Israeli Mayor Invites Trump To Visit West Bank Jewish Communities

TEL AVIV – The chief foreign envoy of the settler movement on Wednesday invited President-elect Donald Trump to visit Jewish communities in the West Bank during his tenure.

“I invite him to become the first active US president to visit our flourishing communities and witness how our presence in Judea and Samaria is key to ensuring a peaceful future for millions of Palestinians and Israelis,” Oded Revivi, the mayor of Efrat and chief foreign envoy of the Yesha Council, said in a statement.

According to senior Trump adviser David Friedman, Trump will not support the mass uprooting of Jewish residents of the West Bank and east Jerusalem as part of a peace deal with the Palestinians.

“It is inconceivable there could be a mass evacuation on that magnitude, in the unlikely event that there was an otherwise comprehensive peace agreement,” Friedman told The Algemeiner. “It makes no sense for Judea and Samaria to be ‘Judenrein [void of Jews],’ any more than it makes sense for Israel to be ‘Arabrein [void of Arabs].’ It’s not fair.”

Meanwhile, as Breitbart Jerusalem reported, nationalist MK Bezalel Smotrich (Jewish Home) called for renewed construction in the settlements following Trump’s election victory.

“I urge the prime minister and the entire government to stand behind the settlements in Judea and Samaria, and announce today the construction of thousands of new housing units, planning and construction of new towns and cities,” Smotrich said, adding that doing so would “remove the blemish that the previous administration sought to implement – that the settlements are an obstacle to peace.”

Last month, Breitbart Jerusalem reported that Mayor Revivi invited Palestinians to his home in Efrat on the Jewish festival of Succot for a peace event. The Palestinian Authority arrested four of the Palestinian visitors over charges of “normalization,” the Palestinian term for fraternizing with the enemy.

Two months prior to the elections, Republicans Overseas Israel opened a West Bank office in Karnei Shomron, a community housing a large number of dual Israeli-American citizens.