Dagan and Netanyahu, archive
Dagan and Netanyahu, archiveSamaria Regional Council

Samaria Regional Council Chairman Yossi Dagan responded Wednesday to assertions by Prime Minister Netanyahu that the application of Israeli sovereignty in Judea and Samaria is dependent on cooperation from Washington.

Dagan said that the Israeli government has always known how to apply sovereignty and is the only party which should make the final decision. "I do not want us to get into a situation in the national camp where they say the prime minister lied to us or deceived us."

He noted that the Prime Minister has been elected three times in the last year and a half on the basis of a platform which called for the application of Israeli sovereignty in Judea, Samaria, and the Jordan Valley. “The people have given him the mandate to apply sovereignty not once, not twice but three times. Netanyahu must apply sovereignty on the basis of his promises to the public and not on the basis of decisions made thousands of miles away."

"We are now in a period where history can be rewritten and where Netanyahu can be positioned as the leader who applied sovereignty over the territories where our ancestors walked, over Judaism's holy sites throughout Judea, Samaria, and the Jordan Valley from north to south. We must not miss this opportunity," Dagan said.

"The State of Israel has never bowed before the United States," Dagan declared. "Prime Minister Levy Eshkol applied sovereignty to Jerusalem despite opposition from the US administration, and Prime Minister Menachem Begin exercised sovereignty over the Golan Heights in the same way. I call on the Prime Minister to act courageously and apply sovereignty right now."