Settler leader: ‘Trump deal serves first and foremost US interests’

Most settler leaders are opposed to any recognition of Palestinian statehood, even a limited one, and have embarked on a campaign against the deal.

By TOVAH LAZAROFF
A general view picture shows the Israeli settlement of Efrat (L) in the Gush Etzion settlement block as Bethlehem is seen in the background, January 28, 2020 (photo credit: RONEN ZVULUN/REUTERS)
A general view picture shows the Israeli settlement of Efrat (L) in the Gush Etzion settlement block as Bethlehem is seen in the background, January 28, 2020
(photo credit: RONEN ZVULUN/REUTERS)
The application of sovereignty on portions of the West Bank within the context of the US peace plan is in the best interest of both US President Donald Trump and Israel, Efrat Council head Oded Revivi told The Jerusalem Press Club at a virtual event broadcast on Saturday night.
“The Trump deal is here to serve first and foremost the American interests,” said Revivi.
“The date of July 1, also is an indication of that. Because basically the American administration wanted the Trump deal to move forward in enough time before the elections, which are supposed to be taking place in the states in November 2020,” he said.
Trump would then have “enough time to obtain political gain through applying Israeli law [in Judea and Samaria] in order to satisfy their base in the US,” Revivi added.
He is one of the few outspoken voices among the settler leadership in support of sovereignty within the context of the Trump peace deal. Most of the settler leadership wants to divorce sovereignty from the peace plan, which also calls for a demilitarized Palestinian state throughout 70% of the West Bank.
Most settler leaders are also opposed to any recognition of Palestinian statehood, even a limited one, and have embarked on a campaign against the deal. Revivi holds that sovereignty must be done within the context of the peace plan, even at the price of Palestinian statehood.
Once Israel applies sovereignty, its international opponents will petition the UN Security Council to condemn it, the Efrat Council head said. At that point, US support would be critical is halting such UNSC efforts, he said.
“This is where Israel needs the backing of the US and can’t make a decision without the backing of the US,” Revivi said.
The US is one of five permanent UNSC members that has veto power and can therefore protect Israel at the 15-nation body.
“We will need to have the veto of the Americans,” said Revivi who is the former Yesha Council envoy and who was in Washington when Trump unveiled his peace plan.
Revivi blamed the US for delaying the application of sovereignty to West Bank settlements, something that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu wanted to do immediately after the Trump peace plan was unveiled in January.
The US asked Israel to wait until completion of a joint Israeli-US mapping process to set out the contours of the 30% of the West Bank, half of Area C, which would become part of sovereign Israel.
“I am one of those who doubt that there is a mapping committee. I doubt they are sitting and drawing maps,” Revivi said.
Maps of the existing settlements already exist, including their municipal boundaries, he said, adding that, “The army knows how to protect these communities."
In conversations with settler leaders who have pressured Netanyahu in recent months to immediately declare sovereignty, the prime minister blamed the delay on the US, Revivi said.
Netanyahu “kept saying in every meeting, ‘I wish I could. The US is holding me back, I can’t make a declaration now,’” he recalled.
“Time will tell if the date of July 1 is still relevant or if it has been taken off the table,” Revivi said. There is some indication that the COVID-19 pandemic might have changed US priorities, he added.
“I wouldn’t be surprised if American pressure is not going to be as was anticipated in the beginning, to go forward with applying Israeli law in Judea and Samaria, due to a change of priorities,” Revivi said.
He pointed to the visit of US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to Israel last Wednesday, in which the focus was more on China, Iran and COVID-19 than on sovereignty.
With regard to the new government, Revivi said that it is one that has the most likelihood of approving Trump’s peace plan.


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