TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — A senior Israeli minister claimed there is “no such thing” as a Palestinian people, as Israel’s new coalition government pressed ahead Monday with some of its plans to overhaul the judiciary. .
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition said it was moving ahead with a key part of the overhaul – which would give the coalition control over who becomes a judge or judges – before parliament takes a month-long holiday break next week.
The development came a day after an Israeli and Palestinian delegation at a meeting in Egypt brokered by Egyptian, Jordanian and US officials pledged to take steps to reduce tensions in the region ahead of a sensitive holiday season.
It reflected the limited influence the Biden administration appears to have over Israel’s new far-right government and raised questions about attempts to reduce tensions, both in Israel and with the Palestinians, ahead of a season of sensible holiday.
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As negotiators issued a joint statement, Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich gave a speech in Paris in which he said the idea of a Palestinian people was artificial.
“There is no Palestinian nation. There is no Palestinian history. There is no Palestinian language,” he said Sunday night in France. He spoke at a lectern covered by what appeared to be a map of Israel that included the occupied West Bank and parts of Jordan.
Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh said Smotrich’s remarks were “conclusive proof of the extremist and racist Zionist ideology that governs the parties in the current Israeli government.”
A far-right settler leader who opposes Palestinian status, Smotrich has a history of making offensive statements against Palestinians. Last month, he called for the Palestinian town of Hawara in the West Bank to be “wiped out” after radical Jewish settlers rioted in the town in response to a gun attack that killed two Israelis. Smotrich later apologized after an international scandal.
His remarks about the Palestinians were reminiscent of those made by the late Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir, who caused an uproar in 1969. He later told the New York Times that he meant there had never been a Palestinian nation. But critics say the comments continue to tarnish his legacy.
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During talks in Egypt on Sunday, a Palestinian gunman carried out another shooting attack in Hawara, seriously wounding an Israeli man.
The fresh violence, along with Smotrich’s comments, illustrated the difficult challenges ahead in calming tensions after a year of deadly violence in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. More than 200 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, and more than 40 Israelis or foreigners have been killed in Palestinian attacks during that period.
Sunday’s summit preceded the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, which begins this week. The Jewish holiday of Passover will take place in April, coinciding with Ramadan.
The period ahead is sensitive as large numbers of Jewish and Muslim worshipers flock to Jerusalem’s Old City, the emotional heart of the conflict and hotbed of violence, increasing friction.
Large numbers of Jews are also expected to visit a key holy site in Jerusalem, known to Muslims as the Noble Sanctuary and to Jews as the Temple Mount, an act that Palestinians see as a challenge.
Clashes at the site in 2021 helped spark an 11-day war between Israel and Hamas, which rules the Gaza Strip.
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The heightened tensions with the Palestinians coincide with mass demonstrations inside Israel against Netanyahu’s plans to overhaul the judiciary. Opponents of the measure staged disruptive protests, and the debate involved the country’s armed forces, where some reservists refuse to report for duty. Netanyahu rejected a compromise by the Israeli president.
During his phone call with Netanyahu, Biden appealed for caution, the White House said, “as a friend of Israel in the hope that a compromise formula can be found.”
The president “underlined his belief that democratic values have been and must remain a hallmark of the US-Israel relationship,” the White House said, adding that “fundamental change should be pursued with the broadest possible base of popular support.” “
Netanyahu’s government says the plan is meant to correct an imbalance that has given courts too much power over the lawmaking process. Critics say the overhaul would upend the country’s delicate system of checks and balances and push Israel toward authoritarianism. They also say Netanyahu could find an escape from his corruption trial through the review.
The protests, along with increasing violence against Palestinians, posed a major challenge for the new government. So far this year, 85 Palestinians have been killed, according to an Associated Press tally.
The number of Israelis killed in the same period rose to 15 on Monday after Israeli media reported the death of 33-year-old Or Eshkar. He was shot in the head by a Palestinian in Tel Aviv on March 9.
Israel says most of the Palestinians killed were militants. But stone-throwing youths protesting the raids and people not involved in the clashes were also killed.
Israel captured the West Bank, East Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip in the Middle East war of 1967. The Palestinians seek those territories for their future independent state.
Associated Press writer Isaac Scharf in Jerusalem contributed to this report.
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