More than a month after the midterms in the US, Binyamin Regional Council Governor Israel Ganz flew to Washington for work meetings with Senators and Congressmen from both the Democrat and Republican parties, to advance the goals of the Israeli communities in Judea, Samaria and Binyamin.
Ganz asked for the lawmakers' help in the struggle against the Arab takeover of Israeli state lands and asked for American aid to be channeled into developing infrastructure and roads in Judea and Samaria.
During his visit, Ganz showed Congressmen Dr. Andy Harris (Rep., Maryland), Warren Davidson (Rep., Ohio) and other congressmen a specially prepared comprehensive survey of the grievous environmental damage occurring every day in dozens of sites throughout Judea and Samaria, damage that is a health hazard for millions of residents of both Israel and the Palestinian Authority, throughout the entire region. The survey Ganz presented detailed the PA towns and villages that burn their garbage illegally, in close proximity to nature sites in nearly 60 locations adjacent to Jewish towns and villages in Binyamin, causing terrible air pollution.
Ganz presented a map demonstrating the Arab takeover of Israeli state lands and the involvement of the European Union in promoting PA projects aimed at the strategic appropriation of land in Judea and Samaria. The maps displayed the full extent of illegal Arab construction strangling Jewish towns and villages, as well as the roads connecting them.
Presented with this information, Congressman Andy Harris said that, “the Israeli Government has every right to halt illegal building by the Palestinian Authority or any other body or persons, in areas under Israeli control. This includes Areas C of the Oslo accords - the only areas of Judea, Samaria and Binyamin that are allocated for Israeli use, noting that, "The intervention by any outside authority, including the EU, is unacceptable.
"This intervention is an illegal breach of the sovereignty of the Israeli government and undermines the agreement," he pointed out.
Harris, a senior member of the House Committee on Appropriations, applauded Ganz’s efforts on the issue of environmental damage and noted that it is unacceptable that aide provided by Congress and the European Union is being used to fund the worst environmental damage in Judea, Samaria and the Binyamin Region, with the money appropriated toward environmental pollution and contamination of drinking water in the area.
Ganz thanked the congressmen for their hospitality and willingness to continue promoting significant actions in Washington for the good of the Israeli communities in Judea, Samaria and Binyamin. “The environmental pollution affects every citizen of the area, whether Jewish or Arab,” added Ganz. “Unfortunately, the PA systematically ignores the importance of this vital issue. That is the reason I have relayed this subject to you, in the US House of Representatives, and I thank them Congressmen and Senators who support us on this critical issue," he said.
"The State of Israel views the US as a genuine partner in Israel’s development, and this very evident here in the House of Representatives," pointed out Ganz. "Our common interest in protecting the State of Israel strengthens us and gives us the confidence to overcome the many challenges, alongside the maximum development of the Jewish communities in Binyamin.”