Gregg Berretta lives in Ginot Shomron a small community within the Karnei Shomron Yishuv located in the Shomron hills. The population of Karnei Shomron is rapidly growing and currently stands around 10,000 people. Originally from Seattle, Washington Gregg and his family moved to Israel six years ago. Gregg’s family and three other families had planned to make Aliya and move to Israel. Two families arrived prior to the Berrettas and the third arrived together with Gregg and his family, on the same flight. All four families chose Ginot Shomron as their home.
The main reasons that Gregg decided on Ginot Shomron were firstly, the growing Anglo community, secondly his wife has family not far from the area. And thirdly, as Gregg learned more about the history of the area and the biblical ties, the more he grew attached to the location and finally, on a financial note, buying a standalone house in Ginot Shomron is definitely more affordable than many other areas in Israel.
For Gregg and his family, the move to Israel was ‘coming home’. Being familiar with the political nature of the area, Gregg seized the opportunity to live in the Shomron in order to support the security infrastructure of the region. The region has points that can view many areas across Israel and having Jewish neighborhoods in these regions secures these areas as militarily tactical locations.
Gregg is proud to have settled in Ginot Shomron, but believes that the term ‘settler’ is mentioned by the rest of the world in a disparaging way. “So much of the political discourse about land is influenced by Jew hatred. It’s very easy to paint everything as antisemitic, but the reality is that you can quickly tell if it’s really Jew hatred, by whether or not people are willing to look beyond what they see from a very biased UN.”
The irony of living in this region is that Gregg and his family live in a beautiful home that was actually built by Arab workers. Gregg has no disdain or hatred for his Arab neighbors and enjoys contributing the overall economy of the region.
The fallacy of the ‘imaginary’ green line, in Gregg’s opinion is a political game. There are so many indicators in the region that conclusively point to the ancient Jewish roots in the region. The green line was an armistice line that was drawn up on maps at the end of the war of Independence. It was never meant to be a national boundary. What fascinates Gregg is the fear that people have of traveling over the ‘imaginary’ green line to visit the hills of the Shomron and see the beauty of the region. According to Gregg, there are many cities in the US that have danger levels way higher than the real danger found in and around Karnei Shomron.
The full video interview with Gregg Berretta can be viewed below: