MK Aryeh Eldad (National Union) wrote the Israel Prize Committee Thursday to recommend that the Yesha Council – the council of local government heads in Judea and Samaria – be awarded the prestigious prize for its “lifetime achievement.”
"The construction freeze in Judea and Samaria, which is presented as a diplomatic necessity, could be perceived as delegitimizing the settlement enterprise in general,” he explained. “At a time like this, it is especially important to express the official appreciation of the Israeli government in order to strengthen the value of settlement, which implicitly includes the right of Jews to settle anywhere in the Land of Israel.”
He went on to explain: "This settlement enterprise, which began over 120 years ago, has almost always run into opposition from countries that ruled in the Land of Israel, and even after the State was established it was inexplicable in the eyes of friends and foes alike. Even in times when the Jewish settlement in Judea and Samaria was in political dispute, that dispute was not over the right of Jews to settle in the Land of Israel, but stemmed from the debate over the limits of the possibility of realizing this right. For that reason, it is so important that there be an official statement offering blessings to the settlement effort and its achievements.”
"Even though the last date for presenting candidacies for the prize has passed,” wrote Eldad, "in view of the situation I find that the proper thing to do is to turn to you in an unconventional manner and recommend the Yesha Council as a candidate for the lifetime achievement prize, as a representative of the Zionist enterprise in Judea and Samaria which settled 350,000 Jews in Judea, Samaria and Gaza over the course of about 40 years.”