Z-News outof Judea

Brought to you by Zahava Englard of One Israel Fund
On the road again with Marc Prowisor.

Starting out bright and early, I’m on the way down to thesouthern hills of Hevron with Marc Prowisor, chief of security projects forOIF. The jeep Marc drives, it’s back loaded down with a myriad of security andemergency medical supplies, greets the bumps on the road with a dull heavythud. We stop at the Gush Etzion junction just south of Efrat to meet Ofer, thehead of Hatzola Yosh. Marc opens the trunk of his weathered jeep and lugs out abounty of emergency medical kits that OIF acquires thanks to the generousdonations from our supporters..


It is One Israel Fund’s guiding principle to encourage unity and we therefore, work together with other organizations throughout Judea and Samaria. There are no egos involved, no elbowing one or the other for the spotlight; rather, we join forces with other groups to create a greater positive impact. 
There is one goal, which is to keep Judea and Samariaflourishing for the Jewish people. Building and further developing thecommunities along with proper security provisions can accomplish this.
To this end, OneIsrael Fund is dedicated to the safety of all the residents in all of the communitiesthroughout Judea and Samaria and it makes sense to work in conjunction withothers who feel the same way. Hatzolah Yosh, Tatzpit, Regavim are three suchgroups that OIF is proud to work with. It is the perfect prototype of achdut, unity.
Before leaving the junction, we meet an Israeli soldier fromthe Kfir unit working his beat. Marc notices that the shluker/camelback he is outfitted with is oneof ours, the One Israel Fund emblem proudly stamped onto it. “We gave these outa couple of years ago,” Marc says pointing to the smiling soldier’s shluker.“It’s good to see how well they’re holding up.”
We wind our way back up the road to Caliber 3 tucked off theroad northwest of Efrat where Marc speaks with a group of ravshatzim, heads ofemergency response teams in Judea who are there for security training, aproject funded by OIF. Assessments are made as to what type of securityequipment is needed by each response team.
The surveillance equipment we provide is cutting-edge. Withthe information we gather from the response teams in the field, OIF workstogether with our manufacturers in making thenecessary technological revisions. Our suppliers will update equipment andprovide special components, modeling the equipment according to our specific needs.
Subsequently,the IDF has taken notice of what we are doing and the Home-Front Command isinterested in working together with us in securing the civilians of Judea andSamaria.Marc and I continue on highway 60 towards Kiryat Arbah. Westop at the gas station there that houses a small grocery store. I need a quickchocolate fix and Marc needs another coffee. From there we head further southtowards Yatir, a community of over one hundred families that boasts anoutstanding mechina, a pre-military yeshiva headed by Rav Moshe Hagerlow, aformer Division Commander in the IDF. At the mechina, his students are highlymotivated with love of the land and social activism. They regularly do farmwork and gardening in the community as well as volunteering to help anotherlocal farmer in the area, a widow by the name of Dalya Har Sinai, whose husbandwas killed by Arab terrorists. Despite ongoing threats, she is staying put andOIF protecting her is a big reason why.  In addition, the students volunteer in Sderotand in hospitals.
At Yatir, we also meet with Shai, the director of themechina who informs us that they badly need an exercise room for the studentswho wish to train before their army service. Many of these young men strive toserve in elite units. We’re told of three brothers who graduated from themechina, each of them going on to become pilots. Shai shows us around, and wemeet several students working in the kitchen, mostly city kids who are nowexperiencing a hands-on approach in connecting to the land, thanks to Yatir’smechina.
We wind our way outside and up a metal staircase bringing usto a look out point that affords us a stunning panoramic view of thesurrounding hills with the village of Sussia in the distance as well as the Carmelwinery. Shai asks for One Israel Fund’s help in providing the funds toward theexercise room. He also tells us that Yatir’s ambulance is lacking some crucialequipment.
Marc instructs Shai to make a list of what he needs beforewe continue to the southern Hevron city council to meet Dan, the RegionalDirector of security in the Hevron Hills. He’s been waiting there for us tobring the shopping listof security equipment that each of the ravshatzim in the area requested fortheir response teams. It was getting late in the day, when Dan joins us andfurther discusses the type of security equipment that he requires. “Don’t sayanother word,” Marc tells him. “I know just what you need”. He follows us tothe jeep and Marc shows him one of the latest state of the art minisurveillance cameras. Chanukah may be over, but Dan’s eyes widen, excited withthis latest gift from OIF to add to his security arsenal.
In our travels, we discover a surprisingly large andsuccessful cosmetics manufacturer who not only is a major exporter but he isthe third generation of his family in the area and he employs Jews as well asArabs to work in his factory. Marc and I walk through this wonderful find,uplifted by the living example of coexistence in the southern Hevron hills.
All in all, a good productive day.
The sun is just about to set when we head back home, passingby several Jewish communities along the way − most of them, secular whilesome are mixed.  I indulge myself in anap as Marc drives north.  About a halfhour later, he drops me off in Efrat and continues home to Shilo with an entirenew list of requirements and security assessments for the Judea region.
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