This past Sunday night, an organization calling itself “The Global Campaign to Return to Palestine” put up a massive roadside sign on Highway 60, the central highway of Judea and Samaria, condemning the Bahrain economic workshop.
The billboard proclaims: “The Bahrain Conference of Shame Fails – We are Stronger Than any Deal.”
The roadside sign, located between the Jewish communities of Eli and Rechelim, at the Arab village of a-Sawiya, carries the emblem of “the key”, a reference to the keys to the homes that were abandoned by Arabs during Israel’s defensive wars of 1948 and 1967. It symbolizes the demand by subsequent generations of those who abandoned those homes for the right of return — a demand associated with the mass demonstrations and riots organized by Hamas on the Gaza border for the past two years, euphemistically labeled “The Great March of Return.”
Highway 60 is traveled by hundreds of thousands of Israelis and Palestinian Authority citizens daily, and the very prominent location chosen for this sign indicates that it is directed mainly toward Israelis.
Members of the Regavim team who discovered the sign on Monday morning are demanding its immediate removal. “This is clear incitement by an organization that encourages terrorism,” said Yishai Hemo, the Regavim Field Coordinator for Judea and Samaria.
“In recent days, data released by Regavim prove that the Palestinian Authority is taking over Area C,” Hemo said.
“The Arabs feel they can do as they please and they behave as though they are already in charge of the territory, in areas under full Israeli jurisdiction.
“Posting a provocative sign that incites to violence and terrorism in broad daylight is a perfect illustration of the situation,” he added.