A day of celebration for governance and environmental protection

Regavim congratulates the government of Israel: We welcome the decisions announced by the Cabinet last night (Thursday), a series of steps that will strengthen Jewish communities and governance in Judea and Samaria and shore up Israel’s stance against those who seek to harm the Jewish State.

Alongside approval of five Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria, the measures announced by the Cabinet last night include the long-overdue decision to reclaim Israel’s responsibility for the Wye Accords-designated nature reserve.

The Wye Accords, the third of the three agreements that comprise the Oslo Accords framework, transferred responsibility for protection of the unique ecosystem of the Judean Desert to the hands of the Palestinian Authority. The territory transferred to PA control was designated as a no-construction zone, in order to protect the unique desert ecosystem and to ensure that Israel’s interest would not be threatened in this crucial strategic area – but before the ink dried on the agreement, the Palestinian Authority began wholesale violations. In short order, it became clear that a large city was being built in the nature reserve.

For too many years, Israeli governments have turned a blind eye to the massive construction, aided and abetted by foreign concerns, in the nature reserve. Regavim has been sounding the alarm for years, working in conjunction with the Gush Etzion and Har Hevron Regional Councils to alert the public and to spur our elected officials to act.

Today, at long last, the Israeli government has finally confronted this outrageous violation of international law in a decision that will prevent further environmental harm caused by the Palestinian Authority’s methodical program of land theft and annexation.

We welcome this decision, and hope that it is the first step in a larger Israeli reevaluation of the validity of the Oslo Accords, in light of the utter disregard for international law proudly and emphatically displayed in both words and actions by the Palestinian Authority.

We congratulate Prime Minister Netanyahu, Minister of Finance Smotrich, Minister of Defense Gallant and municipal leaders of the Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria for their leadership and for this important step toward restoring law and order to the region. We congratulate MK Yuli Edelstein, Chairman of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, for his untiring efforts to protect the nature reserve.