Major General (Ret.) Uzi Dayan and Colonel (Ret.) Omer Bar-Lev, were reunited earlier this month at a meeting with the International Committee for Har Hazeitim (ICHH), an advocacy group promoting the development of the ancient Jewish cemetery on the Mount of Olives and upgrading its security.
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The meeting was organized by Shalom Lerner, the ICHH's Executive Director, with topics focusing on security. Bar-Lev, as the public security minister, hosted the group in his office.
"At the meeting, the ICHH raised the need for increased security on the 3000-year-old cemetery and holy site and particularly focused on the soon-to-be-built Visitor Education Center, which will include a state-of-the-art police station. Representing the ICHH were Mr. Lerner and Dayan, who is a prominent member of the Israel Board of the ICHH," the advocacy group said in a statement. "The two former high-ranking officers shared the opinion that the center will be one of the most important buildings to be built in that area in centuries," the statement continued.
According to the group, the security at the site could be "be greatly enhanced" if it sees many more visitors. Bar-Lev was the commander of the Sayeret Matkal elite commando unit between 1984 and 1987. He reported directly to Maj. General Uzi Dayan, who is a nephew of the late Israeli politician and military hero Moshe Dayan.
Dayan served in Sayeret Matkal from 1966 to 2002 and subsequently became the commander of the unit. In addition, he was the head of the IDF's Central Command, Deputy Chief of Staff, and headed the Israeli National Security Council (2000–2002). He was until recently a member of the Knesset for the Likud party.
Following the meeting, Bar-Lev said, "I met today with my former commander Uzi Dayan and with Shalom Lerner, the executive director of the International Committee for Har Hazeitim (ICHH). They briefed me on the security situation and their plans to build a visitor center." He also said that the participants of the meeting "agreed that once the center goes up we will work together to assure the safety of the expected large number of visitors."
In summarizing the meeting, Mr. Lerner said that "once again we see that the site lies within the consensus and unites leaders of both sides of the political divide – Left and Right."
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