Yisrael Gantz
Yisrael GantzHillel Meir/Flash90

Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu met Tuesday with settlement leaders from the Yesha Council – the umbrella organization which represents Israelis living in Judea and Samaria.

The meeting comes a month before the Prime Minister is expected to introduce his sovereignty plan for Judea and Samaria to the national unity government.

The gathering was scheduled in part to give Netanyahu an opportunity to update settlement leaders on his sovereignty plan, and other elements of the Trump administration’s Middle East peace plan, which includes recognition of Israeli sovereignty over parts of Judea and Samaria.

Ahead of the meeting Tuesday, one of the settlement leaders, Binyamin Regional Council chief Yisrael Gantz, told Arutz Sheva that he and other Yesha Council members want to see the maps being drawn up to delineate the extent of Israeli sovereignty in Judea and Samaria, and to hear form the prime minister details regarding the plan’s implementation, including whether it will include Israeli backing for Palestinian statehood.

“We are at a historic juncture,” said Gantz “and we’ve come to the prime minister in order to ensure that this moment is used to strengthen the settlement movement and not to make the settlement movement collapse.”

“We want to understand the details of the plan, and to see the maps. Afterwards, we’ll see how we’ll move forward.”

Fellow Yesha Council member, Samaria Regional Council chief Yossi Dagan lamented what he said was American pressure on Israel to back Palestinian statehood.

“Unfortunately, we see that the American administration is pressuring the Israeli government to establish a terrorist state in the heart of the country, and to abandon the lives of tens of thousands of [Israeli] civilians in isolated towns.”

“We’ve come here to present our demand for sovereignty to the prime minister – a moral, justified demand like no other, which needs to be carried out, with or without American approval.”

“If the prime minister knows how to win American backing – of course that’s the best thing, and good for him.”

The details of the sovereignty plan remain under wraps, fueling speculation regarding the perimeters of the plan, and American conditions for US recognition of Israeli sovereignty.

Under the loose framework laid out by the Trump peace plan in January, the US will recognize any Israeli move to extend sovereignty over the Jordan Valley and Israeli towns in Judea and Samaria, if the plan adheres to three conditions.

First, Israel must coordinate its application of sovereignty with a joint Israeli-American mapping team, and hold off on applying sovereignty until after the team has concluded its work.

Second, Israel must leave the door open to final status talks with the Palestinian Authority for the next four years.

Three, Israel must refrain from creating facts on the ground in areas not under its sovereignty, as well as 15 isolated towns in Judea and Samaria, for a period of four years. This includes refraining from establishing new towns or expanding existing ones, as well as demolishing illegal Arab structures or communities.

Last week, right-wing critics of the Trump administration’s peace plan launched a campaign warning against the implementation of “half-sovereignty” in Judea and Samaria, and called on the Prime Minister to fully apply Israeli law across the area, even against US opposition.