On the eve of Shavuot, a request appeared on the local newspaper Efraton, asking residents to go to the offices of the local council in order to receive the sticker. Some of the residents answered the request, but others opposed it, and began calling for the council to reverse its decision.
A petition by residents read: "The sticker represents an attempt to mark residents ahead of future clashes. Technically, there won’t be any easing of the bigger jams, in the bottleneck of the Tunnels checkpoint (south of Jerusalem), since the Arabs will of course fake the sticker and place it on their cars."
The petition also said: "Security forces must find appropriate solutions, and not mark residents, something that echoes situations from the past and separation between 'good' and 'less good' Jews."
'No number on my hand'
An Efrat woman echoed the statement, saying: "I didn't immigrate to Israel so that they put a sticker on me, a patch or number – not on my cloths, on my hand, or on the car."
Orah Yanai, who has lived in Gush Etzion for 20 years, told Ynet: "We've never been asked to place a sticker, therefore this is very strange. The council did this is in a sophisticated way, like trapping someone."
She added: "The Interior and Defense Ministries are behind this. This is a political thing. This is selection. This is the first phase in a political process. We have a feeling that something is behind this act that we are not being told about, against the backdrop of the convergence plan."