Netanyahu supports ‘settlement at any time’ after Hebron incident

The area – known as H2 and under full Israeli military control – is home to an enclave of Jewish settlers living in the center of the West Bank’s largest Palestinian city.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday gave his support to a group of Jewish settlers who were filmed forcefully taking over Palestinian homes in the city of Hebron (Al-Khalil) in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.

The Israeli leader heads a coalition with only a one-seat majority in parliament, making him especially vulnerable to the demands of religious nationalists in his cabinet regarding settlements, which much of the global community opposes.

“As soon as the procedures regarding the purchase are approved, we will allow the two homes in Hebron to be populated, as indeed occurred in similar instances in the past”, Netanyahu said Sunday at the start of the weekly Cabinet meeting.

After numerous right-wing politicians fiercely criticized Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon on Friday, Netanyahu reiterated his support for settlements and admiration of settlers, but said, “We are all bound to respect the law”, the Times of Israel reported, citing Channel 10.

“The process of checking is starting today”, he continued.

Netanyahu continued, confirming comments made Friday by officials at the Prime Minister’s Office that the Israeli settlers evicted from two houses in Hebron earlier in the day would be allowed to return once they receive the proper permits.

Clashes and protests have regularly broken out in Hebron. Ya’alon, a member of Netanyahu’s Likud party, said the settlers had not received IDF authorization to enter the buildings and were there illegally.

Israeli settlements in occupied territory, deemed illegal by most countries, are a fundamental issue in the stalled Israeli-Palestinian peace process and a factor behind a recent wave of Palestinian stabbing attacks on Israelis.

“At least 147 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire, 102 of them identified by Israel as attackers”, the wire service writes.

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On Saturday night, a Palestinian man was killed while attempting to attack Israeli Border Police in the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Abu Dis, when the bomb he was carrying apparently exploded prematurely.