West Bank faces ‘renewed, intense violence’ if Israeli PM Netanyahu’s hardline allies get their way

Critics say ‘responsible adults’ have to hold back hardline ministers in Israel’s government or renewed violence could dent US efforts in Middle East

Netanyahu’s extremist coalition partners are pressing him to approve Jewish rituals being conducted at Temple Mount in Jerusalem

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The Mughrabi ramp leads from the Western Wall to the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound that includes the Dome of the Rock Mosque in Jerusalem’s Old City. Photo: AFP

Published: 12:00pm, 15 Mar 2023Updated: 9:53am, 16 Mar 2023

Israel and the Palestinians may be on course for outright conflict amid a spate of violence that critics say is being fuelled by hardline ministers in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s latest coalition government.

If not prevented by “responsible adults” in the Israeli cabinet, analysts said a massive outbreak of violence could seriously damage Washington’s efforts to normalise relations between its allies in the Middle East.

Since the new administration took power in late December, 80 Palestinians and 14 Israelis have been killed in military or police raids and terrorist attacks mostly arising from confrontations between Jewish settlers and Palestinian residents in the occupied West Bank.

Senior officials from the US, Israel, the Palestinian Authority, Egypt and Jordan met at the Red Sea resort of Aqaba on February 26 to agree on measures to prevent a further escalation of violence.

The meeting yielded a joint communique issued by the US State Department, which included an Israeli commitment “to stop discussion of any new settlement units for four months and to stop authorisation of any outposts for six months”.

But it was immediately disowned by the Israeli government, which is pressing ahead with plans to amend domestic laws to accelerate the expansion of Jewish settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.

The same night, some 400 Israeli settlers sought vengeance for the killing of two brothers by rampaging through the West Bank Palestinian village of Hawara, killing one person, injuring dozens and setting scores of cars and homes on fire.