Netanyahu: I won’t let settlements be uprooted in any diplomatic plan

Speaking Wednesday at the Kohelet Policy Forum conference in Jerusalem, he said how he remembers the “huge excitement that struck me as a soldier in a tanker cruiser navigating Judea and Samaria, and we first saw all the places we learned about in the Bible, Hebron and Shiloh and the Dothan Valley.

“Decades before the Six-Day War, Jews lived in Judea and Samaria,” he told the crowd. “There will be no displacement of Jewish settlers, so long as it depends on me.

“We have never lost our right to live in Judea and Samaria,” he continued. “The only thing we lost was the ability to exercise our right – temporarily.”

He said Jerusalem will not be divided, noting that the communities in Judea and Samaria strengthen the Israeli economy for Jews and Arabs alike.

“We must take advantage of this historic opportunity,” he said, referring to the support of the United States for the Jewish settlements. “We must not let it pass,” he said, warning of “weak leadership” that will “hit rewind,” in an apparent reference to his election rival Blue and White leader Benny Gantz.