"Using the term annex is not true. You annex something that is not yours. This is not a story of annexation. This is a story of realization."
By OMRI NAHMIASTzipi Hotovely speaks at the Jerusalem Post annual conference in New York(photo credit: MARC ISRAEL SELLEM/THE JERUSALEM POST)
NEW YORK – In a speech at the Jerusalem Post Conference on Sunday in which she addressed Ambassador David Friedman’s remarks last week, Hotovely said that after the move of the US Embassy to Jerusalem, “it is now the time for Judea and Samaria.”She called for using the term “sovereignty” instead of annexation.“Using the term annex is not true,” she said. “You annex something that is not yours. This is not a story of annexation. This is a story of realization. Many ask what’s next, what’s going to happen, what’s going to change [after the annexation of Area C]. For 52 years, we were feeding this myth of occupation. It’s a myth. It’s not true.“There is a window of opportunity,” Hotovely continued. “The window is open because the Palestinians are not interested in a Palestinian state. Up until the 1980s, both Likud and Labor were against a Palestinian state. Jordan is not interested, Egypt is not interested, Israel is not interested in a Palestinian state, and even the Palestinians are not interested. It’s time for us to move by step by step. Let’s apply the law in Area C.”Speaking about the relationship with the Trump administration, Hotovely said that “it was an amazing four years at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. [They were] the years that Israel got the team of dreams. When I took office, I wanted to have a plan for how to move all the embassies. They told me it’s not going to happen unless by some miracle, the United States will move the embassy.”
