Yesterday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu held a special meeting with the heads of local authorities in Judea and Samaria, the Yesha Council. The meeting, which took place in the community of Ofra, lasted longer than expected and was attended by council leaders from across the region.

Yossi Dagan, head of the Samaria Regional Council, told the Prime Minister during the meeting:
“There is an overwhelming majority in the nation for sovereignty. Sovereignty is victory in a central arena, one that will impact other arenas as well. Complete victory is sovereignty. Complete victory means strengthening our hold on the land of Israel.

Sovereignty eliminates the ‘stages plan’ and therefore guarantees the existence of the State of Israel from a security standpoint. You have stood against enormous pressures throughout the war, and the public expects sovereignty—it will stand behind you. If you apply sovereignty, the national camp, the center, and even some who present themselves as left-wing, will stand behind you. The people support you and stand with you on sovereignty—not only the residents of Judea and Samaria, but throughout the entire State of Israel. And the people, the great majority of them, truly expect sovereignty. Not the Geneva Initiative of settlement blocs, which means a terror state in the heart of the country, but full sovereignty over all the communities and open areas.”

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Dagan added: “If these hypocrites at the UN in effect cancel Oslo this coming September, there is no reason not to apply sovereignty to all the open areas in Judea and Samaria, excluding the Palestinian Authority villages.”

After the meeting, Yossi Dagan said, ““I am experienced in meetings of this kind, and I can say that this was a very good meeting. The Prime Minister was sharp, attentive, respectful, and listened both to the words and to the tone. The Prime Minister chose not to go into details, and that is the right thing at this stage, but I can say clearly—he was sharp, attentive, and respectful. This was evident throughout the entire meeting. We represent the overwhelming majority of the people of Israel, and we placed before him both a statement and a clear demand: true victory means sovereignty. Not only in the settlement blocs, as proposed by the Geneva Initiative, but over all the communities and open areas in Judea and Samaria.”