July 1, the day stipulated in the unity government coalition for the starting of the sovereignty process in Judea and Samaria, has long come and gone, and – nothing. Zilch. The Yesha Council of Jewish Communities in Judea and Samaria reports that 47% of the population will regard it a "personal failure" of Binyamin Netanyahu if sovereignty does not happen.
Ever since the introduction of the Trump Plan has made sovereignty a genuine option, the Yesha Council has been working overtime to advance the process – while at the same time, it says, "seeking to ensure that it does not lead to future dangers, such as a Palestinian state, a construction freeze, isolation of individual communities, and the like."
Even with Corona raging around us, and possibly distracting the government from fulfilling its sovereignty promise, the Council has not taken its foot off the gas – and continues to work at least for the application of Israeli law over Judea, Samaria and the Jordan Valley.
Findings of a survey by the Rafi Smith Institute, commissioned by the Yesha Council, are fairly encouraging. The pollsters asked 600 respondents, on the very day of July 1st, how they felt about sovereignty and the application of Israeli law in Yesha.
45% said they're in favor, 33% opposed it, and 22% - a relatively high proportion - expressed no opinion.
Most of those who support sovereignty want it throughout Yesha, while a minority wishes to see it only over specific areas, such as Maaleh Adumim or Gush Etzion.
Support for sovereignty is higher among residents of Yesha – but not by as wide a margin as might have been expected. 47% support full sovereignty, 16% support partial Israeli rule, and 29% object altogether.
Prime Minister Netanyahu has openly stated, several times, his intentions to apply sovereignty in Yesha. He paid an opening day visit on the first day of school this year to a 1st-grade class in Elkanah, a religious-Zionist town in western Samaria. "We will apply sovereignty over all the Jewish communities in Judea, Samaria and the Jordan Valley," he declared. It was this stance that gained him many votes in the recent elections, most analysts say. This is partially borne out by the fact that 14% of the poll respondents say that if Netanyahu does not keep this promise, they are less likely to vote for the Likud in the next election.
Though the findings are not overwhelming, the Yesha Council feels that Netanyahu must learn from them that he has strong public support for the move to render Judea, Samaria and the Jordan Valley totally Israeli.
The Council calls upon him "not to give in to Arab and left-wing threats, but rather to fulfill your promise and carry out this historic process of emplacing Israeli sovereignty over [these areas], without a Jewish construction freeze and without a Palestinian state."
This latter caveat is easier expressed than done. At present, the Trump Administration's ground rules for effecting sovereignty are likely to actually pave the way for a Palestinian state. Can Israel eat its cake [apply sovereignty] and continue to have it [prevent a Palestinian state]? This is far from guaranteed at the present time.
As expressed in recent days by the Women in Green movement – which essentially pioneered today's sovereignty movement – the choice and decision are as follows: "If the options are sovereignty over 30% [of the area] along with willingness to negotiate on a Palestinian state, or sovereignty over less than that but without a commitment for such willingness, then we will consider only the second option."
Corona has apparently given Netanyahu the opportunity to avoid making a decision on this fateful question.