For years, the hilltop boys and the Israel Police were two opposites and there were few at best who believed they could cooperate with one another. However, as in many areas, the unbelievable here has happened, and in recent years a trend has been created to recruit hilltop youth from Gush Etzion to the Israel Police.

According to the report in Yisrael Hayom, the recruitment of youths will be made possible by means of an innovative project that operates in the Ministry of Public Security known as the “good eye”, whose goal is to change the image of the police in the eyes of the hard-core communities. The plan recently made an achievement when one of the youth centers, which is located in a community from which former activists were involved in nationalist crime, joined the ranks of the police. These are settlements such as Karmei Tzur, Tekoa, Bat Ayin and Alon Shvut.

One of the project’s activists came to the youth coordinators in these communities and made them meet with the policemen and officers in a pleasant atmosphere. The police spoke with the youth about crime and the ways to avoid falling into violence. To date, some 60 youths have participated in the program, some of whom have expressed their desire to join the Civil Guard in their community.

“I am proud of our project because I strongly believe in the need to invest in preventing violence, no less than in enforcement,” said Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan, “when the activity is done with youth, it is even more important that the activity helps them build their future and directs them to a success track” Erdan said.

The residents’ feeling was that the police were looking for these youths to harm them, mainly because of drug-related incidents and nationalistic crime, “Avi Unger, director of prevention in the Gush Etzion Regional Council, told Israel Hayom.

As mentioned above, everything changed with the beginning of the implementation of the “Good Eye” program, in which the project’s staff managed to recruit the youth coordinators in the settlements and to help them meet for the first time with policemen in a non-hostile environment. And ways to avoid a deterioration into delinquency.

“We found youths, male and female, who were not aware of the dangers lurking in social networks, who were not aware of abuse and the effects of drugs and alcohol, physical and verbal violence,” said Unger, only to understand the complexity of recruiting youths from Gush Etzion to the police. Unger said that during the meetings with the youth a serious nationalistic case exploded in Yehuda and Shomron, which was indirectly related to the settlements of Gush Etzion and caused a shake-up that threatened the continuation of the program.

“Fortunately, the affair created a platform for the first time an open dialogue between the youth and the police on the matter, and not only was the program continued, it was even expanded.”

“I am proud of our project because I strongly believe in the need to invest in the prevention of violence, no less than in enforcement.” When it comes to youth, it is even more important that the activity helps them build their future And directs them to a path of success. ”

(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)