Netanyahu says NIS 200m earmarked for West Bank security projects

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is confronted at the Likud faction meeting by bereaved relatives of Israelis killed in terror attacks on West Bank roads, who demand more funding for bypass highways to avoid Palestinian areas and improved infrastructure.

“For 20 minutes, I waited in the area,” said Hadas Mizrahi, referring to the internet failure on the road after her husband was killed in a 2014 drive-by shooting near Hebron.

Also directly addressing the prime minister was Adva Bitton, whose daughter Adele was badly injured and later died of her injures after their car was stoned on a West Bank road and consequently crashed.

Netanyahu says he just earmarked NIS 200 million to complete the bypass roads in Qalandiya and Beit Aryeh, after meeting with Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon.

He says an additional NIS 600 million will be added to the 2019 budget, for additional routes and lighting.

But the prime minister stresses that he must “lay the groundwork” for international opinion before taking action.

“For a year we haven’t had any condemnation,” says Netanyahu of building in the West Bank. “This is not a coincidence, this is a result of listening to public opinion.”

He says the government has a “clear commitment” to resolve the issue of security on West Bank roads, but says “we aren’t talking, we’re doing.”

The terror victims’ relatives and settler leaders were holding a hunger strike outside Netanyahu’s house to demand immediate allocation of the funding.

— Marissa Newman