Judea Magazine, No. 9.2



      Hebron          Etzion
      _______          Bloc        Betar          Jerusalem
     /Kiryat \        _______      ______        _____________
    /  Arba   \      / Efrat \    /      \      /             \_______
___/           \____/         \__/        \____/        Maaleh Adumim
     #########    ####   ####     #           Tekoa         ______
         #  #  #  #   #  #       # #          _____        /      \
         #  #  #  #   #  ###    #####        /     \      /        \
     #   #  #  #  #   #  #     #     #     _/       \____/          \_
      ###    ##   ####   #### #       #

		    "Rebuilding Jewish Life in Judea, Israel"
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JUDEA ELECTRONIC MAGAZINE Vol.9, No.2  Adar-Nisan 5761/Mar-Apr 2001
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Website: http://www.crosswinds.net/~judea            OUR 9TH YEAR!

Contents: THE WAR CONTINUES
* I Have No Other Country / "Fireworks" on Independence Day
* Palestinian Sniper Murders Infant / The Next Morning In Hebron /
  Life in Hebron, 2001
* Terrorist Victim Baruch Cohen, Father of 6 from Efrat
* Shooting the Peacemakers
* Interview with Deputy Minister of Internal Security Gideon Ezra
* Time is On Our Side - Brig. Gen. (Res.) Efi Eitam
* Interview with GSS Veteran Menahem Landau
* A Kibbutznik in Gush Katif (Gaza)
* Jerusalem's "Upper Town" Old City Quarter
* Settler Population Growth Three Times the National Average

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                      	I HAVE NO OTHER COUNTRY

    Pesach vacation -- April 2001. The tracer bullets in the sky 
southeast of Bethlehem, seen from my front yard, provide an impressive 
evening show.
    Gali Atari is coming to the Etzion Bloc community center in Alon 
Shvut to perform for the local residents "on the front line."  While 
most local residents are somewhat bemused to receive a subsidized 
performance, we jump at the opportunity to see this Israeli music 
legend.
    A bus driver who lives in our town (Tekoa) brings us over in his 
bullet-proof bus. The small community center auditorium is packed, with 
latecomers sitting in the halls.
    Gali Atari, of Yemenite background, began her singing career more 
than 20 years ago. A graduate of the IDF Performing Troup, her 
rendition of "Hallelujah" won the Eurovision song contest. With fine 
backup by two guitarists and a keyboard player, plus sound and light 
technicians, the audience was enraptured by the diminutive singer and, 
in a manner so typically Israeli, often sang along to tunes we had 
learned from the radio.
    Atari has an incredibly clear and penetrating voice. At the end, 
the musicians left the stage and she sang a cappella one of her best-
loved tunes:

    "Ain Li Eretz Aheret" -- I Have No Other Country
               (Words by Ehud Manor)

    I have no other country
    Even if my land is burning
    Just a word in Hebrew penetrates my veins, into my soul
    Into a body that hurts --
    Into a hungry heart --
    Here is my home.

    I won't be silent, because my country changed its appearance.
    I won't give up on her, I will remind her
    And sing here in her ears
    Until she opens her eyes.

    I have no other country
    Until she renews her days
    Until she opens her eyes.

There wasn't a dry eye in the house.

                           *    *    *

                "FIREWORKS" ON INDEPENDENCE DAY

    It was a cool, clear night as Israel slowly shed the emotional pain 
of national Remembrance Day for the 16,312 fallen in wars and terrorist 
attacks, and entered into the joyous celebration of Israel's 
independence. The evening of Israel's 53rd birthday was marked by 
celebrations all over the country.  Even in the small community of 
Tekoa (8 miles southeast of Jerusalem), there were beautiful fireworks.  
To the northwest, over Jerusalem, Tekoa residents were treated to 
another magnificent fireworks display, and we could hear their booms as 
well.
    When some of the booms became mixed with the distinctive sound of 
automatic weapons fire, we began to understand that what we thought was 
only the noise of fireworks also included the sound of tank fire.  
While celebrating Independence Day watching the beautiful colors 
lighting up the sky over Jerusalem, we were also hearing the latest 
attack (and response) on Jerusalem's Gilo neighborhood.  The mix of 
gunfire and fireworks was quite surrealistic.
    Jews, it seems, are still fighting for their right to live freely 
and peacefully in their own homeland even now, 53 years after Israel's 
War of Independence.

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             PALESTINIAN SNIPER MURDERS INFANT

    At about 5:00 this afternoon an Arab sniper shot and killed a 10-
month-old baby girl, Shalhevet Techiya Pass, and wounded her father, 
Yitzhak Pass, with two bullets in the legs. They were shot at the 
entrance to the Avraham Avinu neighborhood. The baby was in her 
mother's arms at the time of the shooting and was hit in the head. 
Emergency medical teams arrived immediately. The father was treated and 
evacuated to hospital. The doctors were not able to save the baby.
    A Hebron spokesman issued the following statement:
For seven months the Hebron community has been shot at from Abu Sneneh 
and Harat a'Shech hills surrounding Hebron. Before the hills were 
transferred to Arafat, 4 years ago, we warned that the hills would be a 
source of Arab gunfire, directed at the community. We were laughed at. 
Following the beginning of the war, seven months ago, we again warned 
that if the hills were not recaptured by the Israeli army, blood would 
be spilled. Several times, Arab snipers have barely missed hitting 
soldiers and civilians in the Avraham Avinu neighborhood. 
    (From Hebron Press Office, 26 Mar 01).

                           *    *    *

                   THE NEXT MORNING IN HEBRON

    At about 4:40 this morning a group of over 50 Hebron youth ran past 
soldiers outside the Avraham Avinu neighborhood and began climbing the 
Shalhevet (Abu Sneneh) hills, source of the sniper gunfire which killed
Shalhevet Pass yesterday. With soldiers and border police following 
them, the group continued, until being stopped on the way, before 
reaching the top. Arab terrorists shot at the group. People in the 
group returned fire. One man was injured when hit in the face by a 
cement block.
    Another miracle: At about 4:30 yesterday afternoon, a few minutes 
before Shalhevet Pass was shot and killed, a single shot was fired, 
which flew by a three-year-old girl, Mevaseret Melamed. The girl turned 
to her mother, standing next to her, and said, "Mommy, they are 
shooting at us." Only very late last night did Mevaseret's mother 
discover that the bullet had scratched the side of one of her 
daughter's fingers.

_Terror and the Pass and Zarbiv Families_
    Yitzik Pass's brother, Elad, was shot in the leg on Shabbat, two 
and a half weeks ago, outside the Arab market. Avraham Zarbiv, 
Shalhevet's grandfather, was axed by 2 Arab terrorists in November 
1993. He was critically wounded but survived. The Zarbiv's daughter, 
Ortal, (Oriya Pass's twin sister) was stabbed in 1996, also near the 
Arab market. She was 14 years old at the time. 
    (Hebron Press Office, 27 Mar 01)

                       *     *     *                 

                     LIFE IN HEBRON, 2001

                         David Wilder

    On Tuesday night, sometime before 11:00 pm, the shooting started 
again while I was working late. It sounded fairly heavy, but that's 
nothing new. The shooting hasn't stopped in almost seven months. So 
when the action starts, it's nothing to get too excited about.
    At about 11:30 I received a phone call from my daughter Aderet, 
aged 16. She said to me, "They're shooting. Bullets hit the 
apartment...and I was standing there." Needless to say, I was home in a 
matter of minutes.
    There I saw one of the scariest sights I've ever witnessed. On the 
wall, next to the bathroom door, were five bullet holes, huge bullet 
holes. http://www.hebron.org.il/pics/5bullets.htm
    My 9-and-half-year-old, Rutie, has had a tough few months. She is 
in the fourth grade class taught by Rina Didovsky, the schoolteacher 
from Beit Hagai who was killed by terrorists several months ago. Ruthie 
was also sitting on some steps outside the entrance to the Avraham 
Avinu neighborhood when Shalhevet Pass was killed. Not only did she see 
the whole thing, but also came running into my office hysterically 
informing me that "Yitzik was shot and fell and the baby was shot in 
the head."
    Even inside our apartment she is sometimes afraid, and when she has 
to use the bathroom, asks that someone escort her and wait for her 
outside the door. So Aderet walked with her to the bathroom and waited 
for her outside, standing right in front of the bathroom door. And then 
the shooting started. And almost instantaneously Aderet saw five holes 
appear on the wall, about a foot from where she was standing.
    We have sandbags outside all our windows in order to prevent such 
possibilities. However, we were told that it should be OK to leave a 
little room between the sandbags and the top of the window, and so we 
did. An Arab terrorist sniper found that gap, took aim, and funneled 
four of the five bullets through one hole in the window. If Aderet had 
been standing a little to her right, next to the wall, instead of in 
front of the bathroom door, she most likely would have been hit.
    Thank G-d, we live in a city of miracles, and she is fine, as are 
the rest of the children. This Shabbat, together with at least ten 
other families who have experienced similar miracles, we will have an 
afternoon "thanksgiving meal" at the "protest tent" we have set up 
outside the Avraham Avinu neighborhood.
    Many people have challenged the "protest tent" because it is 
located in the street, exactly opposite the Abu Sneneh hills, source of 
so much gunfire. We are asked, "how can you sit outside in the middle 
of the street, leaving yourselves exposed to Arab shooting?"  The 
question is not difficult to answer: "We are in no more danger in the 
middle of the street than we are in our own homes."
    A couple of weeks ago, a quiet Friday night. The Struk family, 
including 11 children (the last 2 are twin girls) lives in a newly 
built apartment in Beit Nachum v'Yehuda in the Avraham Avinu 
neighborhood. Some of their windows are facing the Abu Sneneh hills. 
After Shabbat dinner, the oldest son, Tzviki, 18 years old, looked very 
tired and his parents suggested that he retire for the night. However, 
his mother, Orit, one of the leaders of the Hebron community who works 
at least 18 hours a day, was ready to collapse. Tzviki told his mother, 
"you go to sleep and I'll wash the dishes." As he was working in the 
kitchen, bang, bang, bang, the terrorists were at it again. A short 
time later, when Tzviki finally went up to his room, he discovered a 
huge hole in the window, opposite his bed. The bullet hit the wall, 
just above his pillow.
    There are still those who suggest that we leave Hebron, claiming 
that it is too dangerous to be here. But where to go? There are mortars 
falling in the south and bombs exploding in Jerusalem and in the north. 
So where is there to hide? Besides which, that is the terrorist's goal 
- to drive us out of our land. 
    (19 Apr 01, Jewish Community of Hebron, http://www.hebron.org.il)

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       TERRORIST VICTIM BARUCH COHEN, FATHER OF 6 FROM EFRAT

    Thousands of people, including many IDF officers, participated in 
the funeral of the latest victim of Arab terrorism, Baruch Cohen, 59.  
Terrorists opened fire upon Cohen as they overtook his car this morning 
on the Tunnels Highway between Gush Etzion and Jerusalem.  Two bullets 
struck him in the head, causing him to lose control of the vehicle and 
smash head-on into a truck traveling south from Jerusalem.  
    Baruch Cohen is survived by his wife and six children, one of whom 
is Lt.-Col. Amnon Cohen, Commander of the IDF's Liaison Office with the 
Palestinian Authority in the Hevron District.
    On February 1, 2001, Dr. Shmuel Gillis, 42, of Karmei Tzur, was 
shot and killed in a similar attack on the same road.  On February 11, 
Tzachi Sasson, 35, of nearby Kibbutz Rosh Tzurim, was also killed by 
Arab terrorists on the same road.  On Feb. 20, Roni Diament was shot in 
the stomach in similar circumstances, and his recovery has been termed 
miraculous.
    (From Arutz Sheva News Service, http://www.IsraelNationalNews.com, 
19 Mar 01)

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                     SHOOTING THE PEACEMAKERS

    Amir Zohar, director of the East Talpiot community center, in a 
Jerusalem neighborhood bordering the Arab villages of Tsur Baher and 
Jabel Mukhaber, was known for his continuous efforts to promote good 
neighborly relations and understanding between Jews and Arabs.
    His most recent initiative was to organize a meeting between 
members of the East Talpiot neighborhood council and community leaders 
of Tsur Baher, during which the two sides agreed to hold a series of 
joint activities.
    Zohar was killed by Arab sniper fire near Jericho while on reserve 
duty in September 2000.
    (From _In Jerusalem_, 23 Mar 01, p. 16.

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    INTERVIEW WITH DEPUTY MINISTER OF INTERNAL SECURITY GIDEON EZRA

                             Sofia Ron

    [MK Gideon Ezra (Likud) is former deputy commander of the General 
Security Services)
    Q: Among the public there is a feeling that nothing has changed.
    A: Arik Sharon's advantage in the past has been that he maintains 
the element of surprise and does not work through the media. It is 
important to retain the element of surprise.
    Q: So you estimate that things have begun to change?
    A: I don't estimate. I'm sure. But the worst thing is to talk about 
it in the media.
    (From _Makor Rishon_ Yoman, 6 Apr 01, p. 2-3)

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                        TIME IS ON OUR SIDE
                     Brig. Gen. (res.) Efi Eitam

    "Israel is in a strange predicament today," said Brigadier-General 
(Res.) Efi Eitam, a highly decorated officer who recently retired from 
the army after three decades of service. "On the one hand, Israel is a 
wonder. Just look objectively at what it has achieved in only 50 years. 
After surviving a holocaust, any healthy nation would have needed many 
years to recover. By any world standard, Israel today is economically, 
militarily, historically, and demographically a miracle."
    On the other hand, "the more incredible our achievements, instead 
of our being happy and proud, the more we have a basic feeling of 
insecurity," observed the general. "Our nation is in a 'mashber,' which 
in Hebrew has a double meaning. It could mean 'crisis' or 'birth 
pains.' Out of the birth pains grow a new life."
    "When we see terrible things happening every day we get the 
impression that the country is falling apart. We feel that if we don't 
solve the problematic situation tomorrow morning, then everything is 
over. And so we opt for the solution of cutting off the 'problems' - 
cutting off the Golan, Judea, Samaria, Gaza, the Temple Mount - so that 
we can survive."
    "If the leadership cannot decipher the signs properly, if they 
think it's the end, that the country is breaking apart, and [they're 
afraid of more people dying], it's no wonder that they are doing what 
they are doing - cutting off pieces so that the 'body' can live a few 
more years," Eitam said.
    But there is no greater lie than this one! Not only is Israel not 
being torn apart, not only is it not dying, but rather it is being 
built. Of course there are differences between left and right. But the 
claim that all or most of Israel's citizens live in bitter hatred of 
one another and are constantly in conflict is a lie. Most of the people 
of Israel love one another. And no other country in the world has so 
many who would be willing to sacrifice so much for their country. I 
know this from the Army. I never saw a secular soldier who wasn't 
prepared to risk his life for a religious soldier...or a Sephardi 
soldier who thought twice about saving an Ashkenazi soldier. The 
opposite is true. They are brothers - willing to sacrifice their very 
lives for one another and for their country. I have seen this first 
hand in the Army for thirty years."
    "There's lots and lots of 'ahavat hinam' (unconditional love). All 
this talk - about hatred, about the country being torn apart, and about 
being forced to give parts of our country away to murderers because we 
don't know what will be tomorrow - is a big lie!"
    "Time is on our side. The nation is on our side. Looking back 50 
years, most places and cities we have today did not even exist. After 
every war we came out stronger, Israel is growing and growing. There is 
no reason for pessimism or pessimistic leaders."
    The gemara in Sanhedrin says that wars are 'atchalta degeula' (the 
beginning of the redemption), he explained. The gemara sees wars as a 
birthing process, where the few perish but the nation is born. Whoever 
doesn't look from a Torah perspective, and only looks at the day to day 
suffering, tragedies and wars, will think he is in a trauma ward and 
not in a maternity ward. 
    (From _Voices_ (Efrat), March 2001, p. 1+)

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           INTERVIEW WITH GSS VETERAN MENAHEM LANDAU

                           Ben Caspit

    Menahem Landau left the General Security Services two months ago, 
after 32 years of service.
    Last year, at the University of Haifa, he met Gen. Efi Eitam. 
Landau has established, together with Eitam, the Mayim (United Jewish 
Leadership) movement, whose purpose is "to restore sanity to the 
country."
    "It's necessary to understand that the problem here is not with an 
underground terrorist organization, but rather there are two armies. 
Palestinian terror is open, not hidden. An army is practicing 
terrorism, so I have to prepare lists of targets, of the attackers, of 
those who send them. There are addresses, there are names, there is an 
infrastructure. Everyone who is understood to be an attacker or sender 
needs to be neutralized. If you have good intelligence, don't wait. 
Strike immediately. Not as a reaction but as an initiative that 
continues constantly.  All the time. There will be complaints in the 
world, but the terror will be reduced.  I have no doubt of this. The 
intelligence needs to be not just on people.  On infrastructure, on 
weapons factories, on storehouses, on training bases. And every time we 
have something, to reach the target immediately."
    Q: Has our withdrawal from the territories, the loss of 
intelligence capability, made the war on terrorism more difficult?
    A: "I think that in a certain way it is easier for the GSS to 
operate now because we no longer have civilian responsibility in the 
area. If there is a work strike or a house is destroyed, we don't have 
to deal with this. The population there is totally broken, the economic 
situation horrible, so in fact they are more open to cooperation. I 
believe that the intelligence apparatus of the GSS has been restored. 
Among the Palestinians, there are more than a few who don't agree with 
the policies of the leadership, with the intifada, with the terror. 
Some of them help us."
    Q: How do you see the chances for peace in the near future?
    A: "If we return to negotiations, what will we talk about?  With 
whom will we talk? Look at their younger generation. The hatred, the 
incitement. In the foreseeable future I don't see a solution."
    Q: Nevertheless, at Camp David and at Taba we were at the edge of 
an agreement with the Palestinians.
    A: "Don't make me laugh. At Camp David everyone said this was it, 
the final push and the signing. I was there almost every day and they 
all told me, 'Menahem, they're about to sign.' I should have been 
worried, because just the year before Efi Etam and I had written a 
seminar paper at the university that predicted the whole intifada that 
has broken out now. I just couldn't believe it. He just wouldn't sign, 
and even if he did, it would last as long as the peace treaty we made 
with Bashir Jemayel in Lebanon."
    "It is often said that we shouldn't strike them hard because we 
have to leave an opening for talking. So what, in the Yom Kippur War we 
shouldn't have hit them hard in order to leave an opening?  Why?"
    "Our goal in the Mayim movement is to move the country in the right 
direction. To work on our Jewish identity, not from the religious 
aspect but with regard to the question of minimal identity. The Bible, 
the history, the culture, the values. There are many people out there 
who are thirsty for these things."
    (From _Maariv_ Independence Day, 25 Apr 01, pp. 6-8)

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               A KIBBUTZNIK IN GUSH KATIF (GAZA)

    Yahav Katzir, of Kibbutz Sdot Yam near Hadera, was sent by the 
Labor Party to be an election observer in Gush Katif last month.  In a 
letter to the residents of Gadid, where he was stationed, he explained 
that he was originally very apprehensive about his job: "I was first of 
all afraid of Arab terrorist attacks, and second of all I was afraid of 
you. I thought that you are extremists and unpleasant, because this is 
how the media describe you. I didn't understand at the time that this 
could be one big fabrication of the reality."
    "I got on the bulletproof bus [that morning], and my stomach 
started churning. I asked myself, 'Why do I need this? It's so 
dangerous! I have a family, why should I endanger myself?'" 
    "As we traveled, I saw a stunningly beautiful area, with a pristine 
landscape. I became excited. But I kept on worrying about the meeting 
with you, the residents. Then we reached N'vei Dekalim, and I saw warm 
and friendly people around me. I began to feel a sense of security. At 
this point, my opinion about you, the residents, changed from one 
extreme to the other: I understood that in this area live people who 
are warm and pleasant, who would love to change the stigma which others 
have unjustifiably stuck to them. I was amazed that you even thanked us 
for coming. I am very happy about the decision to send me to you."
    "As a kibbutznik and a farmer, I understood that your connection to 
the land is so strong, and for this you struggle so hard to remain in 
the Gush even beyond Zionism and politics. I very much admire people 
like you. As the day passed, I realized that your social lives are very 
developed, and everyone knows everyone else and supports everyone else.  
It is very moving to see such interaction."
    "Towards the end of the day, the desire to come and live with you 
came strongly over me, to join you despite all the fears I had at the 
beginning. The quiet, the people, the landscape - all this attracted me 
greatly." 
    "In short, you succeeded in making me realize that what I had 
thought was based on unreliable sources, and that my stubbornness "not 
to cross to the other side" was not justified. Despite my left-wing 
views, I believe that one day, if Gush Katif still exists, I will come 
and join you in order to live in this beautiful place, with the good 
people in the area.
    Thank you very, very, very much,
        Yahav Katzir, Sdot Yam"
    (From Arutz Sheva News Service, http://www.IsraelNationalNews.com, 
12 Mar 01)

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               JERUSALEM'S "UPPER TOWN" OLD CITY QUARTER

                          Leah Abramowitz

    There have been incidents of stoning and neighborhood animosity 
against Jews in the Moslem Quarter during the latest disturbances, but 
it hasn't shaken the faith of the 60 Jewish families living in several 
isolated pockets of the Moslem Quarter. They believe deeply in the 
importance of reestablishing a Jewish presence in that part of the Old 
City. There is even a list of people interested in moving in.
    "We take the long range view; we've learned from history that not 
everything progresses smoothly," says Esther Arend, mother of nine, and 
a resident of the Moslem Quarter, or the Upper Town as Jews living 
there prefer to call it.
    There are surveillance cameras in all the courtyards where Jewish 
families reside and along their major arteries in the Moslem Quarter. 
The government spends large sums of money for the guards who escort the 
residents when they move about. Their numbers have increased in the 
past three weeks. Guards now monitor all the Jewish enclaves. A private 
security company provides the guards, who have become good friends with 
the residents, and especially their children.
    The Moslem Quarter is home to 60 Jewish families and nearly 300 
children who have moved here since 1979. Overall, in the Old City live 
approximately 3,000 Jews, 23,000 Moslems and 6,400 Christians. Once 
there were 20,000 Jews or more living in what are now predominantly 
Arab areas within the walls of the Old City. There were large Yeshivot, 
synagogues, mikvas, and important social institutions. Houses like Beit 
Wittenberg, Beit Warsaw, the Galicia Courtyard, and Beit HaMaaravim, 
which housed Jews from various parts of the world, are now being 
repopulated, sometimes even by the descendants of the same 19th century 
settlers. Now Jews are returning to those areas.
    "There are Jewish families living in courtyards spread out all over 
the Old City," said Matti Dan, the founder of the Jewish presence in 
the Moslem Quarter. "They are located along the Via Dolorosa, right 
above the Arab shuk, near Herod's Gate, along Haladia Street (near the 
Jewish Quarter), in the Christian Quarter, around Silwan, and close to 
Damascus Gate. Even though it's difficult to expand by purchasing new 
property, the community is growing internally. Every week there's a new 
birth."
    Yochi Robbins, a veteran resident, believes, "Most of our Arab 
neighbors want peace and quiet - they might not like us but they're not 
going to do anything about it, unless someone stirs them up. The more 
active animosity is generally initiated by outsiders."
    Avner Shashar, a high school principal, who has lived near Herod's 
Gate with his wife and eight chldren since 1986, says "Fourteen years 
in the same courtyard - that's the only reality that our kids know." 
Nevertheless, the children understand they must be careful; they cannot 
go wherever they want when they want. It's necessary to order an armed 
guard to accompany them through the byways of the Old City. Friends are 
often reluctant to visit. Even the courtyards themselves have round the 
clock guards. Avner's car has been damaged or broken into several 
times.
    Since the latest disturbances, their courtyard, which they share 
with another Jewish family, has received many barrages of rocks and 
bottles. "But we have some protection from the fence," says Gilah 
Shashar, Avner's wife. "There are Jewish houses nearby, like Beit Yuri, 
which are constantly under siege." That house has been stoned and 
firebombed. 
    Another difficulty of living in the Moslem Quarter is the lack of 
transportation within the Old City. One has to carry everything from 
groceries, baby carriages, new furniture and even garbage, said Esther 
Arend. "You have to be perpetually young and physically fit to live in 
this region." Esther and others interviewed stressed the close 
relations between the Jewish families - the mutual help and 
encouragement they give each other, the cultural activities and feeling 
of togetherness that they've developed."
    "We know we're living in the midst of a population who don't want 
us here," says Arend. "That's not pleasant, but it can't be helped. We 
believe in our right to be here. They're here because they were born 
here. We're here because Jersualem has been the center of Jewish focus, 
our Holy City for centuries and centuries."
    (From _In Jerusalem_, 5 Jan 01, p. 4+)

**********************************************************************

       SETTLER POPULATION GROWTH THREE TIMES THE NATIONAL AVERAGE

                           Nadav Shragai 

    The settler population increased by some 8 percent - 14,968 
individuals - last year and by the end of December 2000 numbered 
203,068, according to figures from the Interior Ministry. 
    Two ultra-Orthodox communities, Beitar Ilit and Kiryat Sefer, 
recorded the highest population growth among the settlements in the 
territories. The two settlements together absorbed 6,692 new residents 
in 2000.
    Relatively high growth rates were also recorded in the Samaria (6.3
percent) and Binyamin (8.4 percent) regions, where 3,133 individuals 
were added in the past year.
    The Jewish population in the areas of greater Jerusalem currently 
beyond the city limits (Efrat, Etzion Bloc, Beitar Ilit, Givat Ze'ev, 
Har Adar and Ma'aleh Adumim) reached 70,317 by the end of 2000.
    (From _Ha'aretz_, 5 Mar 01, via IMRA - Independent Media Review and 
Analysis: http://www.imra.org.il)

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