The co-chairwomen of the Sovereignty Movement called on the Israeli government to end the “temporary situation” in Judea and Samaria and apply full sovereignty. According to them, the move would lead to the dismantling of the Palestinian Authority and provide certainty for entrepreneurs and residents: “Without sovereignty, the world sees us as occupiers.”
At the Sovereignty Conference of Channel 14 held on Wednesday May 13, Yehudit Katsover and Nadia Matar, co-chairwomen of the Sovereignty Movement, presented their vision for applying Israeli law to Judea and Samaria. The two women, who have been active in this field since the expulsion from Gush Katif in 2005, argued that the current situation — in which nearly one million Israelis live in the area without official sovereignty — is a planning and economic distortion that must come to an end.
Katsover recalled the beginning of their joint activity following the disengagement plan: “In 2005 everyone was heartbroken, but we decided to continue our activities with even greater determination in order to prevent another expulsion. We began redeeming land in Gush Etzion as a response to Arab illegal takeover of state lands, but we understood that it is impossible to ‘empty the sea with a spoon’ — a comprehensive political change must be led.”
According to them, applying sovereignty is legally a simple step that has already been carried out in the past in Jerusalem in 1967 and 1980, and in the Golan Heights in 1981. Matar added that despite concerns over the world’s reaction, history proves that such moves undergo “normalization” over time, as happened with the Trump administration’s recognition of Jerusalem.
During the interview, Matar presented the “National Outline Plan 35 map,” which displays Israel’s future development plans, and noted that Judea and Samaria appear on it as “a white hole in the heart of the state.” “When the State of Israel does not apply sovereignty, it signals to the world that it is living in a rented apartment,” she explained. “In such a situation, it is impossible to ‘hammer in a nail’ — entrepreneurs are afraid to establish factories or hotels in Judea and Samaria because everything remains uncertain and everything can be reversed.”
According to their worldview, sovereignty is a tool for security and for achieving a psychological victory: “The enemy draws hope from the fact that Israel has not yet decided that the territory is its own forever. Settlement without sovereignty is reversible and thus as long as there is no sovereignty, the Arabs continue to hope they can get a Palestinian state. The moment sovereignty is applied, the hope for the establishment of a Palestinian state will die.”
The two emphasized that the events of October 7 sharpened the need for such a move. Katsover and Matar argued that there is no need to wait for the formal cancellation of the Oslo Accords before applying sovereignty; rather, sovereignty itself would effectively nullify the accords.
“Apply sovereignty, and it will cancel Oslo and the Palestinian Authority,” Katsover declared. The two women concluded by calling on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to adopt the 2017 Likud Central Committee resolution and act to apply Israeli law, from the firm belief that “Israel should control the territory between the sea and the Jordan River.”