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ISRAEL’S far-right government took unprecedented steps today towards cementing Tel Aviv’s permanent control over the West Bank.
Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, a leading figure in the settlement movement, assumed new powers over the occupied Palestinian territory in his coalition agreement with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Mr Smotrich acted swiftly to approve the construction of thousands of new settlement homes, legalise previously unauthorised outposts and introduced new rules to make it more difficult for Palestinians to build homes and move about.
As the first government minister to oversee civilian life in the West Bank, his role, observers say, amounts to a recognition that Israel's 56-year military occupation is not temporary but permanent.
Ilan Paz, a former head of Israel's Civil Administration, a military body overseeing civilian affairs in the West Bank, said: “If Smotrich keeps this position for four years, we will be at a point of no return.”
Hoping to return to power while facing a corruption trial, Mr Netanyahu offered sweeping concessions to pro-settler legislators such as Mr Smotrich when assembling his governing coalition last year.
The coalition agreement created a new Israeli settler agency, led by Mr Smotrich, within the Defence Ministry to manage Jewish and Palestinian construction in the 60 per cent of the West Bank directly controlled by Israel.
Mr Smotrich has said that he wants to double the size of the settler population, build more roads and residential districts and erase any remaining differences between life for Israelis in the West Bank and within Israel proper.
Along the way, he aims to destroy any Palestinian hopes of independence.
As finance minister, Mr Smotrich has been funnelling taxpayer funds to pet West Bank infrastructure projects.
Israel’s 2024 budget earmarks a quarter of all Transportation Ministry funds, an all-time high of $960 million (£772.6m), for a highway network to improve connections between Israel and the West Bank.
The settlers make up just over 5 per cent of Israel’s population.
