Michael Biton
Michael Bitonצילום: פרדי ברמי

Minister in the Defense Ministry Michael Biton (Blue and White) met Thursday with members of the far-left organization Peace Now, and announced that he would not agree to a full regulation of the 'Young Settlements' in Judea and Samaria as demanded by Settlement Affairs Minister Tzachi Hanegbi of the Likud.

Biton expressed strong opposition to the plan promoted by Hanegbi in recent weeks, saying that "the reality in the territories is lawlessness. People do as they please. There are thousands of construction offenses. The chain must be cut."

Biton added: "The state is not capable of controlling construction, enforcing the law, and demolishing [illegal construction]. There is no mechanism capable of detecting construction infractions the moment they occur and destroying it with a 95% success rate. We are chasing our own tails, lying to each other. The government, the civil administration, are all lying to themselves. There is a lack of governance. We need a strong civilian administration with inspectors, technological tools and enforcement capabilities to put an end to this mess."

"We will not regulate 40 [Jewish] neighborhoods and outposts. We will regulate the ones the government has already ruled on. We will not regulate any place that is on private land or was built criminally, plus arranging five neighborhoods for Palestinians in Area C. I will not approve anything without NIS 20 million for the Civil Administration for enforcement and supervision," he said.

Biton's remarks contradict the position of Diaspora Affairs Minister Omer Yankelevich, also of the Blue and White faction, who supports the regulation of Young Settlement in Judea and Samaria and even claims that Defense Minister Benny Gantz will support the step if Bedouin villages in the Negev also receive legal stature.

Earlier, Arutz Sheva reported that Prime Minister Netanyahu is pushing for a very significant reduction in the proposal to legalize 'Young Settlements' following pressure from RA'AM party chairman MK Mansour Abbas.

A very senior government source revealed to Arutz Sheva that Netanyahu decided to reduce the scope of the government's regularization of 'Young Settlements' proposed by by Ministers Biton and Hanegbi, without their knowledge.

According to the source, instead of the intended full regularization of 70 localities in Judea and Samaria, the prime minister intends to propose a resolution regularizing three localities in exchange for the three Bedouin villages the government agreed to legalize earlier this week. The move was made as part of the ongoing negotiations between Netanyahu and MK Mansour Abbas.