The third annual Conference on the Application of Israeli Sovereignty to Judea and Samaria will take place Tuesday evening. This year's conference is subtitled: From the Edmond Levy Report to Sovereignty. The event is being organized by Women for Israel's Tomorrow, known popularly as the "Women in Green".
The conference will discuss the ramifications of Israel finally annexing the districts of Judea and Samaria. This week's incident at Oz Tzion will give the conference more significance. The Israeli government has often evicted Jewish residents from areas not zoned for habitation by the Defense Ministry.
Nadia Matar interview
Since the Oslo Accords of 1993, the regions have been divided into areas A, B and C. Israel has full control of Area C where most of the over 340,000 Jewish residents live. Area A was assigned to the Palestinian Authority where most of the Arab residents live. Area B is under joint control and has large tracts of barren land.
"Some say that we should apply sovereignty then only over Area C," Matar told Arutz Sheva's live streaming English language audiocast. "But others say no, we must annex all of our land."
She added, "the hardest question is what will be the status of the Arab residents after we apply sovereignty. There are a wide variety of options," Matar stated. A panel discussion with a question and answer session with audience members will debate the issue.
According to many estimates, 1.5 million Arabs live in the region. However, accurate statistics have been difficult to obtain, with some claiming the Arab demographics have been artificially inflated.
Following the Six Day War of 1967, the formerly Jordanian-occupied neighborhoods of Jerusalem including the Old City were officially incorporated as parts of Israel, as were the Golan Heights. However, Judea and Samaria were never officially annexed by the Israeli government. The IDF Civil Administration has jurisdiction over the districts.
Among the speakers will be former MK Geula Cohen; MK Aryeh Eldad (Otzma LeYisrael); Minister Yuli Edelstein (Likud); MK Yariv Levin (Likud); MK Zev Elkin (Likud); Moshe Feiglin (Likud); Rabbi Eli Ben Dahan (Bayit Yehudi); Caroline Glick of the Jerusalem Post; attorney Alan Baker; Davidi Perl, head of the Gush Etzion Regional Council; Dr. Mordechai Kedar of Bar Ilan University; Dr. Martin Sherman of the Israel Institute for Strategic Studies, and Yehudit Katzover of Women for Israel's Tomorrow. Eran Bar-Tal of Maariv newspaper will moderate the panel debate.
A humorous skit from Latma, a political satire TV show, will be performed as well. All lectures and panel discussions will be in Hebrew with simultaneous English translation.
The conference will be held January 1st at 6:00PM at the Bayit Vegan Guest House.
Arutz Sheva's Hebrew language news site will simulcast the event. Nadia Matar, co-chair of the Women for Israel's Tomorrow spoke to Arutz Sheva / Israel National Radio about the event. For the full podcast click here.
INR staff writer Ben Bresky contributed to this report.
