Despite US opposition, settler leader urges immediate West Bank annexation

Despite US opposition, settler leader urges immediate West Bank annexation

Despite US Ambassador to Israel David Friedman cautioning Israel against unilaterally parts of the West Bank, a prominent settler leader and ally of Prime Minister Netanyahu is calling for the government to honor the premier’s earlier promise to immediately do so.

“Yesha Council chairman David Elhayani again calls on the prime minister to fulfill his commitment to the residents of Judea, Samaria and the Jordan Valley to apply sovereignty before the elections and to do this as early as possible,” a statement from Elhayani, who also heads the Jordan Valley Regional Council, says.

“He [Netanyahu] has public and political backing,” the statement adds.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is seen with Jordan Valley Regional Council David Elhayani at an event commemorating 50 years of settlement in the Jordan Valley on October 19, 2017. (Courtesy)

Oded Revivi, a Yesha Council member and mayor of the Efrat settlement, also weighs in on Friedman commenting that a joint US-Israeli commission be established to draw up maps before annexation.

“When it comes to such an important issue, the international support that the US knows how to produce is important,” Revevi says in a statement.

He adds: “I call on my partners in the settlement leadership to produce a joint working mechanism together with the prime minister so that we’ll come to the Americans as one man.”