RAMALLAH: Washington has informed Tel Aviv that it will not grant US entry visas to Israeli security personnel or settlers who engage in violence in the West Bank, according to Israeli sources.
Washington has also indicated that it could reduce its military aid to Israel, or not give annual guarantees for aid of 33 billion dollars (1 US dollar = 0.95 euro) for the next ten years if it is used against Palestinians in the West Bank.
This development coincided with the announcement by the new Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, of his success in forming a new government.
Washington sent warning messages to Netanyahu through his ambassador to Israel, Tom Nides, following the success of Israel’s right-wing parties in the elections in early November.
The United States has drawn red lines that President Joe Biden will not allow to be crossed, including Israel taking unilateral steps to undermine the two-state solution and changing the status quo of the Al-Masjid Mosque. Aqsa in Jerusalem.
Israeli political analyst Yoni Ben Menachem told Arab News that the Netanyahu government is obligated to comply with US demands because it needs Washington’s weapons for military operations in Iran.
Netanyahu “will not enter into a confrontation with Biden because he needs to get these American weapons, and he has informed both (Itamar coalition partners) Ben-Gvir and (Bezalel) Smotrich of this,” said Ben Menachem to Arab News.
The analyst indicated that Biden does not want a confrontation with Netanyahu because it would strengthen extremists in the new government, undermine the Palestinian Authority and the two-state solution.
Palestinian political analyst Ghassan al-Khatib told Arab News that the composition of the new Israeli government posed a challenge and an embarrassment to the Biden administration.
He added that the president would pressure Netanyahu to limit far-right elements in his coalition, which Al-Khatib said would also be in the interest of the new prime minister, to reduce their influence on him.
For some time, Netanyahu has been pursuing a strategy of amplifying the Iranian threat in the region in order to induce more Arab countries to normalize their relations with Israel and to obtain advanced American weapons, as well as to use this threat in the national level to make people believe in an existential threat against Israel.
But he tries to promote this idea while arguing that the Palestinian Authority poses an equally existential threat.
The PA, meanwhile, could take advantage of US pressure on Israel and the presence of far-right elements in the government to revive its own efforts to improve relations with the Palestinians. international organizations and European countries.
Moreover, according to Palestinian sources, the Jewish shrine of Joseph’s Tomb, located in the center of Nablus, next to the Balata refugee camp, has become a hotbed of tension and violence.
Frequent assaults on the site by dozens of religious settlers, protected by the Israel Defense Forces, often result in stone-throwing or armed confrontations between Palestinians, settlers and the Israel Defense Forces.
The number of Palestinians killed at the site since the start of the year is estimated at 20, the latest being football player Ahmed Daraghmeh, who died on Wednesday night in an incident that left 22 injured when Palestinian fighters exchanged fire with Israeli troops escorting Jewish worshipers to the tomb in the Palestinian town.
Palestinian sources say the incursions increased after Netanyahu and his allies performed well in the polls in November, and the settlers are stoking tensions by posting photos and videos on social media of their arrival at the shrine.
A senior Palestinian security official in Nablus, who preferred anonymity, told Arab News that repeated IDF and settler incursions into the area often occurred without prior official coordination with the Palestinian security services, but were announced in advance through Israeli social media and web pages official settlers.
Loud music, dancing, shouting and parties are commonplace upon their arrival, the Palestinian officer said, adding that settlers often set up tables laden with food at the shrine. “It’s an act of provocation, not a prayer,” he added.
The official said that previously visits were limited to once a month during the day, when Palestinians in the area were usually at work or school, but now take place more often and usually at night , with increasingly provocative far-right overtones.
These visits result in an increased security burden and widespread embarrassment for the Palestinian security services, as each visit to the shrine ends in violence and, increasingly, in killings and injuries among Palestinians.
“Palestinian citizens wonder where the Palestinian security is to protect us from the oppression of the army and the onslaught of the settlers. But, according to the agreements reached with the Israeli side, we cannot engage in armed confrontations with the Israeli army, which harms the image and prestige of the Palestinian security forces in the eyes of its people,” he added. Palestinian security official told Arab News.
He described the shrine as having become one of the bloodiest and most tense points between Palestinians, the Israel Defense Forces and Israeli settlers in the West Bank, second only to Al-Aqsa Mosque.
Palestinian police guard the tomb 24 hours a day, but withdraw when Israeli defense forces and settlers arrive to visit the site.
An Israeli source told Arab News that the clashes at Joseph’s Tomb were due to the weakness of the Palestinian security services in Nablus, which no longer control the city.
This text is the translation of an article published on Arabnews.com
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