MKs censure ‘govt’s abandonment of Israeli land’ to Palestinians

“This area more than any other symbolizes the government’s abandonment of the land.”

By World Israel News Staff

A number of Knesset members of the Religious Zionist party travelled to Judea and Samaria on Sunday to be briefed on what they say is Palestinian encroachment of Area C, the part of  Samaria under Israeli control.

Samaria Regional Council head Yossi Dagan told Religious Zionist Party MKs that encroachment included illegal building construction, paving of new roads,and planting, among other actions.

“Three months ago, I was here with a senior official in the Civil Administration; there were then 52 illegal buildings controlled by the Palestinian Authority – now there are 70,” Dagan said. He noted that it was all being funded by the European Union.

Furthermore, Dagan said, last week Jewish residents came to plant in order to prevent further Arab encroachment, but they were forced out by the military and threatened with arrest.

“This area more than any other symbolizes the government’s abandonment of the land,” he said.

Religious Zionist party head Bezalel Smotrich said that while the struggle to maintain hold of the land is not new, there has been “a dangerous escalation over the last few months, ever since the current government took power.”

“[Defense Minister Benny] Gantz has given a green light to [PA head] Abu Mazen [aka Mahmoud Abbas] and to the European Union, which is funding their strategic takeover – and we can see the dangerous outcome right before our eyes,” Smotrich added.

MK Simcha Rothman slammed the Civil Administration for “systematically discriminating against Jews…and essentially aiding the Palestinians to consolidate their takeover of the land in Area C.”

MK Ofir Sofer said, “It seems to me that the government really has no grasp of the extent of the problem here. This battle to hold onto Area C is one that we have to fight with all our might. It’s the battle for our borders.”