Director of American Friends of Kedumim speaks in Cleveland
February 17, 1998


	"We, much more than the negotiators will determine the future of 
Israel", says Raphaella Segal, director of the Israel branch of American 
Friends of Kedumim. In a speech sponsored by the Cleveland chapter of 
Betar, and Cleveland State Tagar Mrs. Segal related her experiences on 
February 17th at Heights Jewish Center synagogue.

	Many people know about the Oslo Accords that give the Palestine 
Liberation Organization control of Jewish lands in exchange for a promise 
of peace and an end to their terrorism (neither of which has happened), 
but not many people know the story from the point of view of those Jews 
who live in the lands to be given away.

	Raphaella Segal has a unique perspective. A mother of nine, she 
was among the founders of Kedumim in 1975. Kedumim is the first town to 
be re-established in Yehuda and Shomron since its liberation in 1967 in 
the Six Day War. Jews were not aloud to live in those areas after the war, 
but only permitted to visit for less than twenty-four hours at a time. The 
first pioneers of Kedumim had to struggle just to set up small pre-fab 
housing for a few families.
	"No one believed it would last", related Mrs. Segal. Today however, 
where there once was barren hilltops now exists a thriving town of 3,000 
residents with self-sufficient schools and factories. 

	Kedumim was only the first. All throughout Yehuda and Shomron 
sprang up re-established versions of ancient Jewish communities.

	Today, with the Oslo Accords in effect, any land without a Jewish 
presence is at risk of being handed over to the control of the PLO.

	Mrs. Segal believes that "it is our presence, much more than the 
negotiators that will determine the final status agreements."

	It might not seem important, but when looking at the map of which 
areas are now under PLO control, the areas with large Jewish communities 
are excluded. 

	When Kedumim was re-established, a second community was set up 
further north of the first one. This is not the usual way a town develops 
but it must be done this way so more of the community can be built in 
between so as to populate more area. Today Kedumim is expanding even 
more to five surrounding hilltops. Once these hilltops can be populated, 
the community can grow inside to fill in the whole area. In a way, it's 
a kind of battle for the land of Israel, but fought with houses and 
children rather than bullets. 

	When the Jewish National Fund was founded in the late 1800s, it's 
mission was to purchase as much land in Israel as possible so as to lay 
claim to it when politicians debated who would get it. Today, in the 
hundredth anniversary of the first Zionist Congress, the same struggle 
continues.

	For more information visit 
the Kedumim web site.