Nadia Matar & Yehudit Katsover: 'To safeguard the entire land, we must apply sovereignty'

Sovereignty Movement founders Nadia Matar and Yehudit Katsover spoke at the "From Oslo to Sovereignty" online conference produced by the Sovereignty Movement and Israel National News - Arutz Sheva (INN), discussing the importance of applying sovereignty - and where it needs to start.

"Thirty years ago, they sold us a tragic plan that brought havoc and destruction on the State of Israel, claiming that if we give parts of our homeland to a terrorist and bring him in with his terrorists and turn him into the head of the local Arabs who live in the Land of Israel - without asking the Arabs, by the way - and create this Palestinian Authority, that there will be peace," Matar began.

"Very quickly it blew up in our faces - literally - and people understood that giving parts away of Eretz Yisrael, of the Land of Israel, will not bring peace but exactly the opposite. And in fact, we already learned that on that famous - or infamous - Pesach when there was a terrible terror attack in Netanya, and after which the Homat Magen (Defensive Shield - ed.) operation started."

"People understood that when we are in control of the Land of Israel, there is much more security," she added, stressing that the worst part of Oslo is that "we basically undermined the truth that this land belongs only to us."

The idea that we will give away land, Matar said, "has to stop once and for all."

Regarding what the goals for the future are, Matar explained that simply settling the area is not enough. She recalled that when she and Katzover were focused fighting the Arab takeover in Area C, "it was like emptying the sea with a spoon."

Regarding where sovereignty should be applied first, Matar said, "When we understood that the concept of sovereignty entered the consciousness, people started saying, 'Okay, so what's the tachlis? What should be done?' Practically - let's start with the Jordan Valley first."

She explained, "It's not that we forgot about the entire vision, from the sea to all of Eretz Yisrael, but we can start with the Jordan Valley first. Why? The Jordan Valley is 30% of Judea and Samaria, 90% or close to 90% of the lands of the Jordan Valley are state lands in Area C, there are very very few Arabs, so there's no demographic problem."

"The Jordan Valley is the border of the country, so when you strengthen the border, finally, when we'll have sovereignty there, we'll be able to prevent the filtering-in of infiltrators, the bringing in of weapons, and most importantly, if you already have sovereignty over the Jordan Valley, you prevent the creation of a Palestinian state," Matar continued. "And lastly, over the Jordan Valley there's a consensus. There's so much bickering now, it's going on, and whatever is going on in Israel now, there's one thing that the Zionist left and the right wing all agree with, and that is the application of sovereignty, the importance of the application of sovereignty, over the Jordan Valley first."

"We saw: There's something we agree on. Let's start with that. And let's say finally - once and for all - say, 'The land of Israel belongs to the people of Israel.'"

Matar also noted that applying sovereignty over Judea and Samaria is "something that is good for the Jews, the Arabs, and the entire world," emphasizing that it also has the potential to help solve the housing crisis, as well as bring investors to Judea and Samaria.

"In order to safeguard all of the land of Israel, we must apply sovereignty," she concluded.