Ahead of this week's visit by US President Joe Biden, the Israeli government has taken steps to pacify Washington by refraining from unilateral moves in Judea and Samaria.

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As reported by JNS, a scheduled July 18 discussion by the Civil Administration's higher planning council towards the approval of the construction of nearly 3,500 units in the E1 corridor was postponed until September.

No one knows for sure what Biden has up his sleeve in terms of restarting peace talks, but there is concern in Israel that he may demand concessions from Israel during his visit.

Nadia Matar, co-chair of the Sovereignty Movement along with Yehudit Katsover, called upon Israel's leadership not to give in to any demands or make concessions that will harm the state.

"It is worrisome that simultaneously we have a weak Israeli leadership in transition, together with a progressive American administration. Nevertheless, we must stand strong," said Matar.

The key, she said, was sovereignty.

Israel's upcoming elections are an opportunity "to once and for all demand sovereignty [in Judea and Samaria]. The only reason the Land of Israel is put on the negotiating table is because there is no sovereignty," she stated.

What really matters is what policy Israel's leaders choose, she concluded, quoting Israel's first prime minister, David Ben-Gurion, who said: "What matters is not what the Gentiles will say, but what the Jews will do."

In line with this, the Sovereignty Movement, along with Regavim, Ad Kan, Israel's Defense and Security Forum, Im Tirzu and the Zionist Organization of America, have launched a campaign calling on Prime Minister Lapid not to make concessions during Biden's visit.

As part of the campaign, this past Friday Matar and Katsover, along with Meir Deutsch, director of Regavim, published an open letter to Lapid in Haaretz's Hebrew and English editions, saying: "During the visit, it is anticipated that the American president will try to exert pressures to advance his vision of dividing Israel and establishing a Palestinian state in its heart. However, you have the obligation to block moves of this kind, which encourage terror, endanger the future of the state [and] undermine stability in the Middle East, which is why the overwhelming majority of the people in Israel oppose them."

The letter also took issue with Biden's planned visit to a hospital in eastern Jerusalem this Friday without an Israeli presence, calling it "a violation of Israeli and American law, [and] a violation of Israel's dignity and sovereignty."

The planned visit, the letter continues, "provides an indication of the direction the visit will take: to exert pressure on Israel's decision-makers, most especially you, Mr. Prime Minister, to make painful concessions that will endanger Israel's future."

Efrat Mayor Oded Revivi said that he met with State Department officials in Washington just a few weeks ago before Prime Minister Naftali Bennett's government fell. He had commented to his hosts, he said, that it was surprising that Biden was going through with the planned visit despite the uncertainty over who the Israeli prime minister receiving him would be.

"The answer I was given," said Revivi, is that "the relationship between the two countries is so strong that it doesn't really matter who the prime minister is, it's all about people to people."

However, now that Bennett's government has fallen and Biden will be meeting with caretaker Prime Minister Lapid, "it's definitely questionable what he can achieve through this visit," he added.

"I hope he [Biden] will realize that the reality has changed since the last time he was here—namely that peace can grow from the bottom up, and not necessarily from top-down agreements," he said.

"I hope the president won't try to impose plans which the Israeli government won't necessarily have the ability to carry out afterward," he concluded.

Binyamin Regional Council chairman Israel Ganz said that "Judea and Samaria, as a part of the State of Israel, warmly welcome every US president who comes to visit. This is part of a sacred bond between the Jewish people and American people, and between Israel and the United States."

Ganz added however that "with Judea and Samaria at the heart of the debate between us, it's only fitting that the president should come and talk to us and not about us. This isn't an issue of having the proper etiquette, this is something I would expect from those who want to make a real difference and find a solution."

Should Biden visit, he said, "I would show him our projects towards enhancing the quality of life for all peoples in my region. He can help make a difference."

"Instead of pomp and circumstance," said Ganz, "The president and I can encourage and improve the shared roads we have with our neighbors, provide medical services, and safeguard the environment."

At the same time, Gedaliah Blum, who lives in Eli and is the founder of a number of economic initiatives which strengthen Judea, Samaria, and the Jordan Valley, downplayed the Biden visit.

"This is really a diplomatic photo-op," he said. "Biden is essentially a lame-duck president, whose own party is looking to replace him in the next US election, while Lapid is just keeping the prime minister's chair warm until Israel's [November 1] election."

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He added, however, that "Lapid is going to play this up as much as possible, because this could be a legacy moment for him."

Blum isn't concerned about talk between the leaders surrounding a potential Palestinian state.

"The Jews in Judea and Samaria are a reality in this area—we are growing, thriving and living, and building businesses, and so I have absolutely no concern over anything Biden might bring to the table," he said.

Reprinted with permission from JNS.org.

The post Judea and Samaria leaders weigh in on Biden's visit appeared first on www.israelhayom.com.

The Israeli government seems to be starting to fall in line with a request by Washington not to take any "provocative measures" in Judea and Samaria ahead of the July 13 visit by US President Joe Biden to the Jewish state.

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The Regavim movement said that a scheduled July 18 discussion by the Civil Administration's higher planning council towards the approval of the construction of nearly 3,500 homes in the E1 area, which would connect the Maale Adumim to Jerusalem, was taken off the agenda on Monday and postponed to a September session. The subject of E1 was also pulled from the committee's order of business back in February.

Construction in the E1 area, which stretches across 4 miles just east of the Jerusalem municipal boundary, is controversial as the Palestinians claim it is essential for their future state, arguing that any Israeli construction there would jeopardize the future Palestinian state's territorial integrity.

However, at the same time, it remains to be seen what the Israeli government will do in regard to a High Court of Justice order that it must report on its plans to relocate the Bedouin living in the illegal E1 encampment known as Khan al-Ahmar, alongside Highway 1 between Jerusalem and the Dead Sea. That order is, in fact, set for the exact date the president is set to touchdown at Ben-Gurion International Airport.

Israel's High Court has ruled on six separate occasions that Khan al-Ahmar must be evacuated, as it was constructed illegally on land belonging to the nearby community of Kfar Adumim.

The current situation on the ground in E1, including the geopolitical and security aspects of Israel's building plan there and its implications, was the subject of a press tour this week, run by Media Central in conjunction with Regavim.

All governments starting with the Rabin administration in the 1990s have expressed the importance of preventing Jerusalem's isolation from the east through strategic building in E1.

However, Naomi Kahn, director of the International Division of Regavim, said that "for far too long, Israeli governments have cowered under the pressure exerted by our so-called allies, signatories and witnesses, and supposed champions of the Oslo framework. Rather than taking advantage of the new-old understanding that is dawning on European governments that territorial jurisdiction is vital for the security and sovereignty of democracies, the government of Israel is once again backing away from taking the necessary steps to protect our vital interests – steps that it has both the right, the means and the mandate to take without delay."

'Pawns in a political game'

At a lookout point in Ma'ale Adumim, Rafael Engel, deputy head of the Binyamin Regional Council, told the group that "the only location in this area that is not covered in dense construction is E1. And it's the only remaining corridor between Jerusalem and our eastern border."

He said that "if we don't want Israel's capital to be cut off, then building in E1 fulfills that strategic need."

Pointing towards the tall but visibly vacant apartment buildings in the nearby Arab village of al-Eizariya, which is located in Area B (Israeli military and Palestinian Authority civilian control), Engel said that the buildings were empty, as the PA leadership doesn't allow Arabs to move in, but rather encourages them to build illegal shanty towns outward from the village into Area C in order to take over more strategic swaths of land.

"These people are pawns in a political game," he said. "The municipality must let them move into the legal areas of the town."

That political game, noted Kahn, is the reason that Khan al-Ahmar has become the symbol of the PA's 2009 "Fayad Plan," a strategic building initiative illegally supported through millions of euros by the European Union and EU nations, to create a de facto Palestinian State in Area C, which is currently under full Israeli control without the need for negotiations as stipulated in previous agreements.

Kahn elaborated, saying "the PA 'incentivizes' population transfer into Area C through direct payments, stipends, scholarships and tuition waivers; waivers for licensing fees; and more. The goal of this population transfer is to shift the demographic balance in Area C, particularly in areas around Jerusalem."

She added that "these efforts have created an impossible living situation and a pressure-cooker effect that harms the Arab residents of these areas, uses them as political pawns and exacerbates the conflict rather than resolving it."

He said that "if we don't want Israel's capital to be cut off, then building in E1 fulfills that strategic need."

Pointing towards the tall but visibly vacant apartment buildings in the nearby Arab village of al-Eizariya, which is located in Area B (Israeli military and Palestinian Authority civilian control), Engel said that the buildings were empty, as the PA leadership doesn't allow Arabs to move in, but rather encourages them to build illegal shanty towns outward from the village into Area C in order to take over more strategic swaths of land.

"These people are pawns in a political game," he said. "The municipality must let them move into the legal areas of the town."

That political game, noted Kahn, is the reason that Khan al-Ahmar has become the symbol of the PA's 2009 "Fayad Plan," a strategic building initiative illegally supported through millions of euros by the European Union and EU nations, to create a de facto Palestinian State in Area C, which is currently under full Israeli control without the need for negotiations as stipulated in previous agreements.

Kahn elaborated, saying "the PA 'incentivizes' population transfer into Area C through direct payments, stipends, scholarships and tuition waivers; waivers for licensing fees; and more. The goal of this population transfer is to shift the demographic balance in Area C, particularly in areas around Jerusalem."

She added that "these efforts have created an impossible living situation and a pressure-cooker effect that harms the Arab residents of these areas, uses them as political pawns and exacerbates the conflict rather than resolving it."

'This is our land'

On a hilltop overlooking Khan al-Ahmar, Boaz Ido, head of the Jerusalem Environs Forum – an umbrella organization representing Jewish communities in the area – stated that "the Bedouin here are my neighbors. I live with water, electricity and sewage, and they live with nothing. They live in substandard conditions. We, the communities in the area, are trying to change that. For 10 years, we have tried to be good neighbors to them."

However, Ido pointed out that while the government has offered various alternative housing sites for the residents of Khan al-Ahmar, "the problem is the PA won't let them leave."

He added, "If they [the residents] were honest with you, they would admit that they want to start a new life with better living conditions."

Ido said that "this whole issue could be solved if they were able to move to one of the approved alternate sites, including near the village of Abu Dis, just outside Jerusalem."

But the Israeli government is not blameless, said Ido, for failing to uphold the ruling of the courts. "They are afraid of the whole world, including the United States. I don't understand why, I really don't know," he lamented.

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A visit with local council member and Mayor of al-Eizariya Muhammad Khalil Abu al-Rish and some of his staff members provided a completely different picture. Abu al-Rish accused Israel of "limiting the borders of our town. We can't expand to accommodate our increasing population," he said.

On a hilltop inside al-Eizariya overlooking the E1 corridor, the mayor said that he is completely against Israel's E1 project since his proposed 2,500-dunam expansion proposal into Area C – as part of a 3,600-dunam master plan for his town – would extend into the very area Israel wants to build on. That proposal has not received approval.

"We are still waiting for a positive answer, so I hope E1 isn't approved. This is our land," he said. "It's almost as if we are asking them [Israel] to give back some of our land."

Reprinted with permission from JNS.org.

The post Fate of E1 construction plan postponed as Israel gears up for Biden visit appeared first on www.israelhayom.com.

Situated more than 50 feet underground in a brand-new, state-of-the-art facility in the central Israeli city of Ramla is the Jewish state's version of Fort Knox.

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While the vault at Fort Knox in Kentucky is used to store gold, the Israeli version, a 3,230 square foot safe room, was constructed as a blood storage vault. It will house Israel's strategic inventory of 25,000 blood components, safeguarding it in times of war.

The vault is a key part of Magen David Adom's (MDA) new Marcus National Blood Services Center, the world's first subterranean, shielded blood bank and processing center, designed to protect Israel's strategic blood reserves from missile, chemical and biological attack, as well as from earthquakes.

At a cost of $135 million, funded primarily by American Friends of Magen David Adom (AFMDA), the blood services center is to be inaugurated this week in the presence of distinguished guests and donors from Israel and abroad, and is planned to be fully operational by the end of the year.

The facility was designed and built in cooperation with the Prime Minister's Office, the Israeli Defense Ministry, Israel Defense Forces and the National Cyber Security Authority. The shielded area, which includes extra-thick concrete walls, blast doors and airlocks, as well as biological and chemical protection, extends across three subterranean floors.

The current national blood services facility in Ramat Gan was built in the 1980s and is not large enough to meet the demands of Israel's growing population or the country's needs in times of war. In the past, during rocket attacks, MDA has had to cease processing blood and move the country's blood reserves into a bomb shelter, interrupting blood production at a time when it might be needed most.

During a press tour of the building last week, professor Eilat Shinar, director of MDA's National Blood Services Division, said that "the new blood services center is really a dream come true for us. It's an important step for the safety of Israel's blood supply."

She shared that MDA works "from vein to vein" as hospitals in Israel receive 97% of their blood supplies from MDA, while the IDF relies exclusively on MDA for 100% of its blood supply.

Shinar said that the new facility "will allow us to provide increased blood services, with excellent quality, and in a very cutting edge, modern facility, that will enable us to accommodate the country for the next 20-30 years."

According to Shinar, the current blood services center processes around 270,000 units of blood per year, which she said would not be sufficient given Israel's population growth. Through the use of advanced technologies and an automated laboratory blood testing system, she said the new facility will be able to produce double that amount.

At the same time, Shinar added, "It's only a matter of time before the current blood services center is hit [by a missile]. We've seen that they [the terrorists] can hit Tel Aviv."

Industrial and mechanical engineer Moshe Noyovitch, a senior AFMDA representative who oversaw the establishment of the center from its conception, led the group on a tour of the three underground floors.

With the vault on the lowest level, the second underground floor houses the Cord Blood Inventory, an R&D molecular lab and a chemical and biological warfare air-filtration system that enables all staff throughout the building to continue working and processing blood in the event of a chemical or biological attack. The first (uppermost) underground floor houses shielded blood bank laboratories, a transportation center and secure fleet parking, where all new ambulances will be equipped.

To ensure the highest levels of protection, and continuity of operations in war scenarios, every critical system has a secondary system, including two ramps leading into the underground floors, four sets of elevators and four generators.

Noyovitch said that the facility's construction, which has been in the works since 2017, was a unique project and one of the most challenging engineering endeavors he has ever been a part of.

"Our focus involved three main parameters: capacity – to be able to process 500,000 blood units [annually], and during a scenario involving war we need to be able to produce 3,300 units daily, up from 1,000 units during normal times.

"Secondly, the facility needed to meet the [World Health Organization] WHO blood-bank guidelines, so we studied other facilities, and adhered to the most up-to-date guidelines, and our facility is extremely modern in terms of technology and the process of blood collection and distribution.

"Thirdly is our ability to shield and protect [the facility]. We worked in collaboration with the National Security Council, the Home Front Command and many other agencies, because this is dubbed a 'strategic facility' by the government. We must be protected against conventional and unconventional threats [chemical and biological], earthquakes and even cyber threats … So while it's a civilian facility, it's an extremely protected one."

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So how was Magen David Adom successful in raising the massive amount of funding for the new facility?

"Blood is life," Catherine Reed, CEO of American Friends of Magen David Adom, said.

"I think for our donors this is something they could feel and touch and understand, because this building is critical for the people of Israel, and it is a strategic asset for the State of Israel, because without blood you can't save people's lives," she said.

"Whether it's a patient being treated with chemotherapy, someone getting stem cell treatment, or obviously a terrorist attack or a war, we need to take care of Israel's citizens and of course the soldiers, so for our donors this building has so much emotion tied into it," she added.

The center bears the name of Bernie Marcus, the founder of Home Depot, and his wife, Billi. The American philanthropists donated $35 million to the project. Other prominent donors include Bloomberg Philanthropies, the charitable foundation of former New York Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg; Miriam and the late Sheldon Adelson; and the Leona M. & Harry B. Helmsley Charitable Trust.

Reprinted with permission from JNS.org.

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