Israel News for 1-11-19
Split Highway
Israel officially opened a new highway (4370), northeast of Jerusalem (West Bank) that has a wall running down the middle. One side of the highway is only open to Israeli vehicles and the other side only to Palestinian vehicles. The highway rings around Jerusalem and connects the northern and southern areas of the territories (Judea and Samaria).
Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan called the highway “an example of the ability to create coexistence between Israelis and Palestinian while guarding (against) the existing security challenges.”
The Palestinian Authority said in a statement that the “apartheid” road “poses a challenge to the credibility of the international community. It’s a shame on the international community to see an apartheid regime being established and deepened without doing anything to stop it.”
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Security Updates
Last night security forces arrested members of a terror cell that fired at homes in the town of Migdal Oz in Gush Etzion last week from a nearby Arab village.
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The Military Police Criminal Investigation Division (CID) arrested an IDF platoon commander and four combat soldiers from the IDF’s religious battalion Netzah Yehuda Thursday for allegedly beating two Palestinians who were held in custody.
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Croatia Sale
Israel’s planned $500 million sale of 12 used F16 fighter jets to Croatia will apparently not go through due to US objections. The deal ran into trouble after Washington said that Israel needs to strip off the upgrades that were added to the aircraft after Israel took delivery from the US some 30 years ago. Israel upgraded the jets with sophisticated electronics, which was crucial in Croatia’s decision to buy the planes from Israel rather than from the US. Senior Israeli officials said the country doesn’t hold Croatia responsible for the cancellation as Israel couldn’t manage to get the US approval.
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New Land
Israel has passed legislation to allocate 16,000 dunes of farmland near the Gaza border to Israeli farmers in the area after the IDF clears the land of landmines. The land has remained deserted for years due to landmines planted there decades ago.
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Biblical Visit
Around 450 Israelis made a pilgrimage overnight to a site known as the Tomb of the Seventy Elders on the Hill of Pinchas, located inside the Palestinian Authority-controlled town of Awarta, south of Shechem (Nablus) in Samaria.
According to tradition, the Hill is believed to contain the burial places of a number of biblical figures, including Aaron’s sons, Itamar and Elazar, and Aaron’s grandson, Pinchas (Phineas).
A separate tomb on the Hill of Pinchas is also believed to contain the remains of the Seventy Elders – the judges appointed by Moses in the wilderness to adjudicate disputes, forming a court which would later be known as the Sanhedrin.
IDF forces escorted the group.
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