in education and therapy, 25% in engineering, high-tech, and liberal
professions, and the rest in construction, agriculture, and manual labor.
The
emerging picture shows that the nuclear pioneer groups for the "Big
Four" - Kadim, Homesh, Sa-Nur, and Ganim – as well as for the new town of Noa
are already full, with only a few spots remaining. The first pioneers of Har
Eval moved to the new site just this very week, alongside a branch of the Elon
Moreh Yeshiva that is already operating at the site.
The
new-old community of Ganim will be initially established by families of
graduates from the Eli Yeshiva, just north of Shilo; families of graduates from
Tel Aviv's Yeshivat Maaleh Eliyahu are set to kick off Kadim; and in Emek
Dotan, a branch of the Bruchin Yeshiva will be established with families from
Tiberias, Lod, and Bruchin.
Other
communities in the formation stages are Shalem (near Itamar), Maayanot, and
Merom Gilboa, all expected to move with their already-full core groups right
after the High Holidays.
The
establishment of the 18 towns – a program that has been termed the Connection
Plan, in contrast to the Disengagement that destroyed Gush Katif in Gaza
and the above four Shomron towns 21 years ago – is a fulfillment of a Cabinet
decision led by Finance Minister Betzalel Smotrich and Defense Minister Yisrael
Katz.
It
is also part of a broader plan to increase the Shomron's Jewish population
to more than one million (!) by the year 2050. Though this population currently
stands at approximately 150,000, this brainchild program of Shomron Council
head Yossi Dagan has been developed based on natural growth, high-rise
construction, and more. Geographic engineers and a broad team of professionals
in various disciplines worked, and are working, together on the program.
The
program, of course, does not even include the new community of Zibda that was
announced just this week – because this will be established in the Yesha area
south of Shomron, not far from Modiin. Its goal is to help strengthen the
seam-line area of western Binyamin. The new families are in the process of
preparing their ascent to the land.
Other plans for the Shomron include a new city, currently known as East Rosh HaAyin, designed to house over 130,000 residents on what is currently agricultural land in the western Samaria highlands. Rosh HaAyin itself has a population nearing 81,000. The new city is being promoted as a security belt and strategic buffer for central Israel. In addition, the western Shomron community of Karnei Shomron, with a population over 11,200, is slated to triple in size with the addition of 6,000 new homes.
At the same time, a community
"envelope" is being planned, including a branch of the Bnei
David pre-military Yeshiva academy (main branch in Eli), and other and yeshiva
and pre-military institutions as well.
Shomron
Council head Dagan – who himself, with his family, was expelled from Sa-nur
during the Disengagement, moved to Shavei Shomron, and now lives once again in
the "new" Sa-nur – says: "The numbers warm our hearts and speak
for themselves. They prove that the People of Israel has not forgotten its
roots. The Connection Plan aims to reconnect our People with itself, its
values, its roots – and with the fundamental values of the State of
Israel."