Israeli Settlement Leader Invites Obama to Visit

Oded Ravivi, Head of the Efrat Regional Council in the Gush Etzion settlement block, has become accustomed to the surprise in the faces of people who first meet him. While people expect to meet a combative, unyielding settler, instead they encounter a youngish, 44-year-old lawyer and lieutenant colonel (Res.) who was born in Ramat Gan, near Tel Aviv.

It started for practical reasons, not purely ideological ones. Ravivi found his way to Efrat after his marriage, when he was searching for a house and found Jerusalem too expensive. He built his house ten minutes from the capital city, between Bethlehem and Hebron, fathered six children there and became involved in local politics. Five years ago, he was elected to the position of Head of the Efrat Regional Council. Ravivi brought to his job ideological pragmatism and a world view in favor of coexistence with the Palestinians.

In anticipation of Obama’s visit to Israel next month, Ravivi sent the American president a personal letter with an invitation to visit Efrat first, and only afterward make conclusions about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and its solution.

Ravivi clearly knows that the chances for such a presidential visit are almost nil, when Obama will be in Israel for only 48 hours. Nevertheless, he responded to my request to imagine what would happen if such a visit were to actually take place.