Dagan: Likud support against phased annexation secured

Dagan spoke after meeting with Likud Central Committee head Haim Katz to solicit his support against any sovereignty plan, including Trump's, that endangered Israel’s hold on all of the settlements.

By TOVAH LAZAROFF
Samaria Regional Council head Yossi Dagan (L) speaks with Likud Central Committee head Haim Katz, June 22, 2020 (photo credit: ROI HADI)
Samaria Regional Council head Yossi Dagan (L) speaks with Likud Central Committee head Haim Katz, June 22, 2020
(photo credit: ROI HADI)
Critical Likud support against a phased Israeli annexation plan as well as opposition to the creation of enclave settlements has been secured, Samaria Regional Council head Yossi Dagan said on Monday.
Dagan spoke after meeting with Likud Central Committee head Haim Katz to solicit his support against any sovereignty plan, including that of US President Trump, that endangered Israel’s hold on all of the settlements.
The settler leader said he had secured Katz’s support for his redlines, noting that Katz had referenced a principled 2017 Likud Central Committee vote in support of the application of Israeli sovereignty to Judea and Samaria, as proof that the Likud was aligned with Dagan.
“We are against enclaves, we are against isolated settlements. If we have to fight, we will fight,” Katz said. He added that if necessary he was willing to bring the matter back to the Likud Central Committee.
The destruction of 21 Gaza settlements during the 2005 disengagement has only underscored the need for Likud Party support for sovereignty, he said.
Dagan turned to Katz as part of his campaign against elements of US President Donald Trump’s peace plan, just as US Ambassador to Israel David Friedman is scheduled to head to Washington to speak with the White House about approval for an Israeli annexation plan.
Dagan said that US support was of course welcome, but that the guiding question should be a plan that was best for Israel irrespective of whether or not it had that support.
He fears in particular that the Trump plan would lead to the destruction of some 15 settlements where at least 15,000 Israelis live.
US support is “not worth” the price of watching the destruction of those communities, said Dagan. He himself is an evacuee from Sa-Nur, one of four northern Samaria settlements Israel destroyed during the 2005 Disengagement Plan.
Israel is done with evacuations, he said, adding that the public wants the development of strong communities in Judea and Samaria. It is for this reason that Netanyahu was elected three times, Dagan said.

Stay updated with the latest news!

Subscribe to The Jerusalem Post Newsletter

Subscribe Now
“We want to strengthen” Netanyahu to bring about sovereignty, even if he has to stand against the Americans, he said.
“There can’t be isolated settlements and or only a small symbolic application of sovereignty,” Dagan said.


Related Tags
Deal of the century