THE DEAL OF THE CENTURY WILL LEAVE SOME SETTLEMENTS ISOLATED AND ISRAEL CONFRONTED BY A HOSTILE PALESTINIAN STATE

Settler leaders slam colleagues of eight settlements for going rogue and supporting Trump plan

By Efrat Forsher

Israel Hayom
May 22, 2020

The support for the Trump peace plan expressed by the heads of eight settlement authorities in Judea and Samaria has stirred up a storm in the settlement sector, which officially opposes the plan.

Israel Hayom has obtained an article that will be distributed in the settlements this weekend, in which the heads of Efrat, Ariel, Oranit, Elkana, Har Adar, Givat Zeev, Alfei Menashe, and Megillot urge the setter community not to miss what they call a historic opportunity.

Chairman of the Gush Etzion Regional Council Shlomo Ne'eman said, "there is no doubt that the American plan represents enormous progress by the very fact that it recognizes the state of Israel's right to Judea and Samaria, but we must not forget that these declarations are not what built this country and established the state, and they are the reason we demand Israeli sovereignty. The reason is our basic and fundamental right to the Land of Israel.

"With all the rejoicing and thanks for the American declaration, Israel must make an unequivocal statement that rejects making the Jewish settlements in Judea and Samaria into modern-day ghettos and establishes a hostile Arab state between the Jordan River and the sea," Ne'eman said.

Head of the Binyamin Regional Council Yisrael Gantz also said he "rejects the talk about recognizing a Palestinian state. We will not accept poisoned bonbons that will put Israel in danger."

The secretaries of settlements that under the peace plan would be left isolated have written an open letter to the "rogue" settlement heads who support the plan. The letter warns them that "when you say 'yes' to the plan, you aren't getting what is possible and strengthening the settlements, you are giving up what we already have now."

Chairman of the Beit El Local Council Shai Alon addressed the disagreement among settler leaders about the Trump plan, saying that "I'm not looking for what is good for Beit El in the Trump plan. We have a responsibility to all of Judea and Samaria and if there will be communities that will be turned into outposts, we won't allow that to happen.

"There cannot be enclaves. It makes no sense that 53 years after we liberated Judea and Samaria, we still haven't been liberated from the need to satisfy others rather than worry about ourselves. I prefer the status quo to the current Trump plan," Alon said.