Annexation of Jordan Valley is priority for Israeli lawmakers and World Zionist Organization

Israeli lawmakers are launching a new Knesset group to push for the annexation of the Jordan Valley on Wednesday. The “Lobby for the Application of Sovereignty over the Jordan Valley” has also garnered support from the World Zionist Organization (WZO), a non-governmental umbrella group focused on promoting Zionism.

"Fifty-six years since we liberated Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria and the Jordan Valley, and there’s still no sovereignty,” said Yaakov Hagoel, head of the WZO.

“We’re patient, but we’re running out of patience, and need action,” he added. “We need to implement sovereignty. Both the right and the left want sovereignty in the Jordan Valley, and the sooner the better."

The Jordan Valley is an area of land that lies between the West Bank and the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan on Israel’s eastern border. The Jordan Valley is also home to Israeli settlements and Palestinian villages.

Knesset Member Dan Illouz of the Likud party and Shas party Knesset Member Yosef Taieb are leading the parliamentary group pushing for the annexation “with the aim of bringing a major achievement in applying sovereignty in the Jordan Valley,” according to a statement from the WZO.

“We’re at a historic moment. If there isn’t significant progress on this issue, there will be tears shed for generations,” Illouz said.

“The historical roots of the people of Israel are in the areas of Judea and Samaria, and the way to secure our place is to stand firm for our historical right to the Land of Israel,” he explained. “The road begins with applying sovereignty in the Jordan Valley.”

“I am excited to launch the Lobby for the Application of Sovereignty over the Jordan Valley first together with MK Dan Illouz,” Taieb said. “Sovereignty over the Jordan Valley is important to Israel for its security, economy, social welfare, agriculture, and other things. But above all, it is important because the Jordan Valley belongs to the Jewish People and the Land of Israel.” 

Israel’s former Ambassador to the United Nations Danny Danon submitted a bill earlier this year, marking the first time Israel has made a move to extend its law over parts of Judea and Samaria since the 1967 Six-Day War.

That legislation stated: “Israeli law does not apply to the residents of the Jordan Valley and they are discriminated against as citizens.”

The bill further pointed out that the territory of the Jordan Valley was “divided between the estates of the tribes of Judah, Gad, Reuben, Manasseh and Benjamin and through the plain where the Bible relays that Joshua ben Nun brought the Jewish people into the land of Israel,”

During former U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration, Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu supported the push for annexation of the Jordan Valley but later dropped it as part of the U.S.- brokered Abraham Accords after several Arab officials expressed their opposition to the plan, warning that it would be “catastrophic” to Arab-Israeli relations.

Settlements and National Missions Minister Orit Struck was among the group of Israeli ministers and Knesset members who took part in the launch on Wednesday.