'We won't accept Palestinian city adjacent to settlements' - Shimon Cohen

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by Shimon Cohen

Binyamin Council head reports for time being work halted in new PA city adjacent to Shiloh Bloc. Inquiries ongoing with security officials.

Gantz and army officials                                                                                                                  Binyamin Regional Council

Binyamin Regional Council head Yisrael Gantz said in an interview with Arutz Sheva that Shiloh bloc residents were protesting against the construction of a Muslim town next to Amichai and other communities.

"We found out in recent days that our claims that this is a strategic process have been confirmed," Gantz said. "We received material from the initiator where he makes clear that he wants to establish facts in Area C towards a Palestinian state and wants to strangle the Shiloh Bloc and send tentacles into the Bloc itself."

According to Gantz, "this is no mistake, but a deliberate move to confine the Shilo Bloc."
At the beginning of the month, Gush Shiloh residents and Judea/Samaria supporters demonstrated against the city being built and publicized its dangers. Gantz, for his part, explains that "as a council we're in constant dialogue with the army and the authorities, and this is in their care." He added that the affair is still not behind us, and even if in the past few days no heavy equipment has been seen in the field, the initiator "is bringing potential buyers out to the field. We'll do everything we can to make sure this doesn't happen."

Gantz stresses "it's clear that the initiator is an economic front for an ideological attempt to take control of Judea and Samaria. They send an investor to the front, but behind him there's strategic coordination."

Regarding elements he approached to block the PA move, Gantz notes that when he turns to the Civil Administration and the army, this means actually turning to the political echelons. In reality, the Regional Commander is the Prime Minister on behalf of the State of Israel, and from it he receives instructions for activity.

As for the results on the ground, Gantz said, "In the past two weeks, there's been no work on the ground, and they've been stopped pending clarification with State and security officials. We hope this will be final. We want to see if the work resumes and we won't be willing to accept it, Or that the works will move to another location. We won't choose for the investor where to build these houses, but they shouldn't be adjacent to Area C."

For the time being, Gantz prefers not to volunteer details about his discourse with political figures, but he says that there is certainly an attentive ear to their concern about the planned PA city in the Shiloh Bloc.


Shimon Cohen

Source: http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/266643

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