Posted on 08/25/21
| News Source: Vosizneias.com
Prime Minister Naftali Bennett outlined his policies regarding Judea and Samaria in a New York Times interview published Wednesday, two days prior to his meeting with President Biden, causing sharp reactions from the right-wing opposition.
Bennett said that due to the broad and diversified composition of his government, there would be no diplomatic moves undertaken in the region during his premiership, neither annexation nor establishment of a Palestinian state. Bennett stressed however that construction in settlements will continue, although the construction would be in line with “natural growth.”
“This government will neither annex nor form a Palestinian state, everyone gets that,” Bennett said. “I’m prime minister of all Israelis, and what I’m doing now is finding the middle ground — how we can focus on what we agree upon.”
Bennett’s words will resonate with Democrats, who opposed the annexation plans of former Prime Minister Netanyahu as they viewed them as an obstacle to the possible establishment of a future Palestinian state. However the settlers themselves were critical of the prime minister’s insistence on “natural growth.”
Samarian Regional Council leader Yossi Dagan said that “the statement that there would not be annexation is unacceptable and similarly the way he said that construction would be limited to ‘natural growth’.
“Residents of Judea and Samaria are not second-class citizens. The public expects a surge of construction in Judea and Samaria. We will not accept restrictions on construction as is the present situation,” Dagan added.
MK Michal Waldiger said that Bennett’s statement was “unfortunate” especially since he had once served as leader of the Yesha council himself.
Bennett also told the New York Times that Jerusalem is the capital of Israel but did not mention whether he would block the Biden administration’s plans to reopen a consulate for the Palestinians in Jerusalem.
During Bennett’s Thursday meeting with Biden, he hopes to focus on the Iran issue and to convince Biden, especially in the wake of the fall of Afghanistan to the Taliban, that there are better alternatives to rejoining the 2015 nuclear agreement.
Bennett will also meet with Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, and National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan, all of whom are working to evacuate the remaining Americans from Afghanistan before the August 31 deadline.