In Defense Of Hilltop Youth

Originally posted on Jerusalem Post Jul. 12, 2004 18:15 | Updated Jul. 14, 2004 19:04

By Moshe Dann

Settling on empty hilltops in Judea and Samaria has upset the Israeli government, sent shock waves through society and even touched a raw nerve in the settlement movement itself.

Hilltop settlement raises critical questions: Where is it legitimate for Jews to live? If the hilltops and outposts are illegal, what makes anything legal?

The government contends that this is a matter of "respect for the law." What law? If the outposts are illegal, why not prosecute the government ministries and local councils that assisted building them? And Bezek for providing phone lines? And companies that built roads, and banks that financed them?

To whom does this land belong?

As part of the road map Israel agreed to dismantle illegal outposts built after 2001, on condition that Palestinian terrorism stopped. The terror continued; but under heavy international pressure the Sharon government began the eviction process anyway.

The hilltop communities are considered illegal because they have not received government approval. They have received assistance, however, from local community councils and various ministries for infrastructure and development, including water, electricity, roads and telephone lines. They are protected by the IDF and by the residents themselves. And each hilltop/outpost protects the core settlement.

Adjacent to or extensions of already well-established communities, these outposts are all built on uninhabited state-owned land or on privately-owned Jewish property. No Arab-owned lands are involved.

Meanwhile, according to government statistics, Arabs have built tens of thousands of homes illegally and cultivated land they don't legally own throughout Judea, Samaria, the Galilee and the Negev. The government has largely ignored this Arab building and, instead, focused on removing Jews from their homes.

In reality, there is little difference between building on hilltops and the process of settlement in other areas throughout Israel.

Before the establishment of the state, Jews often built settlements illegally, without British approval. After the war many kibbutzim and moshavim were given state land (unclaimed) and sometimes even land that was claimed by Arabs. After 1967 many Jewish communities in Judea, Samaria and Gaza were initiated and expanded without (and sometimes against) government authorization.

Despite the renewed Palestinian war of terror, Jews continued to build.

A PRIME example is Migron, the largest hilltop community, a 10-minute drive north of Jerusalem, home to 42 families (and over 200 children). Established four years ago it received assistance from many ministries and, because of its strategic location, from the IDF as well - but it did not get official government permission.

Despite attempts by the media to portray the hilltop people as a bunch of wild youths, they are in fact, mostly young families. A small number of teenagers who live in these communities are simply looking for a place to make a make a meaningful contribution to Israeli society and the Zionist dream, and - like youth anywhere - to discover themselves.

But that search isn't easy. Many have lived through the murder of friends and relatives by Arab terrorists. Some have dropped out of school. Most have adopted a deeply religious life style. No drugs or TV. No playing around. They're not hanging out at malls and discos; they are learning how to make a positive contribution to their society and community.

These young people are serious and, despite being harassed, beaten up and falsely arrested by the police and vilified by the media, their numbers are growing.

It's difficult to estimate exactly how many hilltop youth there are because they usually integrate into the larger community and eventually marry.

Pioneers, messianic idealists, or adolescent rebels - they are the cutting edge of a revolution in Israeli society, living out the dream and commitment of their more established parents. Having rejected the affluence, self-indulgence, and perverse hatred of things Jewish that has infected Israeli society, they are idealists who represent a renewed religious Zionism.

Rooted in a love for the Land of Israel and Torah, these young people have revived a spirit of dedication and self-sacrifice that characterized earlier Zionism and nation-building.

What makes them different from their predecessors (and perhaps problematic) is that they are challenging the Israeli government, not a foreign power.

While many Israelis of their age are going to Asia and South America, taking drugs or going to trance parties, the hilltop youth are building homes and families, working the land, and studying Torah.

For them, "Hatikva" has real meaning. They have bolstered the Jewish claim to our homeland, often at great personal risk. Every outpost is a political obstacle to the creation of a Palestinian state which threatens all of us.

The government can destroy a hilltop outpost, but it can't crush the vision behind it, for ultimately that's why all of us are here.