Some 20,000 people including rightwing Knesset members and deputy ministers came Thursday afternoon to the Cave of the Patriarchs area in Hebron to celebrate, with the local Jewish community, the addition of the site to the national heritage list.
Among those celebrating were MKs Tzipi Hotovely (Likud ),Otniel Schneller (Kadima )and Arieh Eldad (National Union ),as well as deputy ministers Ayoob Kara (Likud) and Gila Gamliel (Likud).
"We love Tel Aviv, it's 101 years old, but Jerusalem is 3,000 years old and Hebron is 4,000," Hotovely said.
She added that coming to Hebron, a city with a long Jewish history during the Passover festival, is very significant.
Celebrating at the Meir Kahane Tourist Park. (Photo: Shmulik Grossman)
"In the festival celebrating our release from slavery to freedom, we need to preserve our independent spirit and not allow anyone to dictate how much we can build or where," she said.
Kara said, "The prime minister must say 'No' to (US President) Barack Hussein Obama, and 'Yes' to the people of Israel, (he must) approve the recommencement of construction and settlement thought the Land of Israel."
Before the main gathering, a local celebration was held in the Meir Kahane Tourist Park.
"The lobby will continue to struggle for all the issues about which the government shows a weakness, and hopes to achieve results similar to the declaration of the Cave of the Patriarchs as a national heritage site," Chairman of the Lobby for Judea, Samaria and Gaza Arieh Eldad said.