The new PR campaign for the Jewish towns in Judea and Samaria has led to a 9% jump in public interest in visiting them. Yesha Climbing in Public Eye For the past month, the Yesha Council of Jewish Communities in Judea and Samaria has been waging an information campaign, emphasizing the Jewish Nation's historic, cultural and religious ties to the Biblical areas of Judea and Samaria. The name of the campaign: "Judea and Samaria - Every Jew's Story." A survey released on Monday shows that 75% of the Israeli public is now interested in visiting Yesha (the Hebrew acronym for Judea and Samaria) - as opposed to 66% just a month ago. The campaign, headed by Eitan Dor-Shav and Yakir Segev, has "succeeded in attracting a significant amount of visitors to Yesha, and to arouse reactions and opinions from all sides of the political map," Yesha Council officials say. The campaign's exposure was notably high, according to the New Wave Institute survey. Approximately a quarter of the Israeli public has heard of "Yesha and the Story of Every Jew" in one way or another - mostly via large billboards, though also via the media. Dor-Shav told Haggai Segal of the Makor Rishon weekly a few days ago, "Until about a year ago, the operative assumption of the Yesha leadership was that you can't persuade the public of an ideological message, such as the indelible historical Biblical link between our nation and Judea/Samaria, and that we should just take advantage of the Kassams in Sderot as proof that we must not quit Yesha. Danny Dayan [the Yesha Council head] and I have been toying, ever since Annapolis, with this idea that we need this 'strategy change' not just as a long-term educational goal, but rather as part of Yesha's routine media and PR policy." Dor-Shav said he spent an exciting month preparing for the campaign by "meeting with amazing personalities such as Geulah Cohen, Uzi Dayan, Uri Ariel, Davideleh Be'eri from City of David, Eli Malkah of the Golan - and especially with Yakir Segev, who headed the reservists' campaign after the Second Lebanon War and with whom I had two very heartfelt sessions. I came to see him as someone who loves this Land with all his soul, and I was happy that my proposal to appoint him Chairman of the new Information Adminstration of the Yesha Council was accepted." The campaign highlights themes such as the Maccabees, King David, the Matriarch Rachel and Joseph and his brothers in dramatic photographs, with a smiling child in historic Biblical garb, on billboards throughout the country. Short radio skits also are featured, and additional activities, signs, bumper stickers and more features are planned. In addition, the campaign website - www.jstory.co.il - includes a page with the story of each Biblical incident featured in the campaign, an explanation of its connection to the Land of Israel, and links to more in-depth articles on questions related to the subject matter. For instance, the page on Jacob and his vision of angels ascending and descending the ladder, which took place in Beit El, includes articles on the long-standing fraternal tensions between Jacob and Esau, the "theft" of Esav's blessing by Jacob, the exact location of the ladder, and more. Segev - a top IDF combat soldier even though he has only one hand - says, "We will need to work very hard to balance the exaggerated media coverage that was given to the recent remarks made [against soldiers] by some [Yesha] extremists." --- Click here for an earlier article on this topic.--
