Deputy Minister of Education R’ Meir Porush is calling on Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu in the coming weeks to hold a cabinet meeting in Betar Illit or Modi’in Illit in a showing of solidarity with residents of Yehuda and Shomron. Porush commended the prime minister’s decision to hold Sunday’s weekly cabinet meeting in Beersheva, the capital of the Negev, as a showing of solidarity with Negev residents. He called for a similar move regarding the residents of Yehuda and Shomron.

Porush added that such a move by the prime minister would send a clear message to the United States, demanding recognition of the understandings reached with the Bush administration regarding the need to continue buildings in yishuvim. He added that the failure of the current US administration to recognize these understandings is difficult to understand if not illogical.

Rav Porush stressed that Am Yisrael’s claim to Eretz Yisrael may not be disputed, based on a promise from HaKadosh Baruch Hu, adding that if the Americans to not share this view, feeling the yishuvim are indeed a stumbling block to peace, they should at least permit building to accommodate natural growth as was agreed by the previous Bush administration.

Porush stressed the need to send a message to the global community, adding that even if construction continues to accommodate natural growth on yishuvim, this will only represent 1.7% of the total area, quite insignificant, and there is a moral obligation to accommodate the growth rate and the resulting demand for housing.

(Yechiel Spira – YWN Israel)