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Settler leader pens letter to Trump urging him to back annexation in West Bank
A settler leader sends a letter to US President Donald Trump calling on his administration to back Israeli plans to annex large parts of the West Bank.
“Please declare your agreement that the government of Israel apply the laws of the State of Israel to the Jewish communities in the Land of the Bible,” writes Yochai Damri, the chairman of the Har Hebron Regional Council in the southern West Bank.
At the unveiling of his peace plan in January, Trump recognized Jewish historic ties to biblical Judea and Samaria and said his administration would be prepared to recognize Israeli sovereignty over those areas beyond the Green Line.
However, that support has appeared to waver since and was officially put on hold when Israel agreed to suspend annexation plans in exchange for normalized ties with the UAE.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has insisted that the suspension is only temporary, but sources with knowledge of the matter told The Times of Israel last month that the US promised the UAE that it would not back annexation until at least 2024. The Israeli premier has repeatedly acknowledged that he will not go forward with the move without US approval.
The freeze of the plan has deeply angered settler leaders, who had been strong supporters of Trump.
In his letter to Trump, Damri praises him for moving the US embassy to Jerusalem and recognizing Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights.
He then insists that preventing Israel from extending sovereignty over West Bank lands is an “injustice.”
“It is unjust that citizens of Israel are subject to a daily regime that denies them the right to live under the laws of their state. Incomprehensibly, that is the current situation of the residents of the Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria,” he says in the English letter.
“I have no doubt that God willing remember you and continue to help you, and prove wrong all of the polls and all of your political opponents and se you continue see you continue in your holy work as president of the great United States of America,” Damri concludes.
— Jacob Magid
