DINA SHALIT

Often, I have the privilege of showing this city, the largest Jewish community in Samaria, that I have watched grow out of barren hills, to Israeli and foreign visitors. With my husband and our three children, I made Aliyah from Canada directly to Ariel in early 1983. When Israelis talk of pioneering, they often use the phrase livnot u’l’hibanot, to build and to be built. For us, no description could be more apt.

Ariel’s roots go back to 1973, when Defense Minister Moshe Dayan called on the young people of Israel to become more involved in the defense and settlement of Eretz Yisrael. (As former Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu often says, the two are intertwined, for the borders of Israel will only include the land where Jews live.) A group of young men, employees of the Israel Military Industries decided to answer Dayan’s challenge. They formed a “garin”, a core group of people who would become the first settlers in Ariel. The Yom Kippur War that broke out later that year caused the “garin” to disband temporarily. When it reformed, its members made a decision that turned out to be critical: they decided they would wait for government permission so that no one could ever say that Ariel was an illegal settlement.

In 1978, two tents were dropped by helicopter onto the rocky barren hilltop. Later 40 families, led by our present mayor, Ron Nachman, took up residence on this incredibly difficult terrain. When our family first came to Ariel five years later, there were still only 61 permanent homes, the first permanent Jewish homes to be built in Samaria in thousands of years: the rest was temporary housing. An elementary school had just been built and there was a grocery store. That’s it. I remember telling my children that living in the 400 square feet of our temporary quarters, together with all our furniture, would be a wonderful adventure.

It wasn’t really so wonderful. It was very hard that first year, but we were sustained by knowing we were establishing a Jewish presence in a vital strategic area and contributing to the security of the Jewish homeland. That’s a pretty big bonus.

Today, Ariel is home to over 18,000 residents, 25 pre-schools, 4 elementary schools, 3 junior high school and a comprehensive regional high school. We also house Israel’s newest university, until recently known as the College of Judea & Samaria, now upgraded to a university center that will carry our city’s name: Ariel University Center of Samaria. Ariel has several shopping areas, three supermarkets and an indoor mall. There are two industrial areas that abut our city limits, a large regional industrial park and a growing municipal industrial area, together employing some 7,000 people. We have a beautiful resort hotel, the only one in Samaria, a miniature golf course, a center for child development, a community center and municipal library, two centers for senior citizens and a day care senior center for those who need extra help. We have a sheltered workshop, a senior village and 14 synagogues.

In celebration of our 30th year, Ariel will soon open a new central park, a brand new Sports & Recreation complex, a one-of-a-kind-for-Israel Challenge Park for youth and hopefully, our currently under construction Center for the Performing Arts.

For me personally, our most important achievement was in doubling our population during the nineties. We welcomed and absorbed and found jobs for over 9,000 immigrants from the former Soviet Union. We have just been included in the Ministry of Absorption’s Community Aliyah Project and are working with the Jewish Agency, Nefesh B’Nefesh and Tehilla to make Ariel an option for American immigrants.

Not surprisingly, Ariel has not wholly escaped Arab terror. There were three suicide bombings in 2002 at the outskirts of Ariel, in which three soldiers and two young civilians were killed. Perhaps even more traumatic were our losses in terrorist attacks that took place elsewhere. In March 2002, two new immigrants to Ariel, Vadim Balagula and Sergei Butrov were murdered in a terrorist sniper attack when they drove through an army checkpoint near Jerusalem. And in late November 2002, an Ariel family was in a hotel in Mombasa, preparing to take their three children on safari. For the boys, Noy and Dvir Anter, aged 12 and 13, this was to be a Bar-Mitzvah celebration. When a truck packed with explosives plowed into the thatched expanse that served as the hotel lobby Noy and Dvir were killed instantly. There is an annual memorial in the junior high school the Anter boys attended.

Although our mayor Ron Nachman initially opposed the entire concept of the security fence, once it was clear that Prime Minister Sharon was determined to proceed, Nachman fought to have Ariel on the inside (west of) the fence. Today the fence around Ariel is almost complete. Driving alongside it is heartbreaking, for though being inside the fence provides us with a greater sense of optimism that the government does not intend to abandon us, it is hard to look over the fence and see the rooftops of Tapuach, Har Bracha, Eli and Shilo – just to name a few communities – and know that their right to their homes, no less legitimate than ours, is being challenged by our own government.

We in Ariel have absorbed a portion of the residents who were expelled from Netzarim two years ago. We have watched their pain and their dignity in the face of the hateful “disengagement.” They are still traumatized by the treacherous act committed by Israel’s leadership. No Israeli community should have to face a threat of this kind again.

Dina Shalit is assistant to the mayor of Ariel.