by Ariel Kahana
PM's Office blames bureaucracy for delays, insists progress being made.
Education Minister and cabinet member Naftali Bennett
Photo: Oren Ben Hakoon
Intelligence
Minister Yisrael Katz (Likud) and Education Minister Naftali Bennett
(Habayit Hayehudi) called on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu Tuesday
to take advantage of a unique opportunity to regulate construction in
Judea and Samaria.
Citing what they called "a historic
opportunity" to regulate the status of 3,000 families in the illegal
settlements, the two cabinet members said there was no political
impediment to taking action on the matter.
The move by Katz and Bennett follows a
meeting of the Knesset Internal Affairs Committee, headed by Likud MK
Yoav Kish, which criticized the government's alleged "foot-dragging" on
settlement regulation.
In a statement, the Likud-controlled
committee said that "the current situation, in which despite the
cabinet's explicit decision to regulate these communities, and due to
the unreasonable prolonging of actions to establish an implementation
team, the residents continue to be neglected, is unacceptable."
In May 2017, the cabinet decided to
establish a ministerial team to review regulating the legal status of
hundreds of housing units in Judea and Samaria. The outposts in question
were built over the last 20 years, not far from existing settlements,
as well as thousands of structures that while legal at the time they
were built, have become retroactively problematic as a result of changes
to changes to the state's legal guidelines.
To resolve this issue, and as part of the
framework for construction in the era of U.S. President Donald Trump,
the cabinet decided to establish a regulation team. Although some time
has passed since the decision was made, nothing has changed on the
ground.
According to Kish, "We presented the
government with an unambiguous demand to end this situation. I ask the
government to give us answers in two weeks."
In its decision, the committee said the
current situation was unacceptable and that "the regulation of the
status of communities and neighborhoods established in Judea and Samaria
in the past 20 years is a civic duty and national mission of the
highest order."
Katz told Israel Hayom that following
Tuesday's discussion "and after the Zandberg report [that called for
the government to regulate settlement construction] was written, we
have the legal tools to regulate the settlements. There isn't any
diplomatic difficulty either since the commitment [late Prime Minister
Ariel] Sharon made at the time to remove the outposts built after 2001
is not relevant in the current reality. There is a historic opportunity
and it must be taken."
Bennett told Israel Hayom, "We have here a
unique opportunity to finally regulate the construction of settlements
in Judea and Samaria, and I expect the prime minister to take it. The
U.S. administration, headed by [President [Donald] Trump is the most
sympathetic to Israel ever. We also have support in the international
arena. Now is the time to act and implement the policy the public
elected us for."
In response, the Prime Minister's Office
said progress has been made in the establishment of a regulation team
and that the delays stem from purely bureaucratic reasons.
Source: http://www.israelhayom.com/2018/07/04/ministers-urge-pm-to-regulate-status-of-judea-and-samaria-outposts/
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