Knesset Bill Proposes Annexing All Jerusalem-Area Settlements

TEL AVIV – A new bill to annex the settlements around Jerusalem will be submitted to the Knesset this week, the Jerusalem Post reported.

MK Yehuda Glick (Likud) is advancing the private member’s legislation, which would cover one-third of the 386,000 settlers in Judea and Samaria residing in communities including Ma’aleh Adumim, Givat Ze’ev, Adam, Psagot, Ma’aleh Michmash and the Gush Etzion bloc.

A similar bill annexing Ma’aleh Adumim has been submitted and is awaiting approval from the Ministerial Committee for Legislation. But according to Glick, annexing Ma’aleh Adumim alone is not enough.

Applying sovereignty to all the communities around Jerusalem would strengthen the capital and distance the notion of a Palestinian state, Glick said. He added that the bill has already garnered support from Deputy Foreign Minister Tzipi Hotovely and Transportation Minister Israel Katz.

He noted that his bill comes at an auspicious time, ahead of the 50th anniversary of the Six Day War that saw Judea and Samaria liberated from Jordan, and as such this should be “the year of sovereignty.”

The new bill comes on the heels of a series of annexation attempts put forward by nationalist politicians here since President Donald Trump came into office.

So far, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has not supported efforts toward annexation, fearing it would cause too much backlash from the U.S. and international community. Instead, he favors a scenario in which the U.S. would lend its support for building within existing settlements.

A group of nationalist politicians from the Knesset Land of Israel Caucus published an open letter to Netanyahu Sunday, urging him “to seize the opportunity provided by the entry of the new U.S. administration … [and] prevent the establishment of an Arab terrorist state in the Land of Israel, and to stand for freedom, prosperity and building of communities throughout Judea and Samaria.”