Two settlement leaders, Ben Gvir call to annex West Bank after Trump victory
Yesha Council head, Beit El mayor say now is the time to apply Israeli sovereignty to disputed territory, expand settlements, push to end Biden’s sanctions on extremist settlers
Jeremy Sharon is The Times of Israel’s legal affairs and settlements reporter
In the wake of Donald Trump’s victory in the US presidential election on Wednesday, two settler leaders called for Israel to annex the West Bank, describing Trump’s election as a new opportunity to expand Israeli sovereignty to the disputed territory. The demand was also backed by far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir.
Israel Ganz, head of the Yesha Council umbrella organization of settlement municipalities, claimed annexing the West Bank would bring stability and “true peace” to the region, while Beit El Mayor Shai Alon echoed that sentiment and also said now was the time to “build widely and extensively” in the territory.
They also both called for an end to the sanctions imposed by the Biden administration on extremist settlers and illegal settlement outposts in the past year that have angered the settlement movement.
Otzma Yehudit party leader Ben Gvir, himself a resident of the Kiryat Arba settlement, said in the Knesset plenum on Wednesday that “this is the time for sovereignty.”
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu sought to annex all the settlements and the Jordan Valley region of the West Bank in 2020, asserting that he would be doing so with the agreement of the Trump administration, but was eventually forced to back away from the idea as Trump sought to advance his Israeli-Palestinian peace plan.
“We have merited a president who loves Israel and loves Judea and Samaria,” said Ganz at the launch of a new “Trump” wine label at the Psagot winery on Wednesday, using the Biblical names for the West Bank region.
“Now the entire region is waiting for policies that will bring about stability and true peace. The path to there goes through the application of sovereignty in Judea and Samaria,” continued Ganz, who also heads the Binyamin Regional Council in the central West Bank.
He added that the idea of establishing a Palestinian state must be dropped from the agenda, as well as what he called “the sanctions against the settlements and the State of Israel.”
Beit El’s Alon said Trump’s election heralded “a golden age for settlement” in the West Bank.
“This is an unparalleled opportunity to act with great resolve in the Judea and Samaria region, to put an end to the murderous terrorism here, and to continue Israeli construction widely and extensively in all our territory,” declared Alon.
“This is the time to apply sovereignty to Judea and Samaria and to recognize the region is part of the complete Israel,” he continued, adding, like Ganz, that “there will not be two states here between the sea and Jordan.
Speaking in the Knesset, Ben Gvir rejoiced at Trump’s victory, and said it was now “the time for sovereignty, the time for total victory, the time here in the State of Israel to legislate a law for the death penalty for terrorists,” and many other laws which he opined Trump would not oppose.
The Trump peace plan unveiled in January 2020 envisioned a truncated, demilitarized Palestinian state being established only after complying with strict conditions, and with Israel having annexed large parts of the West Bank, particularly the Jordan Valley.
Right-wing members of the government at the time, including current Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, as well as the settlement movement in general, opposed the key elements of the Trump plan that would have established a Palestinian state.
After Trump lost the 2020 election to Joe Biden, the plan was dropped.
