Settler leaders protest after report of comments by Knesset Speaker Yariv Levin, a member of the mapping committee. ‘No need to wait for anyone,’ says Yesha Council
By Jacob Magid, TOI
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The White House has said repeatedly that it is up to Israel to decide on annexation, but has yet to give a definitive answer as to whether it is prepared to support and recognize the unilateral annexation now of part or all of the 30% of the West Bank allocated to Israel in its peace plan.
While similar comments have been made in recent weeks by Likud officials who have acknowledged that the spiraling pandemic has forced the attention of world leaders to turn to other issues, Levin is one of only a handful of Israeli officials who have been deeply involved in talks with American officials regarding the Trump plan’s implementation and ramifications.
Levin also sits on the seven-member joint US-Israeli mapping committee that has been tasked with drawing up the exact parameters for annexation that Washington will be willing to accept. The committee’s progress has been slowed by the pandemic, with Netanyahu telling settler leaders and even Defense Minister Benny Gantz that the maps have yet to be finalized.
Settler leaders responded angrily to Tuesday’s Army Radio report, asserting that US approval is not needed for Israel to move forward with annexation. “There is no need to wait for anyone. This move depends solely on us. It is time to keep the promises made and apply [Israeli] sovereignty [to the West Bank] regardless of any factor,” the Yesha umbrella council of settlement mayors said in a statement, referring to the Likud premier’s repeated election promises to carry out annexation if elected.
The more hardline Samaria Regional Council chairman Yossi Dagan went further, writing in a statement, “Never since the establishment of the state has a nationalist government bowed and surrendered like this to the Americans.”
Dagan is among a plurality of the 24 settler mayors who have voiced their opposition to the Trump plan because it conditionally earmarks 70% of the West Bank for a potential Palestinian state. They have argued that Netanyahu must move forward with annexation, but not in the context of the US peace proposal.
A slightly smaller camp of settler mayors led by Efrat Local Council chairman Oded Revivi have argued that the plan’s theoretical proposal of a Palestinian state is a pill worth swallowing as it comes with US recognition of Israeli sovereignty over all settlements as well as the Jordan Valley — a development that settler leaders could only have dreamed of before Trump took office.
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I was amongst those who was very hopeful for a resolution of sovereignty to be passed by the Knesset for as much of Judea and Samaria as possible.
There are conflicting perspectives on whether such a declaration would be approved by POTUS.
There were suggestions that the Kushner faction in the West Wing of The WH wanted to see Israeli concessions….this is a deal breaker.
No concessions to the terrorist entity who refuses to negotiate, backs out of security cooperation. That was not part of “The Deal of The Century”. Who is the moron who came up with THAT name?
Israel would be in a weaker position by far having declared sovereignty only to then be stood up by POTUS and castigated by all of the usual suspects, in force. It would add fuel to the left’s ever expanding Big Lie associating Israel with The BLM movement accusations of Israeli complicity in trading US police forces how to murder innocent “persons of color” thereby coupling the civil rights unrest in the US with Israel’s terrorist Fakestinians via The New Democrat Agenda.
Once again Netanyahu has proven that he understands when to adapt to a seemingly good plan gone sour.
Bottom line, Israel controls what it has and it should it change the status quo unless it can be shown and proven that it is in line with how Israel defines it’s interests in the long term. Sure it would be nice, but…much of the EU wants nothing more than to have an excuse to divest and boycott on a huge scale and that could spread to China, which may happen anyway depending on a variety of factors.
For these reasons, on this issue alone; PM Netanyahu deserves a pass and an acknowledgement that his 3 dimensional chess skills are in place.