Likud central committee meeting
Likud central committee meetingSpokesman

Members of the Likud Central Committee, meeting in special convention, voted unanimously on Sunday evening in favor of a proposal to apply Israeli sovereignty to Judea and Samaria.

Legal Grounds Co-Chairs Jeff Daube and Arlene Kushner commented that, "This is an excellent first step and Legal Grounds congratulates the Likud for this decision. However, we have concerns because over the course of 50 years the legal status of Judea and Samaria has remained the same. Various Likud governments have had many opportunities to make a change in that status, but they never did."

"Jerusalem Affairs Minister Zeev Elkin (Likud), Knesset Speaker Yuli Edelstein (Likud), Internal Security Minister Gilad Erdan (Likud), Transportation Minister Yisrael Katz (Likud), Welfare Minister Haim Katz (Likud), Deputy Foreign Minister Tzipi Hotovely (Likud), Communications Minister Ayoob Kara (Likud), Science, Technology, and Space Minister Ofir Akunis (Likud), Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat, MKs Amir Ohana (Likud), Sharren Haskel (Likud) and others came to support the historic vote. Legal Grounds salutes all of them."

Daube and Kushner, also noted that, "one important Likud member was absent: Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu. He has the power to change the situation for the residents of Judea and Samaria."

"We must move forward. Israeli citizens in Judea and Samaria, who have equal obligations, finally must be given equal legal rights as well."

Judea and Samaria are governed by an IDF Civil Administration and are not officially under Israeli sovereignty. This is the cause of many of the legal issues involving land acquisition and construction, but results in other problems affecting the daily life of the region's Israeli citizens, who are expected to pay taxes and serve in the IDF.