by Amelie Botbol
"Every delay comes at a price—in security, legitimacy and our national future. This is the time to decide," the Likud lawmakers wrote to the Israeli premier.
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MK Dan Illouz heads the Knesset's Public Diplomacy Caucus. Credit: MK Illouz Team. |
Eight lawmakers from Israel’s ruling Likud Party on Monday published an open letter to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, calling on him to apply the country’s civilian law to parts of Judea and Samaria.
The move “is both a national imperative and a necessary response to growing international momentum for the recognition of a Palestinian state,” wrote signatories Dan Illouz, Ariel Kallner, Galit Distel-Atbaryan, Keti Shitrit, Avichay Boaron, Afif Abed, Moshe Passal and Hanoch Milwidsky.
Ilouz, who initiated the letter, told JNS: “The moment to apply sovereignty is now. We have a stable right-wing government, a sympathetic American administration, and we are faced with a dangerous move by countries that are pushing for the establishment of a Palestinian terrorist state in the heart of the Land of Israel. Every delay comes at a price—in security, legitimacy and our national future. This is the time to decide.”
The United Kingdom, France, Canada and Australia have announced their intention to recognize a Palestinian state in September.
The signatories noted the passing on July 23 of a non-binding resolution in favor of applying Israeli sovereignty to Judea, Samaria and the Jordan Valley. The resolution received the vote of a majority of 71 out of 120 Knesset members.
Netanyahu’s government has reportedly considered applying sovereignty over Judea and Samaria, or at least the Jordan Valley, on several occasions, as had Israel’s previous government. Anticipation for such a move peaked in 2020, shortly before U.S. President Donald Trump and Netanyahu unveiled the Abraham Accords.
“Now is the time—out of responsibility for Israel’s security, for historical justice, and for the future of coming generations—to pass a government decision applying Israeli sovereignty in Judea and Samaria,” the letter to Netanyahu states.
Shitrit told JNS on Monday that the proper response to Hamas’s “false starvation campaign” and the recent moves to recognize a Palestinian state is “the application of sovereignty.” The “empty control” of these areas, without extending Israeli law to them, “is not enough.”
“The time has come to write a new and decisive chapter in the Jewish people’s renewal in their land and to extinguish the enemy’s hopes by establishing facts on the ground,” she added.
Kallner told JNS on Monday that “it’s the best time” to apply Israeli sovereignty, pointing to Western countries such as France, which he said “had lost the ability to distinguish between good and evil, between justice and injustice, and want to recognize a Palestinian state.”
“Applying sovereignty over our homeland, the biblical land of Judea and Samaria, is our right,” he said. “It will bring security and peace. The Palestinian ideology does not bring peace or coexistence; it brings instability. When they lose hope of destroying the Jewish state, it will bring stability—and applying sovereignty is a very big step in that direction.”
Kallner stressed that “we have an opportunity today, and we should not lose it,” adding that it would be “very disappointing” if Israel failed to act. He suggested that Trump supports sovereignty, and that Israel’s current government is committed to the policy and “to our right to the land of Israel.” He expressed hope that results would be seen in the coming months, “maybe even weeks.”
Amelie Botbol
Source: https://www.jns.org/apply-sovereignty-in-judea-samaria-lawmakers-tell-netanyahu/
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