Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu has blocked new construction projects in parts of Judea and Samaria from receiving approval in recent months, ahead of his plan to apply sovereignty to Israeli towns in the area.
Under the sovereignty plan, which is expected to be introduced to the Knesset sometime after July 1st, Israel will extend its sovereignty over the Jordan Valley and all Israeli towns in Judea and Samaria based on the boundaries set by a joint Israeli-American mapping team.
It is widely expected that 15 towns in Judea and Samaria will be placed under Israeli sovereignty but remain out of the contiguous bloc of territory connected directly to pre-1967 Israel.
While the details of the sovereignty plan have yet to be finalized, according to the general outline laid out by the Trump administration’s Middle East peace plan, Israel will sovereignty to all of its towns in Judea and Samaria, but leave 15 towns in isolated enclaves of sovereignty Israeli territory which are not directly connected to the rest of the country, with protected roads ensuring access to the towns in question.
Under the Trump plan, new construction will be heavily restricted in the 15 enclaves for the next four years, so as to not create new facts on the ground.
At the meeting earlier this year of the Civil Administration’s Higher Planning Committee, numerous housing projects for towns across Judea and Samaria were approved.
However, in towns which are slated to become isolated enclaves, such as Yitzhar and Elon Moreh in Samaria, housing projects have been frozen, with builders barred from advertising them.
Samaria Regional Council chief Yossi Dagan slammed Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, accusing him of instituting de facto freeze on construction.
“This constitutes an attempt to create a building freeze for towns deep [in Judea and Samaria] under the guise of bureaucracy,” said Dagan.
“We don’t accept towns in Judea and Samaria being separated into separate classes.”
“If this is a hint at plans to leave towns isolated as part of the sovereignty plan, then that makes it even worse. I call on the Prime Minister to immediately remove the restrictions and permit construction to move forward in all towns in Judea and Samaria, without any distinction.”
“We will not accept the attempt to choke our towns. Sovereignty is important. Netanyahu was elected on a platform promising it three times in the elections, and the people of Israel are waiting for it. There is no way that the Israeli public will allow a de facto freeze to be let in the back door by the reassuring talk of sovereignty. That isn’t a policy of a right-wing government, and it shouldn’t be carried out.”