“The measures of Ben Gvir and Smotrich will destroy the possibility of a Palestinian state. This will drive the Palestinians to more despair (…) what will happen on the ground will determine the nature of the escalation,” he adds.
More than 475,000 settlers currently live in the occupied West Bank, settlements that threaten, according to the UN, the two-state solution, an independent and stable Palestine alongside Israel.
But Smotrich has already announced his project to legalize all the so-called “savage” colonies, that is, those that do not even have the recognition of Israel.
The United States, Israel’s first ally, will oppose “any act that undermines the prospects for a two-state solution,” such as “settlement expansion, moves toward annexation of the West Bank, disruption of the historic status quo of the sacred places,” warned US Secretary of State Antony Blinken.
The Esplanade of the Mosques, the third holy place in Islam and the holiest place in Judaism under the name of Temple Mount, is a center of tensions between East Jerusalem, the Palestinian sector of the Holy City annexed by Israel.
Under a historical status quo, non-Muslims can be on the esplanade but not pray. “If Ben Gvir manages to convince Netanyahu, or orders the police to change the conduct of Israeli citizens on the Temple Mount, this will lead to a third intifada,” warned outgoing Public Security Minister Omer Barlev.
In May 2021, tensions in Jerusalem, especially on the esplanade, caused the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas to launch rocket salvoes from the Gaza enclave towards Israeli territory, a prelude to a deadly escalation between the two sides.
With information from AFP and Reuters