Knesset speaker: Rifts in Right helped foil annexation
Politicians put together legislative battle plan for sovereignty
By GIL HOFFMAN, TOVAH LAZAROFFKnesset Speaker Yariv Levin addresses the opening meeting of the Knesset’s Land of Israel Caucus. August 17, 2020(photo credit: MEIR ELIPOUR)
The Right’s failure to unite helped foil West Bank sovereignty, Knesset Speaker Yariv Levin (Likud) said on Monday as he urged Land of Israel Caucus politicians to unite so they could override Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's decision to suspend annexation.“We spoke not in one or two voices, but in ten and 15 voices... which did not help us get the results we wanted,” Levin said. “It is important to make decisions we can all stand behind.”“We are in an unprecedented time of uncertainty,” he said.“No one knows what government there will be in the United States – and what changes there will be in the region.”The absence of a Forum and a Caucus for sovereignty, struck a serious “blow” to our ability to achieve results, he added.In this kind of period, there should at least be unity within the Right’s camp, Levin said.While acknowledging his larger role as Knesset Speaker, he said: “I am not from the United Nations: I am obligated to the Land of Israel in its entirety.”Politicians swore to move quickly on a battle plan to ensure sovereignty and to prevent the evacuation of any communities in the region.Top on the agenda is a bill filed by Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee chairman MK Tzvi Hauser (Derech Eretz) to require a referendum to relinquish any of the 130 West Bank settlements.Coalition chairman MK Miki Zohar (Likud) said the bill was of utmost importance. He took a moment to pay homage to Netanyahu, noting that due to his actions, the entire question of sovereignty was even possible.The referendum deal would allow for significant activity to occur on behalf of Judea and Samaria, and allay some of the anger against the government within the settlement movement, Zohar said.He added that he had spoken with the prime minister, who had sworn that in the end, sovereignty would be applied to the settlements.There is a push for at least four bills, including one on the application of sovereignty, according to caucus co-chairman and Yamina MK Bezalel Smotrich.Other bills would regulate the outposts, preserve Israeli rule over all of Area C, and normalize treatment of settlers by closing the Civil Administration so that those citizens could be served by regular offices, just as if they lived inside sovereign Israel.THE CAUCUS, the largest in the Knesset, acts as an umbrella group for right-wing MKs, settlers and other right-wing leaders. There are 43 MKs in the caucus, and it has the support of most of the ministers, who are not allowed to join caucuses. MKs from Blue and White attended the meeting.Participants in the meeting were divided over support for Netanyahu’s agreement with the United Arab Emirates, even as they opposed the suspension of sovereignty.“We welcome the prime minister for trading peace for peace with the UAE, but the time has come to apply sovereignty to the Land of Israel,” caucus co-chairman Chaim Katz (Likud) said.David Elhayani, head of the Yesha Council and the Jordan Valley Regional Council, urged the politicians to focus.“This is where the situation is heading: We can apply sovereignty without endangering Israel with the creation of a terror Palestinian state,” Elhayani said.In addition, he said that the communities of Judea and Samaria were in need of a special financial assistance package such as what is given to other communities in the periphery or in high priority areas.Samaria Regional Council head Yossi Dagan said: “We are in days that are not simple, and even difficult. Our public is hurt and angry. The central thing is to fight for sovereignty and not to concede to Netanyahu.”MK and former Jerusalem mayor Nir Barkat (Likud) said it was also important to ensure that Area C was preserved, which includes protecting Biblical sites and preventing illegal Palestinian construction.MK and former justice minister Ayelet Shaked (Yamina) said that “Netanyahu chose the Emirates and not sovereignty – and our job is to ensure that this topic remains on the agenda. We have to continue to carry this torch and [hope] for better days.”
