PM says he wants to expand settlements, as right-wing slams eviction of Hebron settlers

Amid bitter criticism on the political right following the surprise evacuation of settlers from a contested property in Hebron, Prime Minster Benjamin Netanyahu declared on Wednesday evening that he was committed to “expanding” the settlement enterprise in the West Bank.

Some on the right hinted at a coalition crisis over the issue, focusing on Defense Minister Ehud Barak’s central role in ordering the evacuation. Netanyahu had stated Tuesday that the government would wait before evicting the settlers who moved into Beit Hamachpela last week.

Barak cited operational considerations in going ahead with the eviction. Attorney General Yehuda Weinstein also advised that the matter should not wait. Netanyahu approved the action.

Settlers say they purchased the house legally, a claim disputed by Palestinian spokespeople. They also said Tuesday that they had given all the relevant paperwork to the relevant Israeli military authorities. But they had not obtained the necessary approval from the military authorities to enter the building, and thus their eviction was ordered, military sources said. The legalities of the purchase are now to be investigated, while the house remains cordoned off.

Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman (Yisrael Beiteinu) led calls for Barak to be stripped of his authority as regards settlement, saying that a ministerial committee should instead oversee the matter.

“The Defense Ministry’s handling of Jewish settlement in Judea and Samaria is meant to cause a commotion, not to provide security to the citizens residing there,” Lieberman said. “This policy is destabilizing the coalition and is harming the ability of its members to live with one another.”

Deputy Prime Minister Moshe Ya’alon (Likud) also accused Barak of “fanning the flames” of friction in the territories.

Barak countered by asserting that Ya’alon was issuing hawkish statements to bolster his standing in the Likud. Barak also said he was “upholding the rule of law” in the territories.

Analysts in the Hebrew media noted that it was Barak who might be the ultimate casualty of the episode. The defense minister left his Labor party in January 2011 to form a new faction, Atzmaut, which may not get enough votes to win seats in the next Knesset, polls suggest. Thus Barak may want to run together with the Likud which, said Channel 2’s Udi Segal on Wednesday evening, may be more resistant to him following his tough stance on the settlers.

While Barak Wednesday spoke of the settlers at the house as “invaders” and slammed them for trying to create “facts on the ground in breach of the law,” Netanyahu was markedly more conciliatory. He insisted Wednesday afternoon that his fundamental orientation was to expand settlements, and he has sought legal advice on how to avert the imminent demolition of one settlement neighborhood and to legitimize three other enclaves.

Absorption Minister Yuli Edelstein (Likud) expressed shock and dismay at the decision to go ahead with the eviction. “I hope that the prime minister did not know of the intent to evacuate,” he told Israel Radio. “Anything is preferable to the kind of surprise we’re experiencing right now. I am calling on the prime minister to put a stop to this once and for all.”

Culture and Sport Minster Limor Livnat (Likud) called for a committee to “oversee all matters of Jewish settlement in Judea and Samaria… [and put] an end to today’s situation where the defense minister is the only authority to make decisions [in this area].”

Science and Technology Minister Daniel Hershkowitz (Habayit Hayehudi) also issued a call to take jurisdiction of West Bank security issues away from the Defense Ministry.

“The defense minister stuck his finger in the eye of most of the nation,” he said. “The evacuation was personally hijacked amid personal and political considerations, in opposition to most government ministers. The entire Israeli society will pay for this.”

“The voice is the voice of Netanyahu and the hands are the hands of Barak,” said MK Zevulun Orlev (Habayit Hayehudi), alluding to the Biblical episode where Jacob dressed up in furs to trick his blind father Isaac into thinking he was his twin brother Esau.

The National Union went a step further, launching an advertising campaign portraying Netanyahu as an enemy of the settlement movement who wants to carry out a violent settlement evacuation like the one at Amona in 2006.

However, Minister without Portfolio Michael Eitan (Likud) sought to deflect blame for the incident, saying to Ynet News: “It’s ridiculous that government ministers are criticized for a move made with the recommendation of the attorney general and with the full consent of the prime minister. If MKs are criticized, you have to have the courage to criticize the head of the system and not look for scapegoats.”

Labor chairwoman Shelly Yachimovich also praised the attorney general and defense minister for “not allowing the security establishment and the rule of law to be trampled.”

“I call on the Likud ministers,” she added, “not to vie for votes from the extreme right wing, but to act like ministers from a nationalist and responsible party.”

Leiberman had hinted on Tuesday that the dispute over Beit Hamachpela could lead to a rift between the government and Yisrael Beiteinu, whose 15 seats make it the coalition’s second largest party after the Likud.