JERUSALEM, March 20 (Portal) – An Israeli minister responsible for administering the occupied West Bank issued a condemnation Monday after saying there is no Palestinian history or culture and no such thing as a Palestinian people.
Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich also angered neighboring Jordan for speaking from a podium covered with what appeared to be a variation of the Israeli flag, showing an Israeli state with expanded borders that included the West Bank, East Jerusalem, Gaza and Jordan.
“Is there a Palestinian history or culture? There aren’t any,” he can be heard saying in footage of the speech he delivered at a conference in France on Sunday, which was widely shared on social media. “There is no such thing as a Palestinian people.”
Smotrich, who leads a religious-nationalist party in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s far-right coalition, delivered the speech on the same day that Israeli and Palestinian officials met in the Egyptian resort of Sharm el-Sheikh for de-escalation talks ahead of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan and the Jewish Passover.
Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh condemned Smotrich’s comments, saying they were an incitement to violence.
Jordan, which made peace with Israel in 1994, expressed outrage at the flag on the stage next to it and said it called the Israeli ambassador to protest.
“It is irresponsible provocative behavior by a sitting minister and a breach of international norms and the Jordanian-Israeli peace treaty. This extremist behavior urges escalation,” said Sinan al Majali, spokesman for Jordan’s foreign ministry.
Jordan urged the Israeli government to take a “clear and open” stance, Majali said.
Israel’s Foreign Ministry later wrote on Twitter: “Israel is committed to the 1994 peace agreement with Jordan. Nothing has changed in the position of the State of Israel, which recognizes the territorial integrity of the Hashemite Kingdom.”
A spokesman for Smotrich said the flag was a decoration of the conference organizers and the minister was a guest.
A statement by the Palestinian Foreign Ministry said that by denying the existence of the Palestinian people and their legitimate national rights in their homeland, Israeli leaders are “encouraging an environment that fuels Jewish extremism and terrorism against our people.”
Western allies also criticized the statements.
“We strongly oppose that type of language,” said John Kirby, spokesman for the US National Security Council. “We don’t want to see any rhetoric, action or rhetoric … that can get in the way or become an obstacle to a viable two-state solution, and such language does.”
The European Union said it “strongly regrets another unacceptable statement by Minister Smotrich”, calling it dangerous and counterproductive.
Egypt, the first Arab country to sign a peace deal with Israel, also dismissed his comments.
After a Palestinian gunman killed two Jewish settlers near the West Bank town of Huwara last month, and the settlers then burned down homes and cars and killed a Palestinian, Smotrich also drew international outrage when he said Huwara should be “wiped out.” . In the face of international condemnation, he later said he had “put it wrong” but did not apologize.
Over the past year, the West Bank has seen a spate of confrontations, with almost daily Israeli military attacks and escalating violence by Jewish settlers amid a spate of attacks by Palestinians.
Over the past year, Israeli forces have killed more than 250 Palestinians, including militants and civilians, while more than 40 Israelis and foreigners have died in Palestinian attacks.
The Palestinians aspire to establish a state in the West Bank, East Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip, areas Israel captured in the 1967 war.
US-brokered peace talks have stalled since 2014, and Palestinians say Israel has undermined their hopes for a viable state by expanding Jewish settlements on occupied land.
Reporting by Ali Sawafta, Dan Williams and Suleiman Al-Khalidi; Letter from Henriette Chacar; Edited by James Mackenzie, Peter Graff and Josie Kao
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