Ariel Mayor Ran Nachman on Saturday night called on mayors of cities in Judea and Samaria to cut off all ties with the Defense Ministry in protest over the decision to impose a building freeze in Judea and Samaria – and, he says, he has no plans to enforce the freeze.
"Is this freeze so important that they had to distribute the orders banning construction on Friday afternoon, right before Shabbat?," Nachman asked rhetorically. Speaking to Arutz 7, Nachman said that "when the Defense Ministry called me on Friday afternoon, I thought that a war had broken out. I do not intend to remain silent in light of the humiliation and shame that the mayors of towns in Judea and Samaria have been put through. I plan to petition the High Court over the despicable way the authorities chose to distribute these orders, without giving us the right to respond, without listening to us, summarily taking away our rights.
"The Defense Minister, without feeling or intelligence, ran roughshod over our rights," continued Nachman. "He thinks he is still leading an IDF intelligence unit and that we are the enemy. Because they took away my authority as mayor to authorize projects in my jurisdiction, I hereby give up my authority to enforce these orders. If anyone violates this building freeze in my jurisdiction I will not act against them. If the Civil Administration wants to handle it, they are welcome to. I am out of the picture," Nachman added.