Thousands of Israelis march in West Bank; Netanyahu reverses decision to fire defense minister

Israeli settlers stand in the outpost of Eviatar in the West Bank on Monday.

By ILAN BEN ZION

Associated Press

April 10, 2023 5:59 PM PT

JERUSALEM — Thousands of Israelis led by at least seven Cabinet ministers marched Monday to an evacuated West Bank settlement in a defiant signal that Israel’s most right-wing government in history is determined to accelerate settlement building on occupied lands despite international opposition.

The mass rally also threatened to further raise tensions that have been heightened by days of unrest across the region over a contested Jerusalem holy site. In new violence, Israeli troops killed a 15-year-old Palestinian boy during an arrest raid in the occupied West Bank and a 48-year-old Israeli woman died of wounds sustained in an attack last week that killed two of her daughters.

Also Monday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reversed his decision to fire his defense minister over criticism of the government’s contentious plan to overhaul the judiciary.

In a live news conference, Netanyahu said that Yoav Gallant is staying at his post. “I decided to put the differences we had behind us,” he said. “Gallant remains in his position and we will continue to work together for the security of the citizens of Israel.”

In a tweet showing himself sitting next to Netanyahu, Gallant wrote: “We continue together with full strength, for Israel’s security.”

Netanyahu announced late last month that Gallant was fired. The decision set off a wave of spontaneous mass protests and a general strike that threatened to paralyze the country, forcing the Israeli leader to suspend his divisive plan to overhaul the judicial system.

Netanyahu never sent Gallant a formal termination letter. As of Monday, Gallant — whose criticism of Netanyahu’s planned judicial changes led to his dismissal — was still on the job. Gallant’s aides said it was business as usual at the Defense Ministry.

Monday’s march took place in the northern West Bank — the scene of repeated violence in recent months. Thousands of Israeli police and army forces were reportedly deployed to secure the march, which added to the already combustible atmosphere that has accompanied the overlap of major Jewish and Muslim holy days. Tensions between Israelis and Palestinians have reached a fever pitch in recent weeks surrounding the Jerusalem shrine.

The march to Eviatar, an unauthorized settlement outpost in the northern West Bank that was evacuated by the previous Israeli government in 2021, was led by hard-line ultranationalist Jewish settlers.

Daniella Weiss, a settlement movement activist, told Kan public radio that the ministers’ participation in the march could be a “therapy for the government to free yourselves from the dictates of the U.S. and Europe” concerning West Bank settlement.

Netanyahu heads the most religious and ultranationalist government in Israel’s history.

Several members of his Cabinet, including Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir — both West Bank settlers — and at least 20 members of the Knesset took part in the march.

Speaking at the march, Ben-Gvir said, “We are here to say that the Israeli nation is strong” and that “we are here and will remain here.”

Monday’s march appeared to be aimed in part at shoring up support for Israeli hard-liners like Ben-Gvir.

Recent polls have shown a sharp drop in backing for the new hard-line government in the wake of months of violence, including growing dissatisfaction among people who voted for it.

A poll on Channel 13 TV found that 60% of respondents said they do not trust the government to deal with the current wave of violence, compared with 27% who do. The poll questioned 699 people and had a margin of error of 3.7 percentage points.

Visits to Eviatar have been banned by the military since its evacuation, but that prohibition has been loosely enforced recently. Israeli army spokesman Lt. Col. Richard Hecht said the military approved Monday’s march, saying it would be “highly monitored and highly protected.”

Scores of families, nearly all of them Orthodox Jews, many of them pushing baby strollers, took part in the march. At the outpost, inflatable slides were set up for children to play on.

The march passed without major violence, though Israeli troops fired tear gas at Palestinians in the nearby village of Beita who hurled stones toward soldiers to protest the march. The Palestinian Red Crescent medical service said two people, including a journalist, were shot by Israeli rubber bullets and 115 people suffered from tear gas inhalation. A video on social media showed a tear gas canister landing next to a Palestinian journalist as he delivered a TV report.

Tensions between Israel and the Palestinians have soared after last week’s police raid on Jerusalem’s Al Aqsa Mosque compound during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

The hilltop compound where the mosque sits is the emotional ground zero of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. For Jews, it is known as the Temple Mount, their faith’s holiest site and the place where two temples stood in antiquity. For Muslims, it is known as the Noble Sanctuary, home of Al Aqsa Mosque, the third-holiest site in Islam.

Dozens of Jewish visitors entered the site Monday escorted by Israeli police for a second consecutive day. These tours by religious and nationalist Jews have increased in size and frequency in recent years, raising fears by Palestinians that Israel may partition the site. Israel insists it has no intention of changing a long-standing arrangement that permits Jewish visits, but not worship, at the Muslim-administered shrine.

Last week, Palestinians barricaded themselves inside Al Aqsa with stones and firecrackers, demanding the right to pray there overnight, something Israel has in the past allowed only during the last 10 days of Ramadan. Police removed them by force, detaining hundreds and leaving dozens injured.

The violence was followed by rocket fire by Palestinian militants from the Gaza Strip, southern Lebanon and Syria starting Wednesday, and Israeli airstrikes targeting those areas.

Recent days have also seen Palestinian attacks that killed two British Israeli sisters and an Italian tourist. On Monday, Israel’s Hadassah Hospital announced the death of Lucy Dee, the mother of the two sisters. Dee, who was traveling with her daughters, had been hospitalized in critical condition since Friday’s shooting in the West Bank.

The Israeli army said its troops were operating in the Aqabat Jaber refugee camp next to Jericho in the West Bank. The Palestinian Health Ministry said 15-year-old Mohammed Balhan was killed by army fire.

The army said it entered the camp to arrest a Palestinian suspect. It said residents opened fire and hurled explosives at the troops, who responded with live fire and “hits were identified.” It said that the suspect was arrested and that there were no Israeli casualties.

Palestinian attacks have killed at least 20 people, including one soldier, since the start of the year. At least 92 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire so far this year, at least half of them affiliated with militant groups, according to a tally by the Associated Press.

Israel captured the West Bank, along with the Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem, in the 1967 Middle East War. It has built dozens of settlements that are now home to more than 700,000 Jewish settlers.

Most of the international community considers Israel’s West Bank settlements illegal and an obstacle to peace with the Palestinians. The Palestinians seek the West Bank, along with Gaza and East Jerusalem for a future independent state.

Netanyahu’s government has made settlement expansion a top priority, and already has advanced plans to build thousands of additional homes.