Head of the Samaria Council: Sovereignty does not require American consent. This is how Begin, Eshkol and Olmert acted. Sovereignty must not be bound to consent to a terror state in the Land of Israel.
In an interview with Arutz 7, head of Samaria Council Yossi Dagan strongly attacked the idea that Israeli sovereignty in Judea and Samaria would be dependent on consenting to establish a terror state in the heart of the Land of Israel.
Dagan dismisses the claim that stubborn rejection to establish a Palestinian state practically blocks the advancement of the vision of sovereignty. “I totally reject the idea that the application of sovereignty must entail consenting to establish a terror state. Moreover, I reject the idea that the application of sovereignty depends on the consent or approval of any other state, even the U.S.”
Dagan says that “when Menahem Begin and Eshkol applied sovereignty earlier in the Golan and Jerusalem, they acted in total contradiction to the U.S.’s position. Eshkol, as a leader of the Left, decided that he was going to apply sovereignty over liberated Jerusalem despite staunch American opposition, saying that we are a sovereign state. Begin did it in one day, and Reagan became furious and threatened to cancel the strategic-defense agreement between the U.S. and Israel. Begin, in response, canceled the agreement himself and applied sovereignty. He said at the time that we are not a banana republic or a vassal state. After a few months with no defense agreement he flew to the U.S. and reconciled with Reagan”.
Dagan further notes that Ehud Olmert also acted in this spirit when he decided to bomb the Syrian nuclear reactor. He also tells of a conversation between senior American figures on that matter: “There is a story that was never published, but I heard it from an American source who was in the room. The source told me that Olmert called President Bush and told him that we were about to bomb the reactor. Bush objected and said that we should work with diplomatic tools, but Olmert said that with all due respect, these are our interests and he is the one who must decide. The person who was in the room told me that Bush himself told his people ‘Olmert is a courageous person and I respect him’”.
According to him, this is how Israeli leadership must act, “certainly when we are talking about Trump a half year before elections when everyone knows that his base loves Israel and supports sovereignty even more than some of our own ministers, it is foolish to say that the application of sovereignty requires the U.S. consent”.
Dagan emphasizes further: “Even for sovereignty, it is not worth recognizing a terror state in the heart of the Land and dividing communities into blocs, certainly when such consent is not demanded. We are an independent state and this is my call to the Prime Minister, as I told him just before the White House announcement, and I say it also to our American friends, this is a good administration that we respect. I was active in Trumps’ campaign, since he loves Israel, but our Prime Minister is Netanyahu and not Trump nor Friedman”.
“The People expects Netanyahu to correct the historic injustice, apply sovereignty and oppose the establishment of the terror state in the heart of the Land”, says Dagan, counting on a huge majority in the government and outside the government (Yamina and Yisrael Beiteinu) that require taking steps toward the application of sovereignty and saying that he expects the Prime Minister to stand on the principle of ‘yes’ to sovereignty and ‘no’ to establishing a terror state in the heart of the Land”.
“This is a fixed pattern”, says Dagan, “when it was Obama they said that he was a hostile president so it was impossible to quarrel with him and when there is a sympathetic president they say that he is sympathetic, so let’s not quarrel with him”. Dagan notes that there is a rare and timely political opportunity before us, with a more pro-Israel American president than we have ever had, when Europe is busy coping with the Corona virus and most of the Arab states oppose the PA more than they are against Israel. “This is the time to get to work”.
“During the period of Corona, there is a lot of spin by the politicians and naïve people among the settlers. I call on the Prime Minister to stand strong and apply sovereignty next month, as he promised. It will pass with a large majority and the U.S. will join in, and even if it doesn’t join, it won’t be terrible. This is how it was with the Golan and Jerusalem. It took the U.S. a few decades to recognize it. So what?”.