by Hillel Fendel
In light of worrying "construction freeze" indications from the direction of Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, the Yesha Council is taking action. Responding to his apparent signals to effectively freeze Jewish construction in Judea and Samaria, the Council announced this month the launching of a special campaign to pressure him and his government to issue building permits. Such permits can only be done by the Planning Council, which the prime minister has not convened in over six months.
Some 5,500 housing units have been waiting for approval for months already. There have been reports that Defense Minister Benny Gantz is interested in advancing their construction – mostly in settlement blocs, but not only. That is, thousands of units are waiting for approval in "safe" settlement blocs such as Gush Etzion – areas that, by general national consensus, will never be abandoned. However, hundreds of additional units are also waiting for approval in communities such as Bet El, Shilo, Nokdim and Har Bracha, whose future is actually just as guaranteed, though not according to international "experts."
The new campaign - headlined, "There's no sovereignty, there's a freeze" – blames Netanyahu not only for wiping the sovereignty option off the agenda but also for preventing Jewish construction in Yesha (Judea and Samaria). Council Chairman David Alchayani said, "I feel as if we have gone back four years in time, to the days of Obama when we were at the mercy of the Americans when it came to developing Judea and Samaria. I call upon the prime minister to convene the Planning Council immediately!"
He was echoed by Gush Etzion Regional Council head Shlomo Ne'eman: "Mr. Prime Minister, during the recent election campaign, we ran from door to door to ensure your re-election and enable you to fulfill your promise to implement sovereignty. Not only has sovereignty now become more unlikely, but we are not even receiving the necessary permits to sustain normal life here. We call upon you to take care also of your own voters and set an immediate date to convene the Planning Council."
In addition to the towns listed above, the communities of Kfar Adumim in the Binyamin region and Telem near Hevron are waiting for approval for 130 units each, just as growing children await new clothing to replace what they no longer fit into. Hundreds of more units are simply suspended in Eli, Einav, Har Gilo, and elsewhere.
The Yesha Council was perhaps the first to note what now seems obvious: The freeze on construction was in order to make way for the peace agreement recently signed with the United Arab Emirates. The government apparently still fears that resuming building in Yesha will rock the boat with the UAE.
When US President Trump was elected, Netanyahu promised to convene the Planning Council every three months, and has basically done so. However, there was one time before this year that it did not happen – in early 2018, when the US Embassy was about to be transferred to Jerusalem. This was welcome news, of course, but it showed the connection between the introduction of a construction freeze and upcoming significant diplomatic developments – welcome or not.
"True, peace with the UAE is important and historic," the Council notes. "But normalization with Arab countries that do not threaten us cannot overshadow the continued advancement of construction. Netanyahu has forgotten 'real life.'"
Netanyahu promised 'peace for peace,' says the Council, "but we see that we are actually getting 'peace for planning freeze.' The development of Judea, Samaria, and the Jordan Valley cannot be sacrificed for other things, and must not be dependent on anything else. This is a basic need for the 500,000 Israelis who live here, and who are not second-class citizens."