The rabbis of the Gush Etzion settlements bloc on Tuesday published a letter calling on Gush residents to support, encourage and assist the families that are expected to be expelled from their homes in the Netiv Ha’Avot neighborhood.
The rabbis asked their followers not to resort to any kind of violence on the day of the evacuation next week, stressing that “in none of the homes and their surroundings will there be violence.”
In the letter, the rabbis called on the residents of Gush Etzion to take part in the large rally that will be held in Netiv Ha’Avot on the eve of the planned evacuation, to protest the destruction and to demand that the Netanyahu government fulfill its promise to approve extensive construction in response to the High Court’s demolition orders.
They also asked their followers to be on hand on evacuation day, to support and strengthen the settlement enterprise throughout the country – to build and not to destroy.
The rabbis noted in their letter that the area on which the Netiv Ha’Avot neighborhood is built, in Elazar, is in no way a private Arab land, and that the demolition of homes is contrary to the position of the State Attorney’s Office and constitutes a dangerous precedent that threatens all settlements throughout the country.
“As Rabbis and community leaders, we view this act as contrary to all logic and morality, undermining our right to the entire Land of Israel, which is settled by the people of Israel by right and justice,” they wrote. Which is why, the Rabbis said, “this day cannot pass for the residents of Gush Etzion as a routine day. Make it clear to all those opposed to the settlement enterprise: for every home that will be destroyed or threatened with destruction, many others will be built.”