Jerusalem and Heritage Minister Rabbi Rafi Peretz today arrived for a tour of Binyamin along with Binyanin Council Head Yisrael Gantz, Gush Etzion Mayor Shlomo Ne'man, and Yesha Council Director Yigal Dilmani.
On a visit to the Psagot Winery, the Minister said "Oslo was insensitive to heritage sites, and indeed the Oslo Accords did not protect them. Twenty-five years of lawlessness and destruction have brought the heritage sites to a very difficult state. We're here to say: This won't repeat itself. We have respect for our heritage, and I'm promoting a national plan to guard, preserve, and open them to the public."
"This issue should unite Right and Left; everyone should work to preserve the sites that express 4,000 years of Jewish, national, and world history. Respect for the past - for generations to come. In Oslo they abandoned the heritage sites; I won't let that happen in the Deal of the Century. We'll make sure that heritage sites are marked on maps - it's our identity and we'll preserve it."
The Minister went on to say, "There is an historic opportunity here to apply sovereignty to parts of the homeland, and we must go all out with it. However, a Palestinian state must not be established here. We must also fight for the roads leading to the communities and for there to be no enclaves."
"We won't buy a pig in a poke," he said.