National Union Chairman MK Yaakov Katz ("Ketzaleh") announced Thursday that he intends to join the hunger strike against the plan to raze a Beit El neighborhood. The strike is being held at a protest tent next to the Prime Minister´s Office in Jerusalem.

"I have decided that I will join the hunger strike this Sunday," Ketzaleh said. "I call on the entire nation of Israel, grandfathers and grandmothers, parents and children, to come and strengthen the protest tent."

"Everyone, including the Prime Minister and his ministers, knows that if the Regulation Laws do not pass, the Netanyahu government will embark on a campaign of destruction of 9,000 homes and the uprooting of 70,000 Jews. The only thing that can stop the destruction and desolation is the legislation of the Regulation Laws."

"There has never been anything like this in the history of the Nation of Israel," said Ketzaleh, "that a Jewish government would want to destroy the lives of 70,000 residents. It is time to wake up and pass the Regulation Laws."

Beit El´s chief rabbi, Rav Zalman Melamed, also called on members of the public Thursday to come to the protest tent and support the hunger strikers. (IsraelNationalNews © 2012 05/31/12)