Gantz delays government vote on West Bank outpost legalization
Right-wing politicians and settler leaders are pushing to advance the issue now prior to US President Donald Trump’s departure from the White House in January.
By TOVAH LAZAROFFBenny Gantz(photo credit: MARC ISRAEL SELLEM/THE JERUSALEM POST)
Text of a government decision on the legalization of West Bank outposts is waiting the approval of Alternate Prime Minister Benny Gantz.Community Affairs Minister Tzachi Hanegbi had hope to submit to the Prime Minister’s Office on Thursday, so that it could be placed on Sunday’s agenda, but is waiting for Gantz to approve it.,Right-wing politicians and settler leaders are pushing to advance the issue now prior to US President Donald Trump’s departure from the White House in January.The Right also wants a government declaration on the matter in the coming days. Should the government fall before that happens, this matter could not be addressed until March or April when US President-elect Joe Biden is in office.The issue involves the legalization of dozens of fledgling hilltop communities as neighborhoods of settlements or as entirely new settlements.The Young Settlements Forum called on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to keep to his pledge to bring the matter to the government. Netanyahu has not addressed the matter publicly. Hanegbi spoke on his behalf in the Knesset earlier this month and again this week at the Foreign Affairs and Defense sub-Committee on Judea and Samaria.A government decision would be a first step in a complicated process that would expand Israel’s footprint in Area C of the West Bank.
