Deputy Foreign Minister Tzipi Hotevely visited Netiv Avot, the neighborhood in the Gush Etzion region community of Elazar slated for destruction.

Hotevely arrived on Tuesday, 6 Kislev, viewing the memorial in the community for IDF Lt.-Colonel Emanuel Moreno HY�D and commented on the destruction order for a memorial to a fallen officer while there is absolutely no Palestinian claim to the area where it is situated. She added �This act is morally corrupt. Netiv Avot was established in Elazar 13 years ago. The neighborhood was built on state-owned land as were the houses. It was never proven that the allegations they were built on private lands are true. The absurd is that a child�s bed in a child�s room is viewed as being outside the neighborhood while the entire neighborhood was established with permission by the necessary authorities and they are not permitted to continue�.

She commented that such destruction should not occur under the rule of a Likud-led government, especially here where there is nothing linking the land to Palestinian owned. She insists the battle over Netiv Avot is one of a national consensus which believes in the Jewish right to settle the Gush Etzion area.

(YWN � Israel Desk, Jerusalem)