MK Eldad lends an ear to Abu Gosh residents

By REBECCA ANNA STOIL
MK Aryeh Eldad (NU/NRP) may be a common figure at house meetings in other parts of the country, but a community meeting in the Arab town of Abu Ghosh on the Jerusalem-Tel Aviv Highway is not the first place many would have expected to find the Hatikvah Party leader on Monday evening. But Eldad was, in fact, the guest of honor at just such an event, where community leaders gathered to speak with the MK about the problems facing the town. Among the hot topics, said Eldad, was the plan to convert the historical Abu Gosh Police Station into a museum about the area's history, with a special emphasis on coexistence between local Jewish communities and the Arabs of Abu Ghosh. Eldad highlighted the participation of Abu Ghosh residents in the pre-state underground organization Lehi, known by the British as the Stern Gang. Eldad's father, the poet Dr. Israel Eldad was one of the best-known members of the radical underground group. The MK emphasized that it was the duty of the government to turn Abu Ghosh into an example for other Arab communities who have demonstrated their unbounded loyalty to the State of Israel, many of whose sons serve in the IDF and in national service. Eldad added that this trend occurred even on a background of growing extremism and insinuation against Israel on the part of Israeli-Arab political leaders.