Leon Dulzin, chairman of the Jewish Agency and World Zionist Organization Executives, has pledged the WZO’s support for the establishment of an educational institution for diaspora youth at the settlement of Brach, near Nablus.
Bracha, dubbed “upper Nablus” by its detractors, is one of the most controversial of the new West Bank settlements. Its critics claim it was set up by Ariel Sharon with a view to its becoming a major Jewish town overlooking the large Arab town of Nablus, It is situated on a high peak just south of the city.
Some 30 families are presently living there, but a broad highway leading up the hill to Bracha indicates that its planners were instructed to prepare a blueprint for a major urban development. Bracha hit the headlines earlier this year when its official inauguration ceremony in the presence of Deputy Premier David Levy was disrupted by a Peace Now demonstration and had to be held indoors instead of outdoors as planned.
Dulzin, on a tour of the settlement this week, said the Bracha residents had proved themselves eager and resourceful and that the WZO would be happy to help them — as it would help any Jew contributing to Zionist settlement in Eretz Yisrael.
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