Argument over West Bank outpost reveals Israel's Cabinet's division

 

The hardline government of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has revealed fractures as a result of a dispute over the demolition of a settlement outpost in the occupied West Bank.

Netanyahu vowed to expand settlements throughout the West Bank when he came back to power in December and took over the right-winningest government in Israeli history.

However, a disagreement over ground tactics was made public last month when Israeli troops crossed into the northern West Bank on orders from Defense Minister Yoav Gallant to destroy the Or Haim outpost.

Two far-right members of the Cabinet, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and Public Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, opposed its removal even though the state considers such outposts to be illegal.

Law is rule, declared Ben-Gvir, urging the destruction of illegal Palestinian construction in the majority of the West Bank, over which Israel has both civil and security control. "There won't be one law for the Arabs and another for the Jews.

Ben-Gvir is in charge of the border police in the West Bank, and Smotrich is now in charge of civil affairs in the Palestinian territories.

According to Netanyahu, settlements must be "planned in advance with the prime minister and security personnel, which was not done in this case," in reference to the outpost incident. Netanyahu backed Gallant in this claim.

The way the Or Haim outpost's demolition was handled suggests that there may be issues inside the coalition, despite the fact that it only consisted of a few improvised structures.

According to a senior scholar of the Israel Democracy Institute Gideon Rahat, the state of Israel is in "very genuine jeopardy."

When Smotrich said, "It's not normal to have two officials who have parallel obligations when it comes to the use of force," he was in the second ministerial position created in the Defense Ministry.

Smotrich boycotted a Cabinet gathering in opposition to how the matter was handled.

Two days after the original evacuation, Israeli forces went back to the Or Haim site to evict Israelis who were trying to redevelop the land.

Rahat stated, "While it seems like a minor issue that was resolved, it shouldn't have been there in the first place.

There are several comparable outposts dispersed throughout the West Bank, which Israel has occupied since the 1967 Six-Day War, so the problem will inevitably come up again.

International law considers all settlements in occupied land illegal, but Israel makes a distinction between state-approved settlements, where an estimated 475,000 Israelis live, and wildcat outposts established without its consent.