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demonstration against the scheme. We were then a group of about 10 activists from the Hashomer Hatzair
youth movement, the Machanot Haolim movement and Dror Israel, and we held a small demonstration
opposite the Prime Minister's Office against the sale of land. Unfortunately, the ministerial committee
decided to recommend approval of the proposed reforms and the ball started rolling."
Thus, while drafting of the bill proceeded, the activities of Metuki and his colleagues intensified.

"A few months ago I received an email from a friend," recalls Niva Lichtman, 24, of Haifa. "At first it looked
like junk mail, but something caught my eye and I read on. I quickly realized I had no option but to assume
an active role against the sale of land."
Lichtman began participating in the demonstrations and explaining the issue to anyone who would listen: "I
spoke to oodles of people, to get them to understand what was going on, including MKs and parliamentary
aides. I sent around loads of responses on this subject that were posted on the Internet. To my mind, the
problem was and still is a lack of awareness."

Chemistry professor Gerardo Byk of Bar-Ilan University also joined the struggle.

"I came here from Argentina 30 years ago," says Byk, "but I still remember donating some of my bar-
mitzvah money to buy land in Israel. True, it was a symbolic act, but it is something I will never forget, and
when [others] are deciding to sell land today, it stings."

Byk says he does not object to the reforms per se - rather to the very sale of land itself: "I am sure many
Likud voters did not know this was what Netanyahu wanted. There is a lack of public awareness, and if
people knew, they would raise a hue and a cry - this [issue] is close to many people's hearts."

Last Monday, two days before the Knesset vote, the social and environmental organizations set up a
"situation room" in the offices of Adam Teva V'Din - the Israel Union for Environmental Defense
organization, from which members contacted as many MKs and ministers as possible to dissuade them from
voting for the reform. Among those who crowded into the offices were representatives from Life and
Environment, the Association for Citizens Rights in Israel, Green Course, Friends of the Earth Middle East,
the Mizrahi Democratic Rainbow, Association for Distributive Justice, the Heschel Center and the Shatil
Project all crowded into the union's Tel Aviv offices.

"The coalition [we] created is very unique, as it brings together social and environmental organizations. It's
not every day that all the leading organizations form a combined front. It was very easy to set up the
headquarters and work together, thanks to the fact that people grasped that this is a critical and irreversible
issue," says Green Course director general Gil Yaacov.
Yaacov says that now that the vote has been postponed, further activities are being organized.

"This week we will call on the entire public to sway the decision makers," he continues. "We will contact
every MK and push for the [issue of the] reforms to be opened for an in-depth discussion rather than
approved right away."

Nadia Mogilevsky, the lawyer for the Association for Distributive Justice, spoke directly to MKs and was
appalled to discover how little they knew about the bill.
"I spoke with MK Yaakov Litzman's aide," she relates, "and he asked me about the coalition's position. I
thought he was talking about the coalition of [anti-reform] organizations, but he was talking about the
coalition in the Knesset. I left my conversation with him with a feeling that he had no idea what the law
was about and cared only about the coalition's position. I was completely astounded. There were a few