Settlers plan pressure on ministers, PR efforts
Yesha Council management and municipal heads in West Bank to hold emergency session to decide how to move forward in campaign against building freeze
Lobbying the Knesset, taking to the streets, and a broad-scale public relations campaign – these are the main items on the plan formulated by the settlement leaders and rightist Knesset members for the coming days in light of the cabinet's decision to freeze West Bank settlement building for 10 months.
Settler leaders already public came out against the decision on Wednesday. On Thursday, the Yesha Council leadership and the settlement municipal council heads will hold an emergency session in order to decide how to move forward in their campaign against the freeze decision.
At the end of the meeting, it was decided to put pressure on the Knesset and Likud MKs, cabinet ministers, and MKs in the coalition. In parallel, a series of moves are planned for their extra-parliamentary campaign, including protests, sit-ins and a comprehensive public relations campaign.
As part of the campaign, public figures and politicians will be brought to the settlements so that they can see the building freeze and its implications up close.
Yesha Council officials said to Ynet, "If it's necessary, we will continue to build."
Final decisions on the way forward will be made Thursday afternoon during the emergency session in Jerusalem. In the meantime, Samaria Regional Council head Gershon Mesika sent a letter to the prime minister and all the cabinet ministers demanding that they reinstate Jewish presence at Joseph's Tomb immediately.
In his letter, Mesika mentions that the regional council is willing to offer all of its systemic and practical capabilities for the matter.
A group of settlers, calling themselves the Nablus Core, will hold a demonstration Thursday afternoon at the entrance to Nablus demanding that Jewish presence be returned to the tomb.
