Gush Etzion Regional Council head Davidi Pearl called on state officials to officially annex Kever Rochel into the regional council. Pearl in recent weeks ahead of the yahrzeit of Rochel Imeinu turned to Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon, Interior Minister Gideon Saar, Deputy Minister of Religious Affairs Rabbi Eli Ben-Dahan, and Rav of the Kosel & Holy Sites Rabbi Shmuel Rabinowitz to act on his request, to incorporate Kever Rochel into the regional council’s municipal jurisdiction.

He explains as a result of the overhaul at the holy site and new paved access road, there is a steady stream of mispallalim there year-round, not to mention the yeshiva that maintains a presence. Because the site remains under the jurisdiction of military and security officials, it does not receive the services to cater to the growing number of mispallalim that it would if it was under the regional council’s responsibility.

(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)