Settlers: We’re next to go
Residents of West Bank settlement left outside security fence route tell visiting PM Sharon they are concerned about terror attacks. One settler: I’ll be leaving once first bullet is fired
Sharon, who opened his tour along the fence route at the Beit Aryeh-Ofarim settlement attempted to allay the settlers’ fears, telling them “we will not abandon you to the mercy of the Palestinian population.”
“We’ll stand on guard so that the fence will prevent any terror activity,” he said. “Israel will take steps to safeguard the resident’s security. There will be no security concessions along the fence.”
However, the residents did not seem to be impressed by the reassurances.
Sharon’s visit, the first in seven years, happened to coincide with a “voluntary evacuation poll” undertaken at the community, but officials said this was only a coincidence.”
“Our basic approach is that all of us want to stay here,” said Avinoam Magen, who is behind the evacuation poll. “The prime minister promised us nine months ago that under no circumstances will the community be left out of the fence route, but there you have it, the fence is being constructed to our West and left us out.”
“We’re telling Sharon today that we no longer count on his promises and are demanding guarantees,” Magen said. “We don’t mind receiving Sycamore Ranch (Sharon’s private residence) as a guarantee.”
‘Grim future’
A resident of the settlement said that as a result of the fence's construction, residents of the nearby village of Rantis started throwing stones at vehicles in the area. He also complained that the settlers are not being updated regarding the government's plans in the region.
"The head of the neighboring Arab village showed us an aerial photograph of the fence. They receive updates, while we don’t. Do the ones who brought us here intend to desert us?" he asked.
“If Sharon wins the elections, I will cry,” one of the protesters, Avi Aniya, said. Aniya, a Likud activist who was one of the people to meet Sharon upon his arrival, said he no longer believes the PM.
"I don't want to see Sharon abandon us one day after the elections, like he did with the Gush Katif settlers. I don't believe him anymore, and I do not trust his promises," he said.
"Let him make his intentions clear now, and if he plans to evacuate the community, they should allow us to leave in dignity. I don't want to be evicted, and in the meantime live in a fenced enclave," Aniya added.
Another resident, a mother of three, stated that once the first bullet is fired at the settlement, she would leave. "In terms of security we can only expect a grim future here, locked up in this cage Sharon has built for us," she said.
She implored Sharon not to throw her and her family outside the fence. "I will not stop bullets with my body," she declared.
‘Sharon visit a political statement’
Avi Naim, head of the regional council and one of those to meet with the PM, told Ynet residents' requests were met with attentive consideration. Naim himself asked that the access road to the community be widened.
According to Naim, the prime minister instructed security authorities to attend to the settlement's defense, and to move the fence further away from the access road to the community.
"The fact that Sharon came here today is in itself a political statement," Naim claimed. "He assures us that in any future settlement, Beit-Aryeh-Ofarim will remain inside Israel's boundaries," he concluded.
