Settlers warn PM: 'Freeze in building will cause unprecedented protest'
Faced with halted settlement development, leaders threaten PM that continued freeze in building and funding will lead to wide scale settler pushback; 'It's time the government builds the West Bank instead of talking about it,' says Samaria Regional Council Head Dagan; despite criticism, PM did pledge Tuesday to build 1,200 new housing units in Ma'ale Adumim settlement.
Furious at government's perceived stalling of new settlement building in the West Bank, as well as money transfer for existing settlements' security, heads of the settlement movement are threatening wide scale pushback if things do not start moving.
As such, Samaria Regional Council Head Yossi Dagan informed Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu Tuesday that "freezing the building and freezing roadwork in the West Bank will be met with unprecedented protests by the settlements against the government" after the High Holidays.
Dagan's statement comes days before the Israeli Civil Administration is slated to discuss continued building in the West Bank. Leaders of the settlement movement fear that certain development plans will not be up for discussion: namely, the northern West Bank settlement of Rehelim, which has been waiting for an urban building scheme for 25 years; the southern Hebron Hills settlement of Negohot, whose industrial zone development has supposedly been postponed due to US pressure; and the evacuees of the West Bank outpost of Migron, who have been made to understand that the new settlement promised to them will not be built at this time.
Additionally, some NIS 300 million that were promised for settlement and road security has not been transferred, despite its due date being September, 2017.
"Talk doesn’t build settlements and words don't pave roads," said Dagan. "The West Bank settlement project is still fighting against uprooting, 20 years after (the Oslo Accords—ed) and the expulsion from Gush Katif and North Samaria. It's time the government builds the West Bank instead of talking about the West Bank."
Earlier Tuesday, Work on the construction of the Amichai settlement, intended for Amona evacuees and restarted just a month ago after being halted, stalled again due to the Ministry of the Interior's refusal to exempt the Binyamin Regional Council from a tender process, preventing them from paying the contractor performing the work.
"First they stabbed us in the back, and now they're turning the knife. If (works stop again—ed), we'll all make a pilgrimage to Amichai on Sukkot," evacuees said.
The decision to halt construction was made following an instruction by the Chairman of the Binyamin Regional Council Avi Roeh, who ordered the contractor laying down the groundwork for Amichai to immediately desist until further notice.
Despite acusations of stalling settlement development, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pledged Tuesday to build 1,200 new housing units in the West Bank's biggest Jewish settlement of Ma'ale Adumim and incorporate it into a bill which will enable the government to annex it to Israel.
Netanyahu's announcement came during a Likud delegation visit to Ma'ale Adumim, east of Jerusalem, where he promised to "enhanced development" of the settlement.
“I declare an intensification in the momentum of development in Ma’ale Adumim,” Netanyahu said. “We will build here thousands of units. We are adding industrial zones and the required expansion to enable accelerated development of this place.
