Smotrich joins march celebrating 50 years of settlements in northern West Bank, urges annexation

Thousands of people are participating in a march and rally celebrating 50 years of settlement in the Samaria region of the West Bank, when in 1975 activists from the Gush Emunim settlement movement succeeded in obtaining permission to establish the settlement of Kedumim after trying to settle close to the area of ancient Sebastia and the Ottoman era train station in the area.

Lauding the Gush Emunim and broader settler movement, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who is participating in the march to the old Sebastia railway station, says that the next 50 years will be symbolized by the effort to annex the West Bank or “apply Israeli sovereignty” over the region, as Smotrich refers to the process.

“After having built settlements, and taken hold [of the territory], we are continuing to take hold with our feet of the Land of Israel with many pioneers, many heroes, and hundreds of thousands of settlers who live in this part of the land,” says the Finance Minister. “We need to normalize it and make it eternal.”

Also on the march are Science and Technology Minister Gila Gamliel, head of the Samaria Regional Council Yossi Dagan, and Benny Katzover, one of the founders of Gush Emunim.

“We are continuing our tradition, history, the Bible, this is our life, the Land of Israel, the holy land,” says Ohad Shlomo, a 30-year-old resident of the nearby settlement of Einav who is on the march with his wife and four young children.

“I’ve just come out of Gaza from reserve duty, and I believe in the value of holding on to the land and continuing in the way of our forefathers. The land is an inseparable part of the people. There is no people without the land.”