The Knesset Economics Committee held a special session in the Shomron (Samaria) city of Ariel on Sunday. Chairman MK Ophir Akunis (Likud) promised that Ariel would remain under Israeli sovereignty under any future final agreement with the Palestinian Authority.
“Ariel’s location is of strategic importance for Israel’s security,” Akunis told Arutz Sheva TV, "on a critical east-west artery, in the heart of the Land of Israel." He noted also that the decision last week to turn the Ariel College into a university is “part of the vision of Ariel as a leading city in Israel forever.”
Akunis noted that the committee wishes to help Ariel, “during this period of construction freeze, in many areas – infrastructures, transportation, industry, and more.”
Ariel Mayor Ron Nachman, a former Likud MK, said, "This visit is important because it helps the Knesset Members get a first-hand look at the problems and issues that they are talking about in terms of contracts, building and the like in their committee sessions." He asked that the MKs take action to have Ariel's industrial zone exempted from the construction freeze. "This region can solve many unemployment problems and bring jobs for both Jews and Arabs," Nachman said.
The Knesset Economics Committee deals with a wide range of issues such as industry and trade, budgeting, agriculture, transportation, roads, public works, housing, and much more. Among its members are Menachem Mozes, MKs Amir Peretz, Amnon Cohen, Dalia Itzik, Danny Danon, Yisrael Hasson, and Nachman Shai.
Ariel, population 17,000, is the fourth-largest Jewish town in Judea and Samaria (after Modiin Illit, Maaleh Adumim, and Beitar Illit). Founded in 1978, it was granted city status in 1998.