We are happy to announce that the IDF has decided to renovate Shdema and prepare the site as a military base.
“…Our mouths are filled with song and our tongues with praise…We cannot thank You enough”
The Shdema camp, situated in area C between Har Homa and Tekoa, was abandoned in 2006.
In 2008, journalist Hagai Huberman alerted Women in Green to the fact that Israel was holding discussions with the Palestinian Authority on the subject of establishing a new Palestinian neighborhood at the site. Due to Hagai Huberman’s alertness, the camp was prevented from being transferred to Arab ownership.
Following a difficult battle that continued for years waged by Women in Green and the Committee for a Jewish Shdema, the camp was maintained by a small IDF force.
Two years ago the road to the camp was improved and paved and it was recently announced that the IDF is renovating the site and preparing it to receive many soldiers.
The contribution of Women in Green and the Committee for a Jewish Shdema will be recognized in a ceremonial tribute that will take place, G-d willing, on Monday, the second night of Hanukah, at 8:00pm
Attended by:
1) Dep.Minister of Defense Rabbi Eli Ben Dahan
2) Brigade Commander of Gush Etsion Roman Gofman
3) Moshe Savil, Deputy Head of Gush Etzion Council
4) Rav Yaron Durani, Rabbi of Nokdim and Shdema
We would like to thank all of those who took part in this success and call upon them to participate in the ceremony this coming Monday night.
For transportation:
From Jerusalem: Renee Margolis 052-3294194
From Kiryat Arba Hevron-Gush Etzion & Efrat: Rivka Ryback 0548034853
Below is the news report by Hagai Huberman that appeared this Shabbat in the Matsav Haruach journal:
Exclusive: The Battle is Won:
the IDF will restore the Shdema Camp to be a permanent base, after it was supposed to be handed over to the Palestinians.
Victory in the battle over the Shdema base, which is located southeast of Jerusalem, between the neighborhoods of Har Homa and Tekoa: It has been decided by the IDF to restore the site as a permanent base, eight years after the Defense Department demonstrated a readiness to hand the area over to the Palestinian Authority.
Next Monday, on the second night of Hanukah, a candle lighting event is planned to be held at the site. It will be a joint event of the IDF and the Committee for a Jewish Shdema, which in recent years organized a series of cultural activities at the site in order to maintain a Jewish presence. The IDF will award to the committee’s leadership, Nadia Matar and Yehudit Katsover, a certificate of recognition for their active preservation of the site.
Recently, the IDF has been maintaining a consistent presence at the site in preparation for its being restored as a permanent base.
On March 21st, 2008, I had the privilege of exposing exclusive information in the Makor Rishon-Hatzofe newspaper regarding the fact that Israel and the Palestinian Authority were discussing the possibility of establishing a new Palestinian community, on the Shdema base, east of Beit Sahour. In the past it had been a base of the Engineering Corps, and was abandoned a year and a half beforehand. In the Oslo Accords the place was designated as Area C, under Israel’s control, like every other IDF base.
The Palestinian Authority had been eyeing the place for a long time and had even prepared a Palestinian master plan that would designate the military base as another neighborhood of Beit Sahour. In the Civil Administration they tended to view the proposal positively, and were inclined to approve the Palestinian request. The IDF Central Command objected to the process because of its proximity to the road that connects the Jewish communities of east Gush Etzion and Har Homa.
Following the publication, activities were held to promote holding onto the site, by the Committee for a Jewish Shdema, established by Women in Green leaders Nadia Matar and Yehudit Katsover, with the aim of “leaving Shdema under Israel’s control, in order to prevent hostile elements from taking over the area and to act against the possibility of handing the area over to the Palestinians in any future arrangement”.
The committee organized lectures every week as well as monthly events at Shdema. Taking part in the activities that were held at the site were senior political figures of the Right such as then Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman; MK Yuli Edelstein, the current Speaker of the Knesset; Ze’ev Elkin and Danny Danon. Public figures and cultural celebrities such as former MK Geula Cohen and singer Dudu Elharer also visited the place.
In the beginning of October, 2013, a ceremony to affix a mezuzah was held at the site attended by very many people, among whom was Deputy Minister Eli Ben Dahan, Head of the Gush Etzion Regional Council Davidi Perl and MK Shuli Mualem-Refaeli. On the first day of the month of Sivan, 5774 (2014), a synagogue was dedicated in Shdema, with the participation of Regimental Commander, Amit Yamin.
And now, as mentioned, the site will be restored to the IDF’s control as a permanent base, as it was in the past.
[Caption on the picture: Avigdor Lieberman and Yuli Edelstein at an event of The Committee for a Jewish Shdema at the Shdema base. Photo: Hagai Huberman]
