MANS OF NS F On Guard from page A27 Izzy Danziger, right, with an IDF security officer on a security assessment -• • - -^• • ,- ,^ surrounded:' Danziger said. Under Mishmeret Yesha's Project Ilan and Workers of the Land Project in the 1990s, Jewish settlers began to farm land, develop connector roads and engage in other labor initiatives. "We fenced the land, brought water to the land and got people to contribute so we could plant olive trees, vineyards, fig trees and fruit trees:' Danziger said. "That became a very big project. We have invest- ed a great deal of time in it, even today:' It became apparent that if the settlers didn't intervene amid the Palestinian devel- opment thrust in Yesha,"there'd be a ques- tion if we'd be living here in a relatively short period of time," Danziger said. Oslo's Impact The ill-fated Oslo Accords of 1993 spurred the need for the Rapid Response Teams, still 11 years away. Danziger recalled the historical context: "By signing the accords, the government of Israel in effect aban- doned all of the government lands in Judea and Samaria. Israel's master plan on how and where Jewish communities would be built there and connected with a road network had not been implemented yet by the time Oslo rolled around. So many of the outlying Jewish communities were closed off, disconnected or completely isolated. Overall, from a security point of view, the situation was bad." Mishmeret Yesha sprouted in 1998 as a nonprofit organization to give settlers a common voice and a security shield. Its roots lay in the Jewish Defense Fund, formed to cover legal costs and emergency personal costs following the Dheisheh A28 December 18 m 2008 Refugee Camp Trial. The formative year was 1989 during the first Palestinian inti- fida against Israel. The yearlong trial resulted in acquittal of almost all of the 30 Jews from Kiryat Arba who had been tried for demon- strating and "inciting" in front of the Bethlehem refugee camp. The Jews had gathered to protest having their vehicles attacked by stone throwers every day for a year as they passed the refugee camp, situated along a key travel route for Judea residents. Danziger ran a construction/ woodworking business at the time and experienced the property damage first- hand. "The conditions affected every part of our lives and the security of our families as we traveled;' Danziger said. A particularly brutal stone attack sparked the Kiryat Arba-led demonstra- tion on the Deheisheh Refugee Camp. "The last bus on a Friday winter afternoon was attacked by a mass rock attack;' Danziger recalled. "All the glass was smashed. And the bus was packed; it was the last bus out of Jerusalem for Kiryat Arba, still 35 min- utes away" When the rock-riddled bus filled with injured passengers arrived in Kiryat Arba, it caused an uproar among the residents, who, when Shabbat ended, went back to the refugee camp to demonstrate. Looking Ahead Danziger has eight children and five grandchildren. He's a voting member of the Likud Central Committee. He urged Jewish Detroit to learn as much as pos- sible about the plight of Israeli Jews , 1•,,^ -• • - in Gaza five years ago through print and online publications and other news sources. As he put it: '