A group of right-wing lawmakers in Israel’s parliament has introduced a bill calling on the government to declare full Israeli sovereignty over the Jordan Valley starting Oct. 7, 2024, exactly one year after Hamas’s cross-border terrorist massacre in the northwestern Negev region.
“A true victory will be possible only when the enemy feels that Oct. 7 was a mistake, turning it into a day of mourning for them,” Dan Illouz, a lawmaker for the ruling Likud Party who serves as the chairman of the Knesset’s Jordan Valley Sovereignty Caucus, said on Sunday.
“We must complete the task by deepening our roots in our land and imposing sovereignty over wide areas of the country. This will make it clear to any enemy seeking to expel us from our land that the outcome of such a terrible action will be both the end of its existence and...the deepening of our roots in our land,” stated Illouz, who initiated the bill together with the Sovereignty Movement NGO.
On Saturday night, Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich announced that four new Jewish towns in Judea and Samaria had obtained permanent legal recognition from Israel’s Interior Ministry, finalizing their official approval by the government in Jerusalem.
The Jewish communities that received recognition over the weekend are Mishmar Yehuda near Kedar in northeastern Gush Etzion; Shaharit near Ariel, the capital of Samaria; Beit Hogla in the Megilot Regional Council near the Dead Sea; and Asael in the South Hebron Hills.
The four towns, which for many years had been forced to contend with a severe lack of basic infrastructure, received initial approval from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government following a deadly Jan. 27, 2023 terror attack in the Jerusalem neighborhood of Neve Yaakov.
“This is a necessary stamp of approval that symbolizes the end of the process that began over a year ago,” stated the Yesha Council, which represents the some 500,000 Israelis living in Judea and Samaria.
“Especially in these difficult days, when we are at war for our homeland, strengthening Judea and Samaria is a necessary Zionist and national undertaking for the Jewish people,” added chairman Shlomo Ne’eman.
Smotrich, who is in charge of civilian affairs in Judea and Samaria, praised the development as “another step in regulating the ‘young settlement’ that we had promised to advance.”
The Jewish population in Judea and Samaria grew by almost 15,000 people last year, according to a report released earlier this year.
As of Jan. 1, 2024, 517,407 Jews lived in the area, up from 502,991 on the same date in 2023. Last year’s growth amounted to a 2.87% increase in population.
The Jewish population in Judea and Samaria has grown 15.11% since 2019, when 449,508 Jews lived in the area, according to the document. The report projected the Jewish population in the area would reach 613,554 by 2030; 706,233 by 2035; and 1,020,506 by 2047.
