Mordechai Sones
In 1998, Mordechai Sones, a researcher
living in Samaria, began pressing the Netanyahu government to avert the
danger through public talks, Internet updates, and media appearances in
Israel and the US (Ma'ariv, Nadav HaEtzni's show on
Reshet Bet radio, Arutz 7, HaTzofeh, Iton L'Chatchilah, Michael and
Felice Friedson show, and more). Meanwhile, Sones' supporters created
ECYF, a US-based organization to help out.
By December 1998, Sones uncovered
special training and equipment that may be used in an overnight first
strike against scores of Yishuvim (settlements). His expose of
PA armored vehicles made it into Israel's mainstream press, provoking a
partial IDF admission of his charges (Ma’ariv, December 19,
1998).
Sones also empowered Yesha
(acronym for Judea, Samaria and Gaza) residents to question IDF
officials and keep track of their responses. For example, when Yesha
residents reported frequent PA night attack training exercises to IDF
officials, the officials claimed that "weddings" caused the gunfire.
This pattern of inaccurate denials continues. Apparently, the IDF is
either badly misinformed or concealing a policy of abandonment. Either
way, government policy endangers Yesha's survival.
Sones' awareness campaign has four
methods:
-
Uncover more facts about PA
preparations for war;
-
Uncover more facts about the
inadequacy of the IDF's response;
-
Identify legal steps Yesha residents
can take on their own to improve their odds;
-
Draft legislation to enable Israelis
to debate and change policy.
