Migron residents pray for ‘help’ on Tu Bishvat

“God save us from evil,” pray outpost residents as the High Court of Justice orders their homes demolished.

By TOVAH LAZAROFF
Danny Danon and Gershon Mesika plant a tree 390 (photo credit: Samaria, It’s Nice to Know You initiative)
Danny Danon and Gershon Mesika plant a tree 390
(photo credit: Samaria, It’s Nice to Know You initiative)
“God save us from evil,” prayed the people of the Migron outpost on Wednesday as the sun set over their caravan homes. The High Court of Justice has ordered the homes demolished by the end of March.
As part of their celebration of Tu Bishvat, they held a service in the small one-story stone synagogue, in which they asked God to help rescue their homes and to strengthen Jewish sovereignty in Judea and Samaria.
Through a microphone system their chanting voices wafted throughout the outpost, which is home to 50 families and is located in the Binyamin region of the West Bank.
Migron resident Aviela Deitch, a mother of six, said that in her mind as she recited the prayers, was the hope that “we should be able to stay here.”
She added that she also asked “that my kids should not be traumatized by anything that might happen. That the government should decide what Israel needs for itself and not what the rest of the world has on their agenda for us.”
Negotiations are taking place between the government and Migron residents with an eye to brokering a compromise that would prevent a forcible demolition.
The government has offered the settlers the option of relocating to another section of the hilltop that is on state land.
The state has classified the land on which they are now situated as belonging to private Palestinians.
Settlers remain hopeful that a compromise can be reached with the government that will allow them to remain in their homes, or in the worst case, guarantee continued Jewish civilian sovereignty over the site.
Veteran Migron resident Itai Harel said that what happens in Migron will affect other Jewish construction on private Palestinian property, in both outposts and settlements.
“What’s important here is to resolve the larger issues,” he said.
Earlier in the afternoon children planted a dozen saplings near the outpost gate.
Although children and adults around the country planted trees in honor of the holiday, in Judea and Samaria the gesture has become a political and ideological statement. For settlers, it is a expression of their resolve to retain the land eternally as part of the Jewish state.
In Samaria, the regional council and MK Danny Danon organized an event with 1,500 Likud Party activists to plant 1,000 trees in the Itamar settlement, near Nablus, to mark the memory of five members of the Fogel family. Two Palestinians infiltrated the settlement and their home and stabbed them to death last March.
Samaria Regional Council head Gershon Mesika said the Likud Party visitors and the thousands of others who have visited the area during Tu Bishvat on Wednesday had sent a clear message. “The nation of Israel has returned to its land. We are rooted here.”
Danon added that the saplings showed that Judea and Samaria “are an inseparable part of Israel.” After every attack by Palestinians, “we must build and not yield,” he said.