Settlers, Trump at loggerheads over sovereignty
The Yesha Council and the Trump administration are separated by just 2.5% on the issue of Israeli sovereignty.
According to the Trump peace plan, Israel can apply sovereignty over 30% of the West Bank, on territory located in Area C.
The Yesha Council has rejected that proposal, which it says created conditions for de-facto freezes and destruction of Jewish communities.
It has drawn up three alternative maps, which it has yet to release to the media and which it has unsuccessfully attempted to send the Americans.
The three council maps vary. The first one offers sovereignty over 32.5% of the West Bank, the second offers sovereignty over 35% and the third over 38.5%.
In the absence of any sign that the US would change its map, the settlers have embarked on a campaign that on Monday had officials from the Prime Minister’s Office on the phone with them.
The question,” said Yesha Council head Yigal Dilmoni, “is what map will be brought to the Knesset or the government. From what is known to us, it will be the map that was displayed in the White House [in January], perhaps with some minor changes.”
“We are asking for changes that will enable quality of life in the settlement,” he said.
The Prime Minister’s Office can’t pressure the Yesha leadership on this issue, because their communities are the ones which are most directly impacted, Yesha Council head David Elhayani said.
The main Yesha Council leadership has been very clear that it wants sovereignty and demands action from Netanyahu on this score, but not according to the dictates of the Trump map, which Elhayani points out would place 110,000 Palestinians within sovereign Israel.
On Tuesday, Samaria Regional Council head Yossi Dagan added his voice to the battle, noting that the Trump plan was the equivalent of “poisoned candy” and promised to also turn to the evangelical Christians on the matter.
Like the Yesha Council, Dagan opposes both the idea of Palestinian statehood under the Trump plan and its sovereignty map.
But his campaign is separate from theirs. It includes a campaign sign with a photo of Netanyahu that states: “There is no such thing as partial sovereignty.”
It speaks of three “noes” that must be emphasized. “No” to Palestinian statehood, “No” to a building freeze and “No” to choking settlements in isolated enclaves.
Dagan also promised to turn to Trump’s evangelical base. “The evangelical public is satisfied with the ‘Deal of the Century’ that will allow for sovereignty on territory that belongs to the Jewish nation. But they are not aware that the plan endangers the central vision on which they have cast their eyes; the return of the Jewish people to all parts of the Promise Land,” Dagan said.
In an interview with Army Radio MK Ayelet Shaked said that to the best of her knowledge the sovereignty map at present is the one that the White House first used and “they have not let anyone make changes.”
Knesset Speaker Yariv Levin (Likud) who is a member of the joint Israeli-American mapping committee told The Jerusalem Post on Monday that the US has not expressed an opinion on the matter with regard to the map.
Not all the settler leadership has opposed the Trump plan. Among its supporters are Efrat Council head Oded Revivi and Ariel Mayor Eli Shaviro. The supporters of the plan agree with Netanyahu that this is a historic opportunity that should not be missed.
On Tuesday Revivi tweeted “I believe we are at a critical hour in which we can receive an insurance certificate to guarantee that there won’t be another disengagement [reference to the 2005 destruction of 25 settlements], there won’t be another freeze and the Oslo sword will no longer hang above the future of the settlements.”
He continued, “there is a new broad Israeli government that supports the application of sovereignty. Who could have dreamed of such broad support.”
Lahav Harkov contributed to this report.