Misplaced Pages

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This article appears to be slanted towards recent events. Please try to keep recent events in historical perspective and add more content related to non-recent events. (September 2010)

Yesha Council

מועצת יש"ע
Named after	Yesha
Region	Judea and Samaria Area
Chairman	David Elhayani
CEO	Yigal Dilmoni
Affiliations	Amana
Website	www.myesha.org.il

The Yesha Council (Template:Lang-he, Mo'etzet Yesha, which is the Hebrew acronym for Yehuda Shomron, Aza, lit. "Judea Samaria and Gaza Council") is an umbrella organization of municipal councils of Jewish settlements in the West Bank (and formerly in the Gaza Strip), known by the Hebrew acronym Yesha.

The Chairman of the Yesha Council is David Elhayani, elected in November 2019. Elhayani is the Head of Bik'at HaYarden Regional Council, resident of Argaman. The CEO of the Yesha Council is Yigal Dilmoni, appointed in 2019, who previously served as deputy director of public relations.

History

The council was founded in the 1970s as the successor to Gush Emunim ("Bloc of the Faithful"), an organization formed to promote Jewish settlement in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, which they regarded as the return of Jews to their Biblical homeland. The Council consists of 24 democratically elected mayors and ten community leaders, representing municipalities with a combined population of around half a million. Its resettlement policy was criticised by the Sason Report. Its mandate is to assist Jewish settlements in every possible way. The council works to improve security by, for instance, arranging the acquisition of bullet-proof ambulances and buses. The council works with the Israeli government to provide roads, electricity, and water to the settlements.

In addition to municipal and security issues, the Council serves as the political arm of the Jewish residents of Yesha. The Council lobbies for their interests with the Knesset and the government. The Council carries on public relations campaigns for the settlements and has organized several large public protests.

Activism

Protest Campaign

In 2005 the Council led the protest campaign against the disengagement plan with peaceful mass protests: the human chain of 130,000, the Kfar Maimon march of 50,000, the Kotel rally of 70,000, and the Tel Aviv rally of 200,000. The council was praised by centrists for refraining from the use of violence—although some right-wing activists did resort to violence. It was also criticized by the right for failing to prevent the disengagement.

Rejection of Violence

The council chairman Dani Dayan said that settlers must not use violence to advance their means. He said that such actions were "morally bankrupt" and only serve to "hinder the settlers' struggle."

Misplaced Pages editing course

This article may lend undue weight to certain ideas, incidents, or controversies. Please help improve it by rewriting it in a balanced fashion that contextualizes different points of view. (July 2017) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

On 3 August 2010, it was reported that the Yesha Council together with My Israel, a network of online pro-Israel activists committed to spreading Zionism online, were organizing people at a workshop in Jerusalem to teach them how to edit Misplaced Pages articles in a pro-Israeli way. Around 50 people took part in the course.

"We don't want to change Misplaced Pages or turn it into a propaganda arm," commented Naftali Bennett, director of the Yesha Council. "We just want to show the other side. People think that Israelis are mean, evil people who only want to hurt Arabs all day." "The idea is not to make Misplaced Pages rightist but for it to include our point of view," he said in another interview.

The project organiser, Ayelet Shaked was interviewed on Arutz Sheva Radio. She emphasized that the information has to be reliable and meet Misplaced Pages rules. She cited some examples such as the use of the term "occupation" in Misplaced Pages entries, as well as in the editing of entries that link Israel with Judea and Samaria and Jewish history.

A course participant explained that the course is not a "Zionist conspiracy to take over Misplaced Pages"; rather, it is an attempt to balance information about disputed issues presented in the online encyclopedia.

he goal of this workshop was to train a number of pro-Israelis how to edit Misplaced Pages so that more people could present the Israeli side of things, and thus the content would be more balanced... Misplaced Pages is meant to be a fair and balanced source, and it is that way by having people from all across the spectrum contributing to the content.

Another participant was not positive about the publication of the initiative, warning that going public in past occasions has had a bad effect, and recommending that the initiative would be better taken underground.

Following the course announcement, the head of Palestinian Journalists Syndicate said there were plans to set up a counter group to ensure the Palestinian view is presented online as the "next regional war will be media war."

In 2011, Misplaced Pages co-founder Jimmy Wales stated in retrospect about the course organized by Israel Sheli, "we saw absolutely no impact from that effort whatsoever. I don't think it ever – it was in the press but we never saw any impact." Wales, who himself is a supporter of Israel, insists on neutrality when editing articles related to Israel and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. At a speech at Tel Aviv University when accepting his Dan David Prize in May 2015, Wales insisted to avoid conflicts of interest is to provide as many facts as possible while maintaining neutrality, aiming to overwhelm any chance of bias and imbuing political ideology. Wales also stated that editors have to present what all sides have said and ultimately leave it to the reader to make their own judgments and have their own opinions regarding the conflict.

Heads of the Yesha Council

See also

• Israeli Civil Administration
• Israeli settlement
• Judea and Samaria Area
• Population statistics for Israeli West Bank settlements

References

1. "יגאל דילמוני מונה למנכ"ל מועצת יש"ע". myesha.org.il. Retrieved 21 December 2021.
2. ^ "With wineries and tourism, settlers try to rebrand settlements for Israeli public". Jewish Telegraphic Agency. 21 September 2010. Retrieved 21 December 2021.
3. "שאלת תם מה זה מועצת יש”ע? - וואלה! חדשות". וואלה! (in Hebrew). 18 July 2005. Retrieved 21 December 2021.
4. פורשר, אפרת. "המהפך הדמוגרפי של יהודה ושומרון". www.israelhayom.co.il. Retrieved 21 December 2021. בסך הכל מונה אוכלוסיית יש"ע בשנת 2019 463,901 תושבים אשר מתגוררים ב־150 יישובים.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
5. Summary of the Opinion Concerning Unauthorized Outposts, Talya Sason, Adv.]
6. "Settlers, Palestinians dream of joint Hebron hotel at kosher Iftar feast". The Jerusalem Post | JPost.com. Retrieved 21 December 2021.
7. Yesha Council chair Dayan condemns recent settler violence, Jerusalem Post 12 August 2009
8. ^ Benari, Elad (3 August 2010). "Zionist Internet Struggle to Hit Misplaced Pages". Israel National News. Retrieved 18 August 2010.
9. ^ Hasson, Nir (18 August 2010). "The right's latest weapon: 'Zionist editing' on Misplaced Pages". Haaretz.
10. ^ Rachel Shabi, Jemima Kiss (18 August 2010). "Misplaced Pages editing courses launched by Zionist groups". Guardian.
11. ^ "The battle for Misplaced Pages: Palestinians counter Israeli editing group". Ynetnews. 28 August 2010.
12. Readers Discuss Misplaced Pages Editing Course That Aims for ‘Balanced and Zionist’ Entries By ROBERT MACKEY August 23, 2010, 1:12 PM
13. ^ Misplaced Pages founder: Israel-Palestine is heavily debated, but we're vigilant on neutrality, Haaretz
14. Sales, Ben (19 May 2015). "Misplaced Pages founder Jimmy Wales likes Israel but stays neutral". The Times of Israel. Retrieved 25 August 2015.

External links

• Official website

v t e Judea and Samaria Area
Cities	Ariel Beitar Illit Ma'ale Adumim Modi'in Illit
Regional committee	Yesha Council
Regional councils	Gush Etzion Har Hevron Mateh Binyamin Megilot Dead Sea Shomron Southern Jordan Valley (Bik'at HaYarden)
Local councils	Alfei Menashe Beit Aryeh-Ofarim Beit El Efrat Elkana Giv'at Ze'ev Har Adar Immanuel Karnei Shomron Kedumim Kiryat Arba Ma'ale Efrayim Oranit
See also	Israeli occupation of the West Bank Enclave law Area C COGAT Israeli Civil Administration IDF Central Command Israeli settlement List Population statistics Seam Zone Jerusalem District

• Israeli settlement
• Political organizations based in Israel
• Zionist organizations