Israeli settlement leaders from Judea and Samaria say they will boycott a planned meeting with Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu Wednesday morning, after they say the Prime Minister denied or ignored their requests for changes to the security arrangements in the area, following a string of deadly terror attacks.
Israeli leaders in Judea and Samaria are scheduled to meet with the premier in his office at 10:00 a.m. Wednesday to discuss the ongoing security situation in the area.
But Samaria Regional Council chief Yossi Dagan, Binyamin Regional Council chief Yisrael Gantz, and Kiryat Arba Mayor Eliyahu Libman penned a letter to Netanyahu saying they would boycott the meeting in protest of the Prime Minister’s refusal to implement most of the security changes they had requested.
“In the last few months we in the settlements have suffered major terror attacks, including the murders of Kim Levengrond-Yehezkel, Ziv Hajbi, the newborn baby Amiad Israel Ish-Ran from Elon Moreh, Sergeant Yosef Cohen, and Staff Sergeant Mor Yosef – along with many people who were injured or wounded.”
“During our meetings with the Prime Minister and representatives of his office we made a number of requests including the cancellation of 400 million shekels ($106 million) in planned security spending cuts in Judea and Samaria, the return of IDF forces which had been removed from the area, the return of security checkpoints, and a Zionist response to the terror attacks by [expanding] settlement [in Judea and Samaria]. To our great disappointment, however, the vast majority of our requests were dismissed or ignored.”
The three settlement leaders also played down an announcement Tuesday by a government planning committee that it had green-lighted 1,113 new homes in Judea and Samaria.
“You expect us to accept [this situation] and be thankful for the approval of a few housing projects, some of which were already approved in the past, and none of which are groundbreaking.”