Samaria Council head to Bennett: Announce there will be no construction freeze

The head of the Samaria Regional Council, Yossi Dagan, responded on Tuesday to a report which said the Israeli government, under pressure from the US administration, had agreed to postpone the meeting of the Supreme Planning Council, which grants building permits in Judea and Samaria.

“I call on Prime Minister Naftali Bennett to make it unequivocally clear that the government headed by him will not make any kind of construction freeze in Judea and Samaria and in Jerusalem,” Dagan said.

“About half a million citizens living in Judea and Samaria and another four hundred thousand living in eastern and northern Jerusalem are not type B residents in this country, and Jerusalem and Judea and Samaria are the heart of the State of Israel and every government must build them. I hope the report is incorrect and call on the Prime Minister to clarify this and approve construction.”

Dagan added that “the excuse and argument about American pressure did not catch on and was not true in the previous governments led by Benjamin Netanyahu – and they are just as wrong in the government led by Naftali Bennett. Just as I and the entire settlement and the entire national camp fought fiercely against any construction freeze in previous governments – we will all fight with full force and stand firm so that there will be no kind of construction freeze in Judea and Samaria and in Jerusalem by this government.”

“The public in Israel expects a construction boom in this government as well, in this administration as well, the ball has never been in Washington’s court, it has always been and will be and will be in Jerusalem, with the Prime Minister,” Dagan clarified.

The Prime Minister’s Office said in response, “There has been no American demand on the issue. The Planning Council has not convened since January. The Prime Minister in all these months has not been Naftali Bennett.”