Yesha Challenges Netanyahu to Sign Pledge to Renew Building

Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu
A7 News

Leaders of Judea and Samaria have challenged Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu to fulfill his promise publically and declare the renewal of building on September 26, when the 10-month freeze ends, before he leaves next week for ”direct talks” with the Palestinian Authority,.

“Evading the approval of tenders on September 26 is equivalent to continuing the building freeze. This is the day of judgment,” they stated. In a letter to Prime Minister Netanyahu, with copies to Cabinet ministers and Knesset Members, the Council of Jewish Communities in Judea and Samaria (Yesha) reminded the Prime Minister of his public comment after the building freeze began, when he said, “Even if Abu Mazen (PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas) comes in another eight months and tells me ‘peace now,” we will begin to build as we did before” the freeze.

The Yesha leaders want a similar public declaration that building will renew and noted that simply not extending the freeze officially is not a solution to the problem of lack of public and private facilities for Jews in Judea and Samaria.

They wrote, “There should be no doubt. The main significance of ending the freeze and returning to building “as before” is not fulfilled simply by not renewing the freeze but rather by immediate approval of tenders for building projects that already have passed the bureaucratic process and are waiting only for the political signature of the Defense Minister [Ehud Barak]. These tenders must be signed and approved on September 26 [when the freeze expires] in order to enable a return to normal life as you promised.

The letter included a New Year’s greeting and incorporated the needed signature for approving construction with the traditional Rosh HaShanah blessing that one “be inscribed” for a good year.

“Happy New Year. May you be inscribed for a good year, and it is our opinion that the most important ’inscription’ for the future of the nation will be the “good inscription [play on the word for signature in Hebrew which is the same as inscription] for tenders for building and continuing development of life in Judea and Samaria,” the letter concluded.