Deputy Foreign Minister Tzipi Hotevely visited Netiv Avot, the neighborhood in the Gush Etzion region community of Elazar slated for destruction.

Hotevely arrived on Tuesday, 6 Kislev, viewing the memorial in the community for IDF Lt.-Colonel Emanuel Moreno HY”D and commented on the destruction order for a memorial to a fallen officer while there is absolutely no Palestinian claim to the area where it is situated. She added “This act is morally corrupt. Netiv Avot was established in Elazar 13 years ago. The neighborhood was built on state-owned land as were the houses. It was never proven that the allegations they were built on private lands are true. The absurd is that a child’s bed in a child’s room is viewed as being outside the neighborhood while the entire neighborhood was established with permission by the necessary authorities and they are not permitted to continue”.

She commented that such destruction should not occur under the rule of a Likud-led government, especially here where there is nothing linking the land to Palestinian owned. She insists the battle over Netiv Avot is one of a national consensus which believes in the Jewish right to settle the Gush Etzion area.

(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)