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TOVAH LAZAROFF / The Jerusalem Post Israel is not planning to unilaterally hand over portions of Area C in the West Bank to the Palestinian Authority, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told the Likud ministers on Sunday.
“There won’t be any transfer of territory to the Palestinians, not 40,000 (dunams), not 10,000 (dunmas) and not even one meter,” Netanyahu said on Sunday.
He spoke after Samaria Regional Council head Yossi Dagan publicly charged that the Office of the Coordinator for Government Activities in the Territories and the Civil Administration was continuing work on a plan to transfer 10,000 dunams of territory in Area C to the Palestinian Authority.
On his behalf Likud ministers — Ofir Akunis, Ze’ev Elkin, Haim Katz, Yisrael Katz and Miri Regev — raised the issue with Netanyahu at their weekly ministerial meeting.
Last week, US Secretary of State John Kerry reportedly had turned down a plan by Netanyahu to allow the Palestinians to build in Area C in exchange for stopping terror attacks in Israel and US acceptance of Israel’s right to build in the settlement blocs, which Israel believes will be part of its final borders in any final status agreement.
