MK Miri Regev
MK Miri RegevIsrael news photo: Flash 90

MK Miri Regev (Likud) thinks Israel should place Jewish communities on Judea and Samaria (Yehuda and Shomron) under its sovereignty as a preliminary step before placing all of the territory – also called Yesha, in a Hebrew acronym – under its sovereignty.

MK Regev said this in a recorded speech that is to be delivered at the Second Conference for Placing Judea and Samaria under Israeli Sovereignty, to be held Thursday in Hevron.

Regev, a former IDF Spokesperson, established a Knesset lobby for implementation of Israeli sovereignty on the Jewish communities two months ago. She explained in her speech that this should not be seen as an alternative to the "real aspiration" of placing all of Yesha under Jewish sovereignty, but rather as an initial step.

"I established the lobby as a beginning. I have not given up on sovereignty in all of Judea and Samaria," she said. "The move is meant to help the prime minister begin with a step, and then do what the Likud constitution mandates" – i.e., applying Israeli law to Judea and Samaria.

The Ministerial Committee on Legislation rejected Regev's bill, but she says she will bring it up again every six months. She is unfazed by those who say the issue will embroil Israel in trouble on the international front, and says that "just as the sky did not fall" when Israeli law was applied to the Golan Heights or to eastern Jerusalem, it will not fall when Yesha is placed under Israeli sovereignty.