Israeli policemen stand guard near the scene of what the Israeli army said was a suspected Palestinian stabbing attack, near the West Bank Al-Fawwar refugee camp, south of Hebron November 25, 2015. This has, however, provided some legal pretext for the Israeli military to go in and demolish new buildings wholesale for being “illegal”.
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During Kerry’s visit to Jerusalem al-Quds, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reportedly demanded global recognition of major Israeli settlement blocs in the West Bank in exchange for steps to ease tensions with the Palestinians.
Netanyahu has come under pressure to tighten security and on Monday he announced stricter controls on Palestinian vehicles and an increase in so-called “bypass roads”, which create separate routes for Palestinians and Israeli settlers.
“All free nations are facing the threat of radical Islam, which is the product of hate not of faith, and all of us must work together against this great evil”, President Rivlin said during a press conference with John Kerry.
“We are committed to that two states with two peoples living side by side”, he said.
Netanyahu had told Kerry that the root of the current wave of violence was Palestinian “incitement on social media”, and said that “civilian Palestinian projects” would be allowed to advance only when Israel experiences a “return of the quiet”, an Israeli official said.
Eighty-six Palestinians have been killed, some while carry out assaults and others in clashes with Israeli forces.
In May, Israeli-based Adalah Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights issued a database documenting more than 50 discriminatory laws directly or indirectly target Palestinian citizens of Israel by quelling their political expression and limiting their access to state resources, notably land. Even centrist doves in opposition to Netanyahu, such as Isaac Herzog’s Labor party, are largely in support of holding onto the main settlement blocks.
After his remarks raised concern among hawks in his government, Netanyahu made clear that he did not support a unilateral withdrawal and did not intend to remove settlements.
So, Mr. Prime Minister, thank you for your welcome.
This time his comment was interpreted by some as a hint at annexation, although others – such as Yossi Beilin, one of the Israelis involved in negotiating the Oslo accords – think Netanyahu will ultimately withdraw from much of the West Bank.
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He said Jewish hard-liners and rabbis stormed and toured al-Aqsa Mosque compound in the morning, provoking tension with Palestinian worshipers who chanted religious slogans in defiance of the Jewish entry.
