“The Trump presidency is a historic opportunity to say the land of Israel is ours,” Erdan said.
The Palestinians should be made to pay a price for failing to reach an agreement with Israel, Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan (Likud) said at Monday’s Jerusalem Conference.
Erdan said that in the past, the Palestinians had a mantra that time was on their side and waiting to reach an agreement with Israel would pay off for them. He said that now with a pro-Israel president in Donald Trump, time worked against the Palestinians.
“The Trump presidency is a historic opportunity to say the land of Israel is ours,” Erdan said. “With a friend who realizes settlements aren’t an impediment to peace, the Palestinians can be made to realize that time no longer works in their favor and that they will pay a price for their refusal. There should be building everywhere in Judea and Samaria, not just in Jerusalem and settlement blocs, because that would set a de facto border.”
Erdan said now was the time for Israel to apply sovereignty to Ariel and Greater Jerusalem, including Gush Etzion.
He said the policies of Trump’s predecessor, Barack Obama’s policies were “180 degrees the opposite of what we believe in.”
Earlier, in an interview with Army Radio, Erdan said that all the members of the security cabinet oppose a Palestinian state, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who told the security cabinet ministers when they met Sunday that he would not renounce his support for a two-state solution.
As reported by The Jerusalem Post