Katz’s populist move threatens Israel’s stability in the West Bank - editorial

Without a doubt, the gravest problem jeopardizing peace and stability in the West Bank is Palestinian terrorism. 

The primary threats that must be dealt with to ensure security and safety for the Jewish residents are the terrorist cells in Palestinian cities such as Jenin and Nablus and the attacks they’ve perpetrated.

Having said that, although the vast majority of Jews living in the West Bank are law-abiding citizens of Israel, another element that threatens the precarious tightrope between Jews and Arabs is the unharnessed attacks by settlers on Palestinians.

According to IDF Central Command data for 2022-2023, although the volume of Jewish violence against Palestinians hadn’t increased significantly since the October 7 massacre, it increased sharply in the year before the Israel-Hamas War began, The Jerusalem Post’s Yonah Jeremy Bob reported.

Recently, 20 cars owned by Palestinians were reportedly torched in El-Bireh, near Ramallah. According to the US State Department, Palestinians in Hebron were attacked by settlers who damaged property and assaulted civilians. In the village of Jalud, south of Nablus, dozens of settlers reportedly killed livestock, attacked homes, and set fire to vehicles.

Security harm to Israel

Palestinians aren't the only targets. Last Friday night, five settlers were arrested after harassing and attempting to attack OC Central Command Maj.-Gen. Avi Bluth in Hebron. The rioters reportedly chased Bluth and other officers who were with him and blocked roads on his way to operational activity.

Remarkably, against this backdrop of unrest and violence, Defense Minister Israel Katz announced on Friday an end to the use of administrative detention orders against Jews in the West Bank.

“In the current climate, where Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria face significant threats of Palestinian terrorism, supported by the Iranian axis of evil seeking to establish a terrorist front against Israel, and where international sanctions unfairly target settlers and settlement organizations, it is not appropriate for the State of Israel to take such a severe step,” he said.

Administrative detention has been used extensively and primarily against Palestinians in the West Bank. It enables the state to hold suspects without trial and for varying amounts of time, which the state can extend. The detentions can be renewed indefinitely while allowing military prosecutors to keep suspects from being able to see the evidence against them.

Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) Director Ronen Bar spoke out against such a move in June, saying it would “result in an immediate, severe, and serious harm to the security of the state,” citing cases in which there is clear information that a Jewish suspect may carry out a terrorist attack.

Internal Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, who has been accused of turning a blind eye to settler violence, and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich applauded the move.

It “put an end to the injustice in which settlers were second-class citizens, and draconian and undemocratic measures were applied against them that trampled on their rights, measures that are not applied against any other population in the State of Israel except terrorists and dangerous enemies,” Smotrich said.

National Unity MK Gadi Eisenkot, a former IDF chief of staff, however, said it was “grave and serious mistake.”

 “The goal of such orders is not law-abiding Jewish citizens but extremist terrorist elements who tarnish and endanger us as a society,” he said. “This step joins other deliberate measures that harm the IDF’s ability to fulfill its role as the sovereign authority responsible for the safety and security of residents.”

During a time when the West Bank is increasingly combustible, with extreme elements on both the Israeli and Palestinian sides attempting to ignite it further, the move by Katz can only be seen as a transparent effort to throw a bone to the coalition’s far-right partners.

It only adds fuel to the firestorm by magnifying the gap in the treatment of Israelis and Palestinians in the West Bank, which is not only foolish but damaging to Israel’s case that apartheid claims against it are unfounded.

 It also won’t make Israel any friends with the outgoing Biden administration, which, wisely or not, has been hyper-focused on sanctioning settlers it deems as participating in unlawful activities against Palestinians.

The move may keep Ben-Gvir, Smotrich, and their constituency happy. Still, it’s another alarming sign that this government is focused more on survival than on making the proper governing decisions.