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General Itamar News

Itamar News July 5th 2007

July 5th 2007 / Yud Tet Tamuz 5767

1)This week our campers had the privilege going out on an all day water park excursion to Kibbutz Chofetz Chaim – we want to thank all our wonderful supporters for making this event possible! width= width=

2) A record breaking phenomenon is taking place on Itamar this Shabbat. Believe it or not, it is the third Brit Milah (circumcision) in a row to happen on Shabbat. We want to wish a Mazal Tov to Shimon and Maran Head.

3) Mazal Tov to the Azulay family upon the birth of their son this week.

4)Itamar’s response team had a two day reserve duty training exercise in the Jordan valley. Special thanks to Super Saba – Alon Zimmerman (on the left below) who is a grandfather of two and can still out run all of the other team members!


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General Itamar News

Itamar News Updates June 27th 2007

11 Tamuz 5767 /June 27th 2007

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1) One of Itamar’s residents was fired on by an Arab terrorist while working in his field on our hilltops. Thank G-d he wasn’t hurt. The army found the rifle used but the terrorist got away.

2) Mazal Tov to the Shmuliyan and Mishulami families upon the birth of their sons.

3) Itamar celebrated two weddings this week one on Monday night and one on Tuesday night. The newlywed Degani couple will be living on our hilltops and the newlywed Chemo family will be living in Jerusalem. We wish these young couples great happiness and success.

4) Mazal Tov to Shacharit Avitan upon her engagement!

5) Itamar held memorial services this Wednesday for the Rachel, Neriya, Tzvika, Avishay Shabo and Yosef Twito who were massacred on Itamar five years ago.

6) Mazal Tov to Yosef Goldsmith who finished his basic army training and is starting this week his advanced training – we wish him success as he progresses in his elite unit in Tzahal.

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About Us General

Itamar in its early days by Leah Goldsmith

Itamar 1985- 23/1/2005 Almost 20 years ago, Itamar, then Tel Chaim, consisted of 2 tiny blocks of pre-fab concrete matchbox houses, like parallel rows of white dots on a black domino.  width=White, in its stark symbol of new civilization, upon the black uninhabited earth, scattered with gnarled thorn bushes and many ancient rocks of different sizes. This double row of dwellings sits perched snugly on a low hump of hill in the mountainous region of the central Shomron. The glorious hills surrounding the settlement seemed to hug and mystify the newcomers. The houses themselves were simple. One could walk around, seeing potential for the little front gardens. In the shadow of the big rocks grew a variety of sage, thyme, zatar and many other wild herbs and flowers. In spring, the earth became mossy, a ready-made green carpet.  width=The backyards faced the North Country and the new and rising Elon Moreh in the distance. Between the rows of houses ran a concrete lane. Toddlers played there in the bright light, the sky a burning blue. Below this lane stood the public meeting houses, which served many purposes such as for praying, and planning a new decade of settlement and land reclamation. As the twilight sank, couples would stroll down to the new playground. There were hardly any trees at this point and sometimes the world felt a dreary place without them. Later, a huge expanse of fresh grass was put down there, rich and refreshing- it was like going to a country club. The homes had no phones. This meant waiting on line, usually at night, for the one local phone. There, under the lone light bulb, the dim, yellow glow would give a cozy mood to those hooking up with the outside world. Then, the days were days and the nights were nights. Time had a definition. At this time a generator supplied the electricity, it’s motor droning away almost always. When it shut down, the silence could be heard to the end of the world. It, like the people, needed an occasional rest too. On the long winter nights the rain would rattle on the windows, sometimes shaking the frames of the little houses in a thunderous waft of freezing air. Was that someone banging on the thin wooden door? Babies were often held inside thick blankets. Walking down “Main Street”(our famous lane), one could see through the lace curtains, a candle glimmering and providing a warm and cheerful light. There were days that it felt too cold to go out. Better lay in bed, listening to the steady freezing rain. When it was time to go, it meant trudging through the cold mud. The thought of family was warming to the heart. Then, walking indifferent in the rain, under the umbrella, pleasure was taken secretly thinking of the bountiful things of Eretz Goshen. The women loved marketing. Tuesday was fruit and vegetable day. Children would wheedle their way between the crates and crates of melons, bananas and oranges. It was a luxurious day, but everyone counted his or her pennies. A big truck would arrive every Wednesday with frozen and dry goods. The women would kind of squeeze together in a heckling dance of reaching and grasping for this and that, beautiful in their bright and simple scarves. Soon it became harvest time in the new fields. There was the hope of accepting something straight from nature.  width=The people were slowly acclimating themselves with this land, learning its ways, praying for it to bless them. It was not easy. With the arrival of spring, the children explored the warming hillsides, collecting pansies and anemones, slipping down the sloping hills covered in a purple thistle. They would bring a bright decoration for their shining Shabbat tables. Money was always short, but walking across the new fields gave a rich sense of ownership and pride. The hills were calling, “come and claim me, come and take me”. We couldn’t get enough of them. It was a kind of matrimony with the Land. The visitors became enthralled with the place. They went out looking for mushrooms, hunting through the wet grass. There was the joy of finding something; an ancient olive tree bigger than a house, a wild vine, good for new starters. Climbing the steep path to the top of the mountain, all things shone in the sun. The atmosphere, a soft gray, the gentleness of being so near the so ancient, the so ours, provided an intimacy that could not remain abstract. The prophet’s dreams were coming true. At that time, the hum of noise coming from the valley, where the “locals” lived was only a minor detail for us. We felt them, but not intensely. We were so locked into our existence, it was easy to forget the larger picture, feeling only the very being of this place at this time- then, now and forever. The men transformed quickly from clean-shaven boys to bearded strong men. Some wore flannel or dark blue work shirts and pants with high black rubber boots. Some would be a little more “dressed up” standing in the early morning at the roadside wearing white shirts and large cranberry colored holy books under their arms. There were those that worked the Land, and those that dedicated their lives to learn the details of halacha concerning the Land. Later, there were also many that gave their lives for the Land… When the tiny buds appeared on the rosebushes in the planters outside our front door, people would be seen emptying their worldly possessions into the backyards. There would be a ceremony of scrubbing down every surface of the little houses. It was Pesach-time. The grey and wet winter was replaced by this ritual, with the arrival of spring. People began to smile, speak and connect to those around them. And when we recited the prayer of Thanksgiving, making Pesach in the Land of Ephraim, it felt all the more special. “ Blesssed are you, Lord our G-d, King of the Universe, who has granted us life, sustained us and enabled us to reach this occasion!” end Leah Goldsmith

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General Memorial Page Our Heroes

Matan Zagron z”l

Matan, dear son, loved by your family, and Yishuv Itamar Born – 4 Cheshvan \תשמ”א killed – 21 Cheshvan תשס”ג  width=

Matan was a 22 year old soldier when he encountered a suicide bomber at the soldiers bus-stop near the gas station of Ariel in the Shomron. There, he rushed forward to prevent the attack, sacrificing his own life to save his comrades.

Matan was born on Moshav Tekumah, in the Negev. He went to elementary school at Kibbutz Sa’ad. His parents, being strong idealists, moved the family to Yishuv Itamar, a neighboring settlement of Shechem. Matan adjusted quickly to the change and connected immediately to the new-ancient environs of his home in Itamar. He finished elementary school at Eilon Moreh . Remaining in the area, he continued his studies at Itamar’s, Yeshivat Chitzim, a high school that dorms boys from all parts of Israel. The high school places a strong emphasis on the love of the Land. Learning there enabled Matan to literally walk the length and breadth of the Land, which he did with great joy. His enthusiasm brought him to many accomplishments such as: diving, snappling, and a very high level of physical fitness.

After completing High School, he continued on to the Mechina Kdam Tzvai of Chemdat, which was only just beginning to be established at that time. Matan also devoted a lot of his free time to the Victims of Terror organization located in Jerusalem. Simultaneously he was equally involved and an active member of Moledet. Ghandi (היד ), always liked to call him the guy from the mountains. Matan emulated Ghandi and always spoke about the importance of our Moledet. He was deeply pained by the obscene transfer of parts of our Holy Land to the enemy.

Upon joining the army, Matan immediately stood out as an extraordinary lover of Zion. He would prove this to his friends by doing things like crumbling a small amount of earth into his cup of coffee. At an officers training course he wrote on his notepad in very big letters, the words from Tehillim קמד “צורי המלמד ידי לקרב אצבעותי למלחמה” “ Blessed be the Lord, my rock, who teaches my hands to war and my fingers to fight”. His commanding officer told him that with such faith, he too, would be a commanding officer.

Matan became the first officer from the 2nd generation of Itamar. Whenever he had leave from the army, he would forfeit sleep and rest and prefer to guard the Yishuv. The pioneer spirit was instilled in him by his family. Living on Itamar was a tremendous inspiration to him, giving him steadfast selflessness in his drive to make the Yishuv that he loved grow and thrive.

Matan absorbed Eretz Yisrael in every fiber of his heart, body and spirit. He, in pure truthful innocence, had a natural inclination to being a truly happy person. He expressed a great deal of sensitivity towards today’s painful events, but managed to always wear a smile and even encourage all of those around him. He had a good heart.

Matan began his army service with devoted determination. He joined the Paratroopers unit 890. From there he continued on to officers training. He was later promoted to commander of snipers in the unit “Nachshon”, which specializes in providing protection for the settlements of the Shomron- Ephraim.

He was later taken to heaven, rising in a storm, with purity as he served the State of Israel, the army and am Yisrael. He was called upon yet another mission, serving in the army of Hashem, and watching over the Jewish people from above. ה עוז לעמו יתן ה ה יקום את דמו הקדוש May his soul be bound in the ever-lasting chain of life.

Itamar Resident Murdered

Matan Zagron, 22, from Itamar Matan Zagron was about to assault the terrorist and took the brunt of the explosion, said his friends in the Nahshon Battalion, where Zagron served as a sniper officer. Two weeks ago he celebrated his 22nd birthday. His friend Oded Ronsky, who had spent the last few hours before the terrorist attack with him, said Matan’s dream was to serve in the Shin Bet. His father, Benny, who works in the research institute of Ariel’s college, was in Psagot, another West Bank settlement, when he was called by Rabbi Avi Ronsky of Itamar to the gas station after the attack. Matan’s mother, Varda, is a school teacher in Ariel’s Nahsholim school. The Zagron family moved to Itamar about 12 years ago from Tkuma. Matan studied at Itamar’s high school yeshiva Hitzim, and took the pre-military course in the Jordan Valley’s Hemdat. He joined the paratroopers, became an officer and moved to the Nahshon Battalion. Benny Zagron said Sunday that his son was a serious man who did not shirk from responsibility, “a leader type, with lots of motivation.”
Oded Ronsky said that only a couple of days ago Matan had parted from his friends and needed cheering up. “I drove him in the morning to the gas station, where he was supposed to meet his soldiers to take them to training drill. He was in good spirits when we parted. I didn’t imagine it was the last time I would see him. He passed a lot in his short life and we will miss him very much.” Matan Zagron’s funeral will be held at 11 A.M. Monday in Itamar. He is survived by parents Benny and Varda and four brothers and sister. from “Ha’aretz Monday, October 28, 2002 Cheshvan 22, 5763 “

 

 

 

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Itamar High School Massacre and Shabo Family Massacre First-hand Account

 Tammuz 5762 (June 2002)

Dear Friends,

My name is Moshe Goldsmith. I am a rabbi at the yeshiva high school at Itamar and a resident of the settlement of Itamar for the last 17 years. Itamar is named after the son of Aaron the high priest who is buried right down the road, in the middle of a present day Arab village. This grave gives testimony to the Jewish presence from time immemorial in these parts, the very heart of the land of Israel. The settlement faces the two holy mountains of the blessing and the curse, the valley of Shechem houses Joseph the Righteous One.

In the last twelve years we have lost more friends than we can count on two hands and two feet. Joseph was thrown again into a pit and Jacob cries for his loss. None the less, Joseph lives on and only later Jacob recognizes him. We are exactly in the phase before this revelation. We are a hard-necked people and stubborn in our quest to resettle the G-d given earthly covenant. We cleave to the land and the living Torah and hope to unify the people of Israel.

We have faced trials and tribulations, some too terrible to even mention, and suffered much at the hands of Ishmael. I would like to relate to you some of my personal experiences over the last few weeks.

It is a quarter to eleven at night and I am getting ready to go to sleep after an exhausting day. Suddenly I receive a phone call from one of my students. He tells me that he hears shooting right outside his dorm. Hearing shots isn’t something unusual in these parts. I start questioning him ”where are the shots coming from?” (All this of course takes place within seconds) He tells me that they are very close. I tell him to stay in his room and that I’ll be right there. I take my rifle and start making my way to the door of my house. As I put my hand on the door, I hear someone banging to get in. I open the door and about fifteen students come running into my house. They are all panic stricken and afraid to speak. At this point, I realize that something very serious is going on. I tell them to stay put and lock the door behind me. I quickly start making my way towards the school, which is located about 350 meters from my house. I am approaching the basketball court, I notice that a boy is lying on the ground wallowing in his blood. Two men are trying to give him life support. I am asked to identify him. It is a new student who joined our school just the day before. Grabbing hold of myself, I continue running towards the school, which is just down the hill from the basketball court. When I get there, there is tremendous commotion. People are running in every direction. Someone calls out to me and says, “there is the terrorist he has been killed”. I turn around and see something lying dead on the sidewalk that looks like a human being, but of course it can’t be human. What human is capable of committing such an atrocity? At this point, I receive a phone call from the same student that first informed me of the incident. I tell him to stay put and wait until I knock on his door. When I get to him, I find him together with a group other students hiding under their beds. I can’t describe in words the relief that glows on their faces to see a friendly face. While the army continues to search the campus, the staff and I begin to gather all the students in the major Torah study house. I quickly run and get a list of all the pupils and begin taking attendance. Two more students are missing. width=

Minutes later they are found lying in a pool of blood. The entire night while we teachers and students are sitting together in the Study house crying over our dear ones, former student graduates are coming from all corners of the country to strengthen us. The minute they received word of the terror attack they didn’t hesitate to drive out to Itamar. This expression of brotherhood is living proof that Am Yisrael Chai.

It is now a little more than three weeks later. It is about seven p.m. and I am sitting in my synagogue studying Torah. Someone comes into the synagogue with terrible news. He mentions that there has been a suicide bomb attack in Jerusalem at the French Hill. We all gather together and begin saying Tehilim(Psalms)for the injured. When I come home I receive a phone call from my daughter, she asks me if I heard anything about a student of mine that was injured at the French Hill during the attack. I tell her that I know nothing of the sort and that if something really happened I would have been notified about it. After hanging up with my daughter, I quickly call one of my fellow staff members and gently ask him if he heard anything. He mentions that as far as he knows everything is o.k. A half an hour passes by and the terrible word – another one of our students has been murdered, Shmuel Yerushalmi. width=

The next day, Thursday, I am in Shilo at Shmuel’s funeral session. We are all standing outside listening to the eulogies and crying over what is being said. I look ahead and notice my dear student, Neria Shabo, holding on to a fellow classmate and crying hysterically. Little does he know that in just a few hours he will be joining Shmuel and many others. I turn to my right and see my dear friend Yoseph Twito holding a baby. A women standing next to him was having a little difficulty holding her baby in the hot sun. Yoseph came to her aid. Little does he know that in a few hours, he will again come to the aid of others…

A few hours later in Itamar I am standing outside my house with my son Ephraim helping him prepare a barbecue for supper. All of a sudden I hear Ta Ta Ta. Could it be shots? No,someone is using a hammer. Then my other son Yoseph Israel appears, minutes before he finished playing for the last time, with a good friend Tzvika Shabo. Again I hear Ta Ta Ta. My son yells out to me Abba someone is shooting. I tell Yoseph Israel to take all the children into the house and lock the door. Don’t worry I’ll be back! Go home! Lock the doors! The children screaming and crying are running after me. Finally Yoseph Israel succeeds in getting everyone into the house. A take my rifle, that hasn’t left my side for months, and start running in the direction of the shots. I make it to the Shabo house and find five of my friends crouched behind a metal garbage container just outside the house. They fill me in- “ Yoseph reported that shots were fired near the Shabo house”. Where is Yoseph? We all start calling aloud Yoseph!, Yoseph!, Yoseph!. He doesn’t respond. Where could he be? He was just here a minute ago. Let’s get a closer look! You take cover we are running ahead. Look! Yoseph has been shot! He has a head injury. Glancing through the window, someone shouts, there are people wounded in the house! The army arrives with help. Shots are fired in all directions. The terrorist is still in the house.

Here I am an hour later staring at the house as it goes up in flames. width= I am crying over the innocent victims but I’m also smiling. Either this monster will be burnt alive or shot as he attempts to run away. Then it all comes to an end – it jumps out the window and is shot attempting to escape.

It is Friday at 12:00 o’ clock. Again I am staring at the Shabo house. It is now known as the burnt house. This time there are thousands staring at the house. We are waiting for Yoseph Twito, Rachel and three of her children. It is time to say goodbye. They must get to their final resting-place.

It is 1:30 thousands of us are in the graveyard. We are staring at Meir’s tomb, the only tomb on the site. Meir was murderedabout 9 months ago right outside Itamar. We were hoping that Meir wouldn’t mind being bored for a while. I guess we were wrong. Yoseph, Rachel, and her children were laid to rest beside him. The testimony of our presence goes on. width=

One of the greatest Jewish saints of all time, the Ramchal, writes – The time will come when the Jewish people will rejoice in a happiness that will be so great, it will be greater than all the suffering we have endured throughout history. Those that have seen the pictures of the mounds and mounds of Jewish bones, the charred remains of the holocaust, can only feel the electrifying words of Yechezkial the prophet. (Chapter 36-37) The coming together of the dry bones, this very heap of bones had grown into a nation returning to her Land. A hundred years ago the first settlers had to deal with the murderous Arabs, and terrible natural disasters such as earthquakes, pestilence, plagues, and lack of basic food. They set the backbone, the very foundation of a homeland for the dry bones that arrived 50 years later and had nothing but pain, trials and tribulations. But the Jewish people had endurance. The Land raised up tremendous bounty, flowered and prospered for her people. True, hard times there were, and are…

We, the people of Itamar are an enduring people. We have patience and know that the work is hard. Please help us in making Eretz Yisrael flourish, as Hashem and our prophets have promised us in an everlasting brit.

Moshe Goldsmith

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Meir Lixenberg

Arutz 7 9 Elul 5671

Itamar Resident Murdered  width= width=

Itamar Resident Buried Meir Lixenberg, 36, father of five, was murdered yesterday afternoon by Arabs on his way home from work. As his car approached his home community of Itamar, south of Shechem, shots rang out; the driver was unhurt, but drove immediately to the nearby army base when he saw that his friend had been hit in the head. Efforts to revive Meir proved fruitless. The IDF, in response, destroyed a PA paramilitary post in Kalil, between Itamar and Shechem.

Meir Lixenberg, a member of the Itamar Local Council, was buried at 3PM in his hometown, and many thousands participated in the funeral. The family and Itamar had originally wanted the procession to leave from the Prime Minister’s Office, but this was canceled by army request. Itamar’s Rabbi Natan Chai said during his eulogy that the IDF had advance information on the presence of the terrorist cell in one of the local Arab villages, but because of the order not to hurt civilians, whether or not they are protecting terrorists, the army did not liquidate the cell.

Rabbi Avi Ronsky of Itamar told Arutz-7 today of the great loss his community had suffered: “Michael [pronounced Micha-el] was head of security for the four Shechem-area communities here [Brachah, Itamar, Yitzhar, and Elon Moreh], and he was very involved in arranging programs for bringing families to visit and to live. This very Shabbat a large group of people is coming to us – completely arranged by Michael… We are a strong community, people here are made of rock – but this is undoubtedly a strong blow. He and his wife, who is the communal coordinator here, are among the pillars of our town. In addition, he was a very friendly, pleasant, well-liked man…” Rabbi Ronsky did sound one positive note, however: “Families that were having a hard time of it here, in terms of security and finances, became more determined [to remain after previous violence], and new families came. I assume that this will happen again as a result of this terrible murder.”

Rabbi Ronsky, a senior officer in reserves, was asked what could be done against these fatal roadside shootings. “There is much that can be done,” he said. “Without going into details, we do know where these terrorists come from, and we know where their ammunition depots are. They are all in Area A [under PA control]. We have to act much more forcefully in Area A, and not just once in a while… In addition, it should be noted that in many places, much of Area B [under Israeli security control and PA administrative control] is becoming Area A, in that the army barely ever enters. This gives the terrorists more room in which to work…” He said that in many Yesha areas, the army has deployed only about 50% of the forces that really should be there.

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Gilad Zar – No One Can Fill Your Shoes

 width=‘No one can fill your shoes’

By Margot Dudkevitch Jerusalem Post May, 30 2001 JERUSALEM (May 30) – Thousands gathered outside the Prime Minister’s Office in Jerusalem yesterday to mourn the murdered Gilad Zar, 40, calling on Prime Minister Ariel Sharon to leave his office and “get to work.”

Anger and frustration were voiced by many; some called for vengeance, while others termed Sharon “chicken” and declared it was time to end the “silence of the lambs” and respond harshly to Palestinian violence.

As the funeral cortege set out from Jerusalem, where it headed for Zar’s home in Itamar before reaching Karnei Shomron where he was buried last night, Palestinians in Kafr Kalil shot at the company, inviting an IDF response of light weapon and tank shell at the source of the firing.

On March 26, Zar was moderately wounded when Palestinians opened fire on his car as he travelled near the Yitzhar Junction. He was hit in the chest, leg, and hand, but despite his wounds managed to reach the nearby army base in his car. He underwent surgery and was released from hospital soon after, continuing his work as Samaria regional security head, on call 24 hours a day.

Speaking at the funeral, his brother Oren declared his heart was broken. “Seventy days ago you were wounded, and yet the Almighty granted you 70 more days to live. Why not 70 years? You were a walking legend… no one can fill your shoes.”

Rabbi Moshe Levinger declared that the IDF should have entered Nablus and confiscated the weapons from the Palestinians.

Samaria Regional Council head Bentzi Lieberman described Gilad as a strong, determined, but sensitive man. “It is hard for me to accept that I will never again hear his voice on the two-way radio, and that we must continue the war without one of the greatest heroes.”

Zar was the scion of a well-known pioneering family. His father Moshe, a Jewish landowner who purchased thousands of dunams of land from the Arabs over the years, was also a member of the Jewish underground. In 1984, the elder Zar was sentenced to several months’ imprisonment for his involvement in the 1980 bomb attack on Nablus mayor Bassam Shak’a, who lost both his legs in the explosion. In 1983, Moshe was attacked by an ax-wielding Arab, who slashed his neck and shot him outside his hilltop mansion in Karnei Shomron.

Binyamin Regional Council head Pinhas Wallerstein said that Zar was respected and loved by many. “Everyone, from the hilltops to the cities, knew him and respected him,” he said.

Zar is survived by his wife Hagar and their eight children width=

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Gilad Zar

Wednesday, May 30, 2001

Three killed; settlers demand revenge

By Nadav Shragai and Amnon Barzilai Ha’aretz Correspondents

Cries for revenge accompanied by accusations that government ministers are “traitors” dominated the funeral of Gilad Zar, the 41-year-old security officer for northern Samaria settlements who was assassinated yesterday morning in his car outside Kedumim, the northern West Bank settlement.

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Two other settlers, 53-year-old Sarah Blaustein and 20-year-old Esther Alon, both from Efrat, were murdered in a Palestinian ambush on the way to Zar’s funeral convoy from the Prime Minister’s Office to Itamar, via the Karnei Shomron road near Kedumim where Zar was killed.PMto review restraint policy, Page 2Meanwhile, Shin Bet chief Avi Dichter and West Bank Palestinian Preventive Security chief Jibril Rajoub met last night in Jerusalem, in the presence of an American representative, while top generals from both sides met in the formal security coordination meeting as part of the effort to begin implementation of the Mitchell Report.

The security coordination session began at 8:30 P.M., in Ramallah, with Central Command Maj. Gen. Yitzhak Eitan, and Judea and Samaria commander Brig. Gen Benny Gantz on the Israeli side, and on the Palestinian side, Amin al-Hindi of the Palestinian Intelligence service, Tawfik Tirawi of the General Intelligence service and Haj Ismail of the Palestinian security forces. It was the first time Tirawi participated in a security session since the outbreak of the Intifada. An American representative also took part in that session. A similar session is planned for today in Gaza. width=

Zar was shot dead yesterday morning at the Jat junction east of the Kedumim as he drove by in his four-wheel drive vehicle. An ambush involving at least two gunmen, said IDF sources, shot at him from the distance, then approached the car and fired at least two full magazines of ammunition into the car and its driver. An organization calling itself The Regiment of Al-Aqsa Martyrs informed wire services in Beirut that it was responsible for the murder.

The two women from Efrat, on their way to the Zar funeral procession, were killed not far from the Neve Daniel settlement in Gush Etzion, on the Jerusalem-Samaria road. A passing car fired at them. Blaustein and Alon were seriously wounded, with Blaustein dying where the car stopped, and Alon dying in the hospital. Three others in the car were also wounded.

Gilad Zar, one of the founders of Itamar, was the son of Moshe Zar, convicted in the mid-1980s as a member of the Jewish Underground, for serving as the driver of the getaway car when members of the underground planted bombs that crippled then Nablus Mayor Bassam Shaka. He spent only a few months in prison, and was released for reasons of health.

Moshe Zar is one of the leading Jewish land dealers in the West Bank, and is known as one of the key financiers behind Gush Emunim and the Jewish enclave in Hebron. Arabs once attacked him with an ax, plunging it into his skull. He nonetheless managed to reach safety and hospital and later continued his work, which in one of his rare statements to the press he called “redeeming the land for Israel.”

Judea and Samaria Commander Brig. Gen. Benny Gantz yesterday said the army had no proof that Gilad Zar was specifically targeted by the ambushers. But participants in the funeral were convinced that Gilad, who only two months ago was shot under similar circumstances, but like his father before him managed to reach safety and hospital, was indeed targeted.

The funeral procession for Zar began yesterday with a demonstration outside the Prime Minister’s Office, continued to Itamar, the settlement he founded, and then to not far from the scene of the murder, just below the three-story mansion his father built nearly 30 years ago at Karnei Shomron, and from which he runs his land dealing operation.

At one point, near Itamar, an exchange of fire between Palestinians from a nearby village and IDF troops in the area prevented the convoy from continuing.

At each stop on the way, eulogists spoke of Gilad Zar’s selfless work on behalf of the settlement community – and lashed out at the government. Moshe Zar was heard asking “where’s Arik Sharon, my personal friend. Is he afraid to show his face?”

Three of the most hardline ministers in the government, Tzipi Livni, Avigdor Lieberman and Rehavam Ze’evi all spoke on behalf of the government. Livni was shouted down by settlers, with Gilad’s sister Anat Cohen, a prominent Hebron Jewish community activist, grabbing the microphone from the minister and shouting “You have tanks and planes. Start fighting and stop talking.”

Both Ze’evi and Lieberman warned that “revenge is not a private affair,” apparently conscious of the emotional turmoil in the angry crowd, which drew thousands of Gush Emunim supporters from throughout the territories. But they, too, were shouted at by the crowd. Lieberman said “we can’t go on eulogizing the fallen” and asked “forgiveness from the family, the friends and all here at the funeral. We tried and aren’t succeeding.”

When Ze’evi warned that “revenge is not a private affair,” calls of “traitor” and “resign” came from the crowd.

National Religious Party MK Shaul Yahalom, one of Gush Emunim’s first generation, explicitly called on the government “to avenge the murder, cease the cease-fire and kill the murderers.”

Rabbi Moshe Levinger, a friend of Moshe Zar’s for more than three decades, and his in-law through the marriage of their children, called for the immediate establishment of 10 settlements new settlements. Daniella Weiss, of the Yesha Council of Settlements, said “it’s time to face it: We are at war and should rid the country of all of the enemy.”

Gilad’s wife, Hagar, told television reporters that her husband “died for the nation.”

Zar’s murder yesterday prompted rioting in the Jewish sector in Hebron, with Jewish settlers attacking Arab pedestrians and fighting IDF troops who tried to prevent the settlers from taking the fight into Arab Hebron.

Gilad Zar, like his father, rarely spoke to the press, but after he survived the last ambush against him, he told reporters that “we have to put (the Arabs) on their knees, send them back in time 15 years and make them grateful every day for us letting them work for us.” He said that “us pleading with them for peace and a cease-fire is abnormal … the right way is to create a different situation in which they beg us for a cease-fire.”

In addition to his wife, he left eight children, the oldest 15, and the youngest a few months old

 

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General Itamar News Memorial Page Our Heroes

Arieh Arnaldo Leon Agranionic

from Jerusalem Post:
Guard killed by terrorists at isolated farm

By Margot Dudkevitch (May 9) – Arieh Arnaldo Leon Agranionic was murdered by terrorists early yesterday morning as he guarded the Binyamin farm, a lonely outpost on an isolated hilltop 7.5 kilometers east of Itamar in Samaria. width=

After shooting Agranionic, 48, at close range with Kalashnikov rifles, the terrorists stole his M-16 rifle and fled on foot to a waiting vehicle, which drove off in the direction of nearby Khirbet Yinon. A security patrol from Itamar discovered his body and notified the authorities.

A group, called the Hassan Kadi Brigade, said to be politically close to Fatah, claimed responsibility for the murder, saying it was in revenge for the death of Hassan Ka width=di last week in Ramallah.

Security forces are focusing the investigation on intelligence, noting that it is difficult to determine the time of murder because no one heard the gunshots. Trackers detected the terrorists’ footprints heading southeast for several hundred meters up to the spot where a car apparently picked them up.

Yesterday morning, residents from the surrounding Jewish communities demonstrated at the Tapuah junction and attempted to prevent Palestinian vehicles from using the road.

Security officials declared that the farm was illegal and noted that the civil administration had recently issued an order to stop construction at the site.

Itamar residents denied the site was illegal, saying that an agreement had been reached between the Council of Jewish Communities in Judea, Samaria, and Gaza and the authorities that no additional caravans would be placed at the site, which can only be used as a farm.

Security officials are also planning to investigate why Agranionic was on guard duty alone. When asked why no one was with him, Itamar security chief Yossi Levite, who discovered Agranionic’s body, asked: “Would you volunteer to guard here?”

Agranionic was buried yesterday afternoon in the cemetery in Yitzhar. The funeral cortege left Ma’aleh Yisrael, where he had lived with his son Oren, 23, until two weeks ago, when he moved to the hilltop which he had planned to fence in and establish a farm.

Oren, the oldest of three children, said his father’s dream had been to set up a farm with chickens, dogs, and horses. Agranionic’s ex-wife Tzipora lives with their daughter Orian, 11, in Barkan. A third child, Dudu, 20, is in the army.

“At the age of 22, my father immigrated from Brazil, and married in 1976,” Oren said. “In 1978, he was the first person to move to Ariel and became the first guard there. When the community began to flourish, my father decided to move to a more isolated spot in Samaria. He yearned for the peace and quiet. We moved to Ma’aleh Yisrael and he moved to the hilltop two weeks ago. His goal was to ensure that the land remained in Jewish hands.”

Oren noted that his father sometimes guarded alone and sometimes with others. “He was one of a rare breed, known as the anonymous team of guards, who volunteer to patrol and guard the areas armed with their own personal weapons and driving their own vehicles. I will carry out my father’s dream and build the biggest farm in the entire area on that hilltop,” he said.

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About Us General Tour Itamar

Life on Itamar by Leah Goldsmith (written in 2000)

Yishuv Itamar is located in the Gav Hahar region, or literally, “the Hump of the Mountain”. It is hill country, tremendously big, picturesque and mysterious, varied with long and wide valleys who resemble a mosaic coat of many colors ranging from pea to deep jade greens and chestnut browns in the winter and spring months. In the summertime the colors are dry, like the colors of Rebbeca’s jug, in which she served Eliezer and the camels in Babylon. There are springs and wells in the hills. The bounty stemming from the blessing given to Joesph….”The blessings of the father are potent above the blessings of my progenitors to the utmost bounds of the everlasting hills”(Vayechi 49). The tribunal portions of Ephraim and Menashe, the sons of Joseph run across these highlands. In every direction that one looks, the views are emanated with authentic biblical greatness and Jewish nobility. This is the chief feature of the landscape, of your life in it, and you are struck by the feeling of having lived here in the past. When we made aliyah to Itamar 15 years ago by Divine Providence, a strong vibe pervaded the air- here I am, where I ought to be. Gav Hahar is crowned by two noble peaks that rise 3,000 feet above the surrounding country, the mountains of the Blessing and the Curse- Har Gerizzim and Har Eval. They sometimes resemble twin Mount Sinais simmering in a purple Holy haze of splendor, the gray, jagged rocks breaking through on the Eval sid width=e, and majestic forests waving on the Gerizzim. You cannot imagine why G-d created these mountains for any reason in the world than just to be the gate, the very shoulders of the Land of Israel, with Shechem (literally-shoulder) resting in the valley. In the winter, the winds blow incessantly here. They strike the sides of the mountains and hills and blow against the windowpanes of our homes. Sometimes the houses shudder from it. The clouds, which travel with the wind, release the blessings of the dew and the bounty, the blessings of Joseph. Huge droplets of rain pour down the little streets of the yishuv and form little temporary streams and pools. The sky can become very gray and dark with a range of gray clouds and you remember Noach sheltering his family in the ark. In fact, the most rain falls in these parts. That is the way it usually is, when the blessings are given. When Joseph was thrown again into the pit, the skies suddenly cleared and the grounds await It is a drought year. But, even so, the fields are full of scarlet poppies and blue pansies. The deer run free in these parts and skip from hill to dale. Interestingly enough, not many Jews have come to resettle this Land. It is still a hidden place to most. In all Gav Hahar there are no more than 500 families. They are spread upon these ancient mountains, Harey Kedem, sparsely. There are 4 yishuvim, Itamar, Bracha – situated on the mountain of the Blessing, Yitzhar, and Elon Moreh. Each yishuv has a panorama unique to its position on the “hump of the Mountain”. Elon Moreh sloping off to the north and the famous portion of the daughters of Zlofchad, Yitzhar, to the west and a breathtaking view of the Great Sea, Bracha- upon the whole of Gav Hahar, and Itamar to the east, to the Jordan. Before the recent intifada AlAksa, some curious Tel-Avivers would drive out in their 4×4’s to catch the breath of this land that reaches beyond time and space. That has stopped now. We, the local settlers, are inquisitive about any vehicle that is not a bulletproof bus on these roads. At times, life on the yishuv seems like that of a hermit, with the stillness of the night sometimes so out of the ordinary. But, all of the time you can feel the overshadowed existence of the local natives, much like the Canaani, the Perizzi and the Chitti, running parallel with your own but on a completely different plane. You can’t help but wonder, when will this end? The echoes of our ancestors, the echoes of the screams of Joseph call out from the nearby pit, and you can hear “Ode Yoseph Chay”. History and the future whisper in the spring wind. They console. They inspire. It is only a matter of time that Joseph returns. “And you shall dwell in the Land that I gave to your fathers, and you shall be my people, and I will be your G-d”.