At least four Likud government ministers have come out against the decision to freeze Jewish construction in Judea and Samaria. The four are are former Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom, Environment Minister Gilad Erdan, Communications Minister Moshe Kachlon, and of Information Minister Yuli Edelstein.
Minister Shalom, a member of the mini-Cabinet that first voted to accept the freeze last week, said he was not in the country at the time and would have voted against it. “The decision is far-reaching and unnecessary, should have been accompanied by a public debate, and has not brought the Palestinians to the negotiating table,” Shalom said on Sunday. “It has led them to add more demands and they will yet demand more concessions, just as they did after the Bar-Ilan speech.” Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, speaking at Bar-Ilan University five months ago, accepted the concept of a Palestinian state, albeit demilitarized.
At a Likud faction meeting before the weekly Cabinet meeting on Sunday, Minister Yuli Edelstein, a resident of Gush Etzion in Judea, said, “I don’t see how this freeze advances us towards peace.” Later, at the Cabinet meeting, he told Netanyahu, “You cannot simply ignore 300,000 Jews living in Judea and Samaria.” Responding to Edelstein’s suggestion that Netanyahu meet with the local municipal chairmen in Judea and Samaria, the Prime Minister asked his Cabinet Secretary to arrange such a meeting within the coming days. He similarly instructed him to meet with Edelstein and others regarding problems that might arise for the residents as a result of the freeze.
Minister Erdan blamed Defense Minister Ehud Barak for pushing for the decision, saying Barak has a “political agenda.” Erdan said that the restraining orders issued against construction in Judea and Samaria are liable to strike a grave blow at the residents’ civil rights.
Minister Kachlon, who is also the Chairman of the Likud Central Committee, advised Netanyahu not to ignore the party unrest and convene the Committee in order to debate the issue. In the past, Netanyahu has been relatively successful in convincing the Committee to accept his positions. Though Likud MK Danny Danon has garnered the required amount of signatures needed to convene the Committee, Netanyahu has to agree to do so.
On the other hand, several Likud ministers who were expected to vote against the freeze did not. These include Benny Begin and Moshe Yaalon. The latter, who has explained that the freeze will enable better relations with the United States, canceled a planned speech in Kiryat Arba on Saturday night after protestors refused to leave the premises.