T. Belman. Why is Bibi settling for the settlements only. I thought that we were going to annex all of Area C. Under his leadership he has effective given away Area C.
As school year starts, PM vows to kids in Elkana there will be ‘no more displacements,’ echoing previous campaign pledges; top Arab MK Odeh: Premier is pushing for ‘war crime’
By MICHAEL BACHNER and TOI STAFF
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu meeting schoolkids in the West Bank settlement of Elkana on the first day of school, September 1, 2019. (Courtesy)
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday vowed to extend “Jewish sovereignty” to all settlements in the West Bank — a move tantamount to annexation — seeking to shore up right-wing support some two weeks ahead of the September 17 Knesset elections.
Speaking to elementary school students in the settlement of Elkana on the first day of the school year, Netanyahu was echoing a pledge he made days before the previous national vote in April.
The premier said that no more settlements will be evacuated, as happened in 2005 when the entire Israeli civilian presence in the Gaza Strip — known collectively as Gush Katif — was removed.
“There will be no more Gush Katif, there will be no more displacements, and with the help of God we will apply Jewish sovereignty to all communities, as part of the Land of Israel, and as part of the State of Israel,” Netanyahu said. A Likud spokesperson later clarified that the prime minister was referring to Jewish communities in the West Bank.
He also wished the kids a successful school year.
It was the first time Netanyahu used the phrase “Jewish sovereignty” in that context, having thus far used the term “Israeli sovereignty.”
Netanyahu’s remark was criticized by center-left lawmakers, with the top Arab politician accusing him of pushing for a “war crime.”
“Netanyahu is a serial criminal: he steals from the public to give [money] to his tycoon friends, and he pushes the State of Israel to commit a war crime of annexation that will cause the death of countless Palestinians and Israelis,” Ayman Odeh, the top Arab Knesset member and leader of the Joint List party, said in a statement, referencing three corruption cases in which charges have been announced against the prime minister, pending a hearing.
“His legacy will be a trail of indictments and promises to settlers he hadn’t managed to fulfill,” Odeh added.
Left-wing MK Tamar Zandberg of the Democratic Camp said: “Instead of promising education against racism and for tolerance… the prime minister chooses on the first day of school to promise settlement annexation.
“Whoever wants to see Elkana being part of the State of Israel should support negotiations [with Palestinians] that will include agreed land swaps, rather than issuing promises that will only guarantee that we continue living on the sword without any solution.”
Yair Lapid of the centrist Blue and White party said: “Netanyahu opened the school year with an announcement that he is interested in annexing 2.9 million Palestinians, giving them national insurance and next year funding their kids’ education.
“On the whole, makes sense,” Lapid added sarcastically.
During his election campaign in April, Netanyahu pledged to gradually apply Israeli law to West Bank Jewish settlements, a move long backed by nearly all lawmakers in his alliance of right-wing and religious parties, and said he hoped to do so with US support.
Last month, Netanyahu again vowed to push for Israeli sovereignty in “all parts” of the West Bank in response to the killing of 18-year-old Dvir Sorek in a Palestinian terror attack outside the Migdal Oz settlement.
Two weeks earlier, The Times of Israel reported that Netanyahu was seeking a public declaration from US President Donald Trump backing an Israeli move to extend sovereignty over Jewish settlements in the West Bank before the national vote on September 17, citing anonymous officials in the Prime Minister’s Office.
In an interview published by The New York Times in June, US Ambassador to Israel David Friedman suggested that some degree of annexation of the West Bank would be legitimate. “Under certain circumstances, I think Israel has the right to retain some, but unlikely all, of the West Bank,” he said.
An anonymous American official later said that Israel had not presented a plan for annexation of any of the West Bank, and that no such plan was under discussion with the US, while Friedman insisted the discussion was entirely theoretical. Friedman’s comments were backed by US peace envoy Jason Greenblatt, though days later the special envoy said such steps should not be taken unilaterally or before the unveiling of the Trump administration’s peace plan.
“Ahead of the elections, something will happen. President Trump will repeat the statements by Friedman and Greenblatt in his own words. It will likely be dramatic,” a source in the Prime Minister’s Office told Zman Yisrael, Times of Israel’s Hebrew-language sister site, last month.
A spokesperson for the Prime Minister’s Office said at the time that the claim that Netanyahu had asked for an US affirmation of Israel’s right to sovereignty in the West Bank was “incorrect.” The US Embassy in Israel had declined to comment.
If one wants Israeli sovereignty in Judea/Samaria they need to vote for Yamina. If the Blue/White gets into the coalition according to Yair Lapid there will be no annexation.Lapid says that would take a final status agreement the PA. He is hanging up Jewish lives on Abbas or his successor. Totally unacceptable.
See his quoted remarks below.
BB the lying POS is using weasel words again. No settlement will be abandoned like Gush Katif? He supported the destruction and ethnic cleansing of Gush Katif until it was a fait accompli. He speaks of protecting status to existing settlements but what about the land between settlements or most of Y&S? He doesn’t have to force settlers to leave just withdraw IDF protection and most will leave on their own. Anyone who believes a single word emanating from that disgusting POS deserves what they get. Peepee NetanYahoo is synonymous with corruption, cowardice, and most of all bad judgment in the extreme.
ANY MAFIA DON WOULD MAKE A BETTER PM AND THEY USUALLY ARE TRUE TO THEIR WORD AND LOYAL.
Question is what is behind the closed door (e.g. Trump Plan) plus who will be in the coalition will it be a right wing coalition or Likud + Blue/White + ???? for the coalition.
The answers to the above questions will determine who are what Israel will annex (actually apply its civil law). Trump and his Jewish advisors have signaled that no one will need to move so basically we can deduct that keeping all the settlements is okay with Trump & Company. If Blue/White is part of the coalition will they agree to more than the Jordan Valley and Settlement blocks for the application of Israeli Civil Law? We do not have explicit positions from them on most anything let alone Judea/Samaria annexation.
Pipi promises to annex Yehuda and Shomron? Why hasn’t he done it and why has he been destroying Jewish towns like Amona, Migron and other towns too numerous to mention?
To tamar zandberg what land swaps? The sodomites live on stolen Jewish state land.
With luck your party will not cross the finish line. As much as nutunyahoo tells porkies your party would sell out the country for was it 5 pieces of silver.