Wednesday, October 7, 2009

Likud MK's, activists join thousands in Shomron in support of Settlements; Settler leader: Obama, keep your hands off Israel

(Haaretz).Some 3,000 members of Likud, as well as thousands of right-wing supporters gathered on Wednesday in the Shomron National Park in the northern West Bank, to voice their support for further construction in the settlements.

Regional council leader Gershon Mesika, sent a direct message to the U.S. President Barack Obama in his address to the demonstration: "Keep your hands off of Israel, It is outside of your jurisdiction. Netanyahu should stand rock solid to protect his country."

Meanwhile, right-wing MK Danny Danon also passed on a message to Obama in a live interview on CNN and said Israel has no partner for peace, adding that U.S. pressure is causing problems for the Jewish people.Danon also said, that despite Obama's charisma this is not "Hollywood."



More than 70 buses stood outside the park as thousands of settlement supporters congregated in the park's amphitheater to listen to the right-wind speeches in a demonstration headed by Danon.

"We need to remember that our hold on Jerusalem starts here," said Likud MK Tzipi Hatovely, who came to the demonstration with her entire family,"We will demand that the prime minister continue to build in the West Bank," she added.

Some 20 minutes from the Shomron park, in the settlement Revava, MK Danon organized another rally for non-Israeli supporters.

"We don't know what the government's policy on the settlement freeze is," Danon told the participants. "It's obvious that if the policy changes there will be 5,000 people standing here instead of 1,000."