Attack by Palestinian gunmen leads to construction plan and violence by settlers
The Israeli government said on Wednesday it would immediately make plans to build 1,000 new homes in a West Bank settlement that was attacked by Palestinian gunmen a day earlier, in a move that furthers Israel’s 56-year occupation of the area. anchors.
The decision came after extremist Israeli settlers set fires in several Palestinian villages on Tuesday and Wednesday, damaging dozens of cars, buildings and farmland as they sought revenge for the shootings outside the settlement of Eli on Tuesday evening.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the planning decision, which requires further government approval before construction begins, was in direct response to the attack outside Eli. Two fighters from Hamas, the Islamist militia that controls the Gaza Strip, killed four Israeli civilians at a restaurant and gas station next to Eli before committing suicide.
“Our response to terrorism is to deal with it vigorously and build our country,” Netanyahu said in a statement also released on behalf of his defense minister, Yoav Gallant, and finance minister, Bezalel Smotrich, a far-right former settler activist. .
Mr Netanyahu’s response highlighted the balance he is trying to strike between reassuring allies in his far-right coalition — who are pushing him to exert even greater control over the West Bank — and deepening diplomatic ties with Arab governments, who want him to ease tensions. with the Palestinians in the area.
Mr Netanyahu’s decision was praised by his far-right allies, who also hope he will authorize a new military campaign against militias in the West Bank. But it will worsen relations with Israel’s new Arab partners, some of whom had already this week expressed anger at an earlier Israeli decision to expand and speed up settlement construction.
Morocco recently postponed a much-anticipated diplomatic summit with Israel in protest of settlement expansion, diplomats from Israel and other countries said Wednesday.
Such as Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates, Morocco signed a groundbreaking diplomatic agreement with Israel in 2020, ending years of diplomatic isolation for Israel in the region.
But while all three Arab countries have since hosted several Israeli ministers and intensified military cooperation with the Israeli government, all have expressed reservations about Israel’s policy toward the Palestinians.
Similar concerns are expected to thwart Mr. Netanyahu’s long-stated intention to establish formal ties with Saudi Arabia, despite strong pressure from the Biden administration to forge such a deal.
Hiba Yazbek contributed reporting from Jerusalem.