| Our guide Na'ama took us to another neighborhood, Mitzpei Negohot, which is an outpost of Negohot overlooking an affluent Arab village. It was established with a sense of urgency about the need to create Jewish "facts on the ground" as to Jewish rights to the land. Many of the Jewish communities in the West Bank and Gaza Strip have grown in a manner such as Negohot: First an outpost consisting of a handful of trailers or "caravans" are established, then permanent housing is built, and then the outposts are linked up into one community. Amit Halevy, who has lived in Mitzpei Negohot for over two years with his wife and two children in a house they built themselves, spoke to us while we shared the magnificent view of the Hebron hills in the spring. He was passionate about the need for Arabs to know that Jews own the land and that Arabs have human rights, not national rights, in the Jewish state. Irit thanked us for visiting them. She said that the media is constantly trying to create the impression that the "settlers" are alone and isolated. Our being there gave her encouragement. |
