מיכל שיר ויוסי דגן
מיכל שיר ויוסי דגןצילום: רועי חדי

Likud Knesset Member Michal Shir today toured Samaria together with Council Chairman Yossi Dagan. The two visited the Yair Farm, Nofei Nehemia, and the Gilad Farm, and also visited the old settlement of Itamar.

MK Shir was shocked to learn that living conditions of residents of the young communities that remain disconnected from water and electricity, despite Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu's promise.

"It is very exciting to be at Havat Gilad, to see the settlement, but it's just a pity that the citizens of the country who are fulfilling all their obligations must struggle to light a kettle, and struggle to keep their children warm in the winter," she said.

"It is unbelievable that the State of Israel, after a government decision that this place, Havat Gilad, should be connected to water and electricity like human beings, and the residents are fighting for their basic existence. We need to solve this problem and with G-d's help we'll solve it soon. This community will grow and prosper."

Shir said she discussed the issue with acting Defense Minister Michael Biton: "There's willingness in the Defense Ministry to connect the young localities in Judea and Samaria to water and electricity as soon as possible. Next week we'll sit down again with the Defense Ministry to see how to make it happen now, not tomorrow or the day after, so people can keep warm in the winter. We'll take care of all young settlement in the next month or two."

MK Michal Shir concluded with a promise: "I'll come here this winter with my family and the children aged two and three to make sure that just as my children in Ramat Hasharon are warm in the winter at night, the children in Samaria will be warm wherever they are."

Samaria Regional Council head Yossi Dagan reinforced her words: "We're half-a-million Israeli citizens living in Judea and Samaria, we will not be second-class. The situation is created today is we're lowest-class. The reality we saw today at the Yair Farm and other places in Judea and Samaria, places that the State of Israel has decided to recognize as full localities, two-and-a-half years later there's no planning and no water and no electricity; it's unacceptable."

Dagan told Shir: "I thank you very much for getting into it personally. It corrects a first-class injustice; every moral person should revolt against this thing."

In January 2018, immediately after the murder of Havat Gilad resident Rabbi Raziel Shevach in an Islamic shooting attack, a government decision was made to recognize Havat Gilad and an order issued by Prime Minister Netanyahu to connect the community to water and electricity. So far this has not been done and Netanyahu has not kept his promise.