Gantz urges Netanyahu to end de-facto settler building freeze
At issue are building plans for some 5,000 housing units, of which 2,000 apartments are waiting final approvals and another 3,000 are ready for deposit.
By TOVAH LAZAROFFA view of the West Bank(photo credit: YANIV NADAV/FLASH90)
Alternate Prime Minister and Defense Minister Benny Gantz lent his voice in support of the settlers as he urged Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to halt a de-facto freeze on settlement plans.Gantz sent a letter to Netanyahu on Sunday in which he asked for permission to convene the Higher Planning Council for Judea and Samaria, which last met in February.At issue are building plans for 5,000 housing units, of which 2,000 apartments are waiting final approvals and another 3,000 are ready for deposit.No date has been set for the council to meet, according to the Civil Administration, which added that it is waiting for permission from the upper diplomatic echelon.Gantz’s spokesman clarified for The Jerusalem Post that the defense minister was simply waiting for a green light from Netanyahu.Peace Now executive director Shaqued Morag took Gantz to task on Twitter for his support of settlement building, noting that such activity “only deepens the conflict and distances any resolution.”According to Peace Now, the Higher Planning Council has already approved or advanced 4,385 settler homes during two meetings it held in January and February.In addition, plans were deposited this summer for 3,196 settler homes in the unbuilt area of Ma’aleh Adumim known as E1.On Sunday, Yisrael Beytenu head Avigdor Liberman also attacked Netanyahu for failing to convene the council.On Monday, the Knesset’s Land of Israel Caucus held its latest emergency meeting on the matter. It plans to file a bill to the Knesset, which mandates that the Higher Planning Council convene regularly and prevents a prime minister from intervening.
Caucus co-chair Haim Katz (Likud) said the government cannot both refuse to apply sovereignty to the settlements and prevent construction.Yesha Council head David Elhayani said “there is a freeze” and that freeze in settlement planning is akin to what happened under the tenure of US president Barack Obama.“I am not prepared to accept a situation in which we are held hostage to the diplomatic situation,” Elhayani said, in a veiled reference to the Israel-UAE deal. The settlers did not come to Judea, Samaria and the Jordan Valley “like thieves in the night” but were sent there as emissaries of different governments.“It’s unconceivable that a right-wing prime minister would act like this. I don’t care what the reasons are,” he said.
