The Yesha Council (Hebrew: מועצת יש"ע‎, Moatzat Yesha) is an umbrella organization of municipal councils of Jewish communities in West Bank and Gaza Strip, known by the Hebrew acronym Yesha. The Council was founded in the 1970s as the successor to Gush Emunim ("Block of the Faithful"), an organization formed to promote Jewish settlement in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, which they regarded as the return of Jews to their Biblical homeland. The Council consists of 25 democratically elected mayors and ten community leaders, representing municipalities with a combined Jewish population of around 225,000. Its resettlement policy was criticised by the Sasson Report. [1] Its mandate is to assist Jewish settlements in every possible way. The Council works to improve security by (for instance) arran