Steps taken by Israel to placate the Palestinians and ensure quiet during US President Joe Biden's visit, which begins Wednesday afternoon, are sparking emotional backlash, especially given that election rhetoric is already heating up.
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On Tuesday, the IDF Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT), Maj. Gen. Ghassan Alian announced that Defense Minister Benny Gantz has approved a number of policy decisions designed to "build trust" with the Palestinians.
Meanwhile, the Prime Minister's Office has decided to shelve plans to build 2,000 new housing units in east Jerusalem, infuriating the Right. Reports from behind the scenes said that Interior Minister Ayelet Shaked refused to drop the building plans, instead postponing the entire agenda – which includes construction proposals for both Jews and Arabs – by a week. The plans are slated to be discussed the week after next, with no changes.
"I will not allow construction plans for Jews to be attacked on my watch," Shaked said.
The PMO decision followed a security briefing and a meeting last week between Gantz and Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas.
Gantz has also approved a new crossing at the northern end of Judea and Samaria designed to make it easier for Arab Israelis to enter Jenin. The new crossing will be named "Salam" (peace).
Israel has also decided to grant another 1,500 work permits to residents of the Gaza Strip, bringing the total number of Gazan laborers allowed to work in Israel to 15,500, and allow 5,500 Arab residents without legal status to be registered as Palestinians.
Finally, Israel approved six Palestinian construction plans in Judea and Samaria, at various stages.
Opposition leader Benjamin Netanyahu made indirect reference to the steps on Tuesday, saying during the dedication of a new neighborhood in the Beit El settlement that "Some people call this place 'occupied territory.' We don't. Judea and Samaria are our forefathers' land. For eight years, during the Obama administration, I stood up to immense pressure, the like of which no other Israeli government had seen.
"At my first meeting with President Obama, they told me, 'Not even a single brick' [more] in Judea and Samaria. Look around and see how many bricks there are here, how many buildings. We doubled settlement in Judea and Samaria. I told them, 'We aren't in a foreign country, we're in our home, and we'll build and be built up in it," Netanyahu said.
Head of the Efrat Regional Council Oded Ravivi responded to Gantz's decisions, saying, "Building trust with our Palestinian neighbors is the right step, but the Israeli government has to realize that it needs to take care of its Israeli citizens in Jerusalem and Judea and Samaria."
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Ravivi said that the PMO has already decided to freeze construction in east Jerusalem.
"I support building permits for Palestinians and believe that's what a country that wants to demonstrate sovereignty alongside an honest desire for good neighborly relations in Judea and Samaria should do. I expect that at the same time, those same clauses will include steps to build trust between the Israeli government and its citizens, the ones in Jerusalem and the ones in Judea and Samaria. We also wait months and years for construction plans to be approved, for roads to be paved, so we can develop," Ravivi said.
The Religious Zionist party said that Prime Minister Yair Lapid and Gantz "have shown how they will run amok toward a Palestinian state and sell off Zionism the day after the election, if they are able to. These are steps that put Israel in danger and seriously harm its Zionist, demographic, and security interests."
Heads of the Knesset Land of Israel lobby Yoav Kisch and Orit Strock also responded to the decisions: "The Lapid-Bennet government's 'trust-building' steps with the Palestinians are steps that destroy the faith of the voters. Every Palestinian outpost that is legitimized, every Israeli housing unit that is frozen, is a mark of shame on these minister's brows."
The Ad Kan organization, which advocates to stop illegal Palestinian construction in Area C, said that "Approving construction plans for Palestinians in order to gloss over building violations ignores the battle the Palestinians are waging to take over more and more territory to oust Israel from Judea and Samaria. We call on [Naftali] Bennett and [Gideon] Sa'ar to stop the promotion of a Palestinian state. We don't need to give more pieces of the Land of Israel to the Palestinians every time Uncle Sam comes to visit."
