Israel’s Ministry of Transport and Road Safety is implementing a plan for “de facto sovereignty” in Judea and Samaria, Transportation Minister Miri Regev revealed in an interview with Channel 12 News on Friday.
“If you walk around there, you’ll see the number of roads, bypass roads and lighting that we are installing and constructing,” she said.
However, Regev stressed, Jerusalem should formally declare full legal sovereignty over the territories captured during the 1967 Six-Day War.
“I believe that in the end, there will be [sovereignty],” the senior minister told Channel 12. Even the U.S. administration understands that there is no other way,” she added. “Unfortunately, it’s not time yet, but there will be sovereignty.”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has led an unprecedented drive to expand control of Judea and Samaria, approving some 50,00 housing units and over 50 new Jewish communities since late 2022.
However, last month, the premier blasted opposition parties, as well as a fellow member of his ruling Likud faction, after the Knesset voted to advance two bills to apply formal sovereignty to Judea and Samaria.
The Oct. 22 Knesset votes were “a deliberate political provocation by the opposition to sow discord” during U.S. Vice President JD Vance’s three-day visit to the Jewish state, according to the Prime Minister’s Office.
The votes, which came on the second day of Vance’s visit to Israel, were condemned by the vice president and U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
“That’s not something we can be supportive of right now,” Rubio told reporters before leaving for Israel as part of Washington’s efforts to promote the ceasefire with Hamas terrorists in the Gaza Strip.
Vance told reporters as he concluded his visit, “If it was a political stunt, it was a very stupid political stunt and I personally take some insult.”
“The West Bank is not going to be annexed by Israel. The policy of the Trump administration is that the West Bank will not be annexed by Israel,” he declared at Tel Aviv’s Ben-Gurion International Airport.
Previously, in an Oct. 15 interview with Time magazine, President Donald Trump also expressed his opposition to Israeli sovereignty in Judea and Samaria, saying “I gave my word to the Arab countries. Israel would lose all of its support from the United States if that happened.”
On Feb. 21, 2024, the Knesset voted 99-11 to reject unilateral recognition of a Palestinian state in Judea and Samaria. All coalition lawmakers and most Knesset members from Zionist opposition parties voted against “international diktats regarding a permanent settlement with the Palestinians.”
Nearly 70% of Israelis want Jerusalem to extend full legal sovereignty over Judea and Samaria, according to a poll conducted on Jan. 29.
Meanwhile, 58% of Israeli Jews believe that the civilian communities in Judea and Samaria contribute to national security, according to a poll the Jewish People Policy Institute (JPPI) published on March 11.
