Some communities of the Shomron Regional Council are very isolated and, over the last nearly three years, have been disproportionately affected by the Palestinian terror campaign. This is especially true of our smaller communities in the northern Shomron. One such community is Movo-Dotan, the Biblical site where Joseph was sold by his brothers into slavery in Egypt. Others include Chomesh and Shavei Shomron.

Movo-Dotan, a non-religious community settlement located south of the Dotan Valley in Northern Samaria, was established in 1977. The settlement is the mainstay of Jewish spirit in the northern Shomron, an area with a very small Jewish population surrounded by hundreds and hundreds of Palestinian Arabs.

In 1981, 18 Jewish families moved to this island of Jewish settlement in an area dominated by Arabs and, in doing so, helped Israel maintain control over state-owned, Jewish land. The families were able to fulfill their dream of settling the biblical land of Israel by building houses, educational centers and community buildings. Slowly but surely, they established a rich cultural life. The blossoming friendships helped build Movo-Dotan into a small, but thriving, community of 74 families.

Throughout the current Palestinian intafada, the security situation in the area has become very problematic. Several residents of the northern Shomron have been killed and many more injured by the countless shooting incidents on the roads in the area. Residents have not been able to get to their places of employment and, because of this, dozens have lost their jobs.

As a result, more than 30 families have left the community of Movo-Dotan since September 2000. The remaining 40 families continue to have difficulty coping with the security situation, and in dealing with the feeling that their neighbors have abandoned them and their precious community.

Though the remaining residents are concerned about their safety in the current security situation, and that everything they have built up is in jeopardy, they are committed to maintaining their community and, in doing so, maintaining territorial contiguity over a large area of the Northern Shomron.

The Shomron Regional Council and the residents of Movo-Dotan have taken pro-active steps to help their community to continue to thrive, and to strengthen both the community and its internal support mechanism. The plan has brought 50 families of new, religious Jewish residents into the community. We plan to do the same for Chomesh and Shavei Shomron and, if successful, to other northern Shomron communities suffering from the same population shifts.

These new families, whose values and education have inculcated in them the belief that we can not give up these important parts of our heritage, will reinvigorate communal life, will allow new educational institutions to open and will limit - or perhaps even stop - additional families from leaving.

This project is dependent on financial backing for infrastructure, physical and social needs in order to succeed. Through the backing of generous donors, we have already renovated homes and hooked them up to both electricity and water for the new families at a cost of 200,000 shekel or about $46,000.

We still require another 500,000 shekel, or about $118,000 to finance the project. The additional money is needed to pay for moving expenses, furniture, social activities, bullet-proof transportation and stipends for the new residents.

We are turning to you to help us help our northern Shomron communities to survive, and thus preserve a Jewish presence in northern Samaria.

Here's how you can help: