By: Hillel Fendel – Arutz Sheva

As Israel celebrates 61 years of independence, the Jewish towns of Judea and Samaria commemorate 30 years of Regional Councils. Jewish settlement in the Golan, Gaza and Jordan Valley – liberated in the 1967 Six Day War – began in the early 1970’s, with the establishment of 53 new Jewish communities there (compared with 34 in the rest of Israel during this period). Twenty were built in the Golan, 11 in the Jordan Valley, and 14 in Sinai and Gaza. However, no new communities were established in the Shomron or Binyamin mountains, or in southern Judea.

Jewish settlement in the modern Biblical areas of Judea and Samaria began in earnest after 1975, after the Rabin government allowed the establishment of temporary camps in Ofra and Ma’aleh Adumim, and military outposts in Tekoa and Kokhav HaShachar, and, after a long struggle, a civilian outpost in Kadum/Elon Moreh. These, and dozens of others, later became full-fledged communities.

Between 1977 and 1985, 89 new communities were established in the liberated areas. During that period, five Regional Councils were established, grouping towns together in a municipal framework.

The Councils thus established were: Binyamin, north of Jerusalem; Shomron, the entire area of Samaria from just south of Ariel and northward to the Jenin-area towns; Gush Etzion, south of Jerusalem; Southern Hevron Hills, further to the south; and Gaza Coast, known as Gush Katif.

Rabbi Menachem Felix, one of the original pioneers of the Elon Moreh community, told Israel National News, “Until the formation of the Councils, we had been just isolated townlets, with minor legal status, if any. When the Councils were formed, we entered the pattern of the rest of the country. Since then, of course, we have grown tremendously, and the population numbers tell much of the story.”

Population growth in Judea and Samaria continually outpaces that of the rest of the country. In the first half of 2006, for instance, the Jewish population there grew by some 3%, nearly three times higher than that of the rest of Israel.

The population in Judea and Samaria now stands at over 300,000, compared with 130,000 in 1995.

Rabbi Felix admitted that it is “painful for me that after so many years, our status is still in limbo to some extent. There have been some painful withdrawals, but I hope and pray that we will overcome these and continue to grow even stronger.”

No noted that he has “no hesitations about saying the Hallel prayer” of praise and thanksgiving for the establishment of the State of Israel on Independence Day. “But I do have some mixed feelings upon observing our tremendous settlement enterprise. On the one hand, we have merited to turn the Shomron, which was totally empty of Jews, into a thriving area of Jewish life, with tens of thousands of Jews. But I can’t ignore the fact that we are still struggling, and it is not yet self-evident that Jews should live in the heart of their Land, where the first Jew, Abraham, first walked.

“We are still struggling, against enemies from without and also, on a different level, against our own brothers from within. But it has generally been shown that wherever there is true desire, ideals, self-sacrifice and wisdom, the obstacles can be overcome.”