November, 2010
It was an absolute pleasure to host the Republican Jewish Coalition and American Friends of Likud in Ariel on November 14th.
The visit began at the Ariel Regional Center for the Performing Arts. The group was briefed about the political attention that the ARCPA, as well as the fact that the City of Ariel continues to benefit from the unintentional international public relations campaign that journalists have generated. They were very impressed by the facility, and excited to hear about upcoming performances.
During their enjoyable tour of the city, the group was suddenly sobered by the site of the Netzarim community. The families, who were evacuated from their homes in the Gaza Strip in the 2005 Disengagement, are still residing in mobile homes due to recurrent bureaucratic obstacles and building freezes. Our visitors were, of course, encouraged to see the bulldozers at work on their new permanent home development in Ariel, now that the 10-month building freeze has come to a close.
The final stop on the visit was a series of brief presentations at the Ariel University Center. Everyone was interested in hearing the institution’s important developments, and they look forward to 2012 when we anticipate that the Ariel University Center will be granted complete and final university status.