In bid to block Palestinian land grabs, Israel’s Defense Minister announces plans to recognize 140 Jewish farms across Judea and Samaria.
By World Israel News Staff
The Israeli government is preparing to normalize the status of 140 Jewish farms across Judea and Samaria, Defense Minister Israel Katz (Likud) announced on Monday, as part of a larger effort to combat unauthorized land seizures by Palestinian Arabs.
Katz addressed a conference on agriculture in Samaria, organized by the Benjamin Regional Council, the Arutz Sheva media outlet, the government’s Ministry of Settlements and National Missions, and the Israeli farms association, lauding the “pioneering” spirit of agricultural workers in Judea and Samaria.
“Anyone who seeks to see Zionism at its best—what deep commitment to the Land of Israel is, and what a true connection to the soil of the land looks like—will find all of this in the agricultural farms of Judea and Samaria,” Katz said.
“This tremendous and important endeavor is a direct continuation of pioneering settlement across generations, from the beginnings of Zionism to the present day, and it also provides a tailwind that gives momentum to the entire settlement enterprise.”
The defense minister said the fledgling farms and other agricultural operations in Judea and Samaria made a major “strategic contribution to the security of the area against the Palestinian enemy.”
Pro-settlement activists have in recent months hailed the expansion of Jewish communities and farms in eastern Samaria, creating a territorial continuity from the Jordan Valley to the strategically important Tapuach Junction.
In contrast to new housing developments, which tend to have relatively high population densities and thus impact a relatively limited amount of territory, the fledgling agricultural communities in Judea and Samaria have expanded the Jewish presence in the territories over a wide area, with a relatively small number of farmers and shepherds having an outsized impact on illegal Palestinian construction.
Katz called the new farms a “fortified wall to safeguard our lands and strengthen our hold on our historic homeland,” while revealing the government’s plans to recognize more than 140 such farms.
“I am advancing, with the support of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and in close cooperation with Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, the normalization of more than 140 farms in Judea and Samaria; another step to strengthen settlement and weaken Palestinian attempts to establish a foothold in the area.”
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