Top Israeli minister pushes for 'emigration' of West Bank Palestinians

JERUSALEM

A senior Israeli far-right minister has vowed to encourage "emigration" from the Palestinian territories, despite mounting criticism of recent measures tightening Israel's control over the occupied West Bank.

Since last week, Israel has approved a series of initiatives backed by far-right ministers to consolidate control over the West Bank, including in areas administered by the Palestinian Authority under the Oslo Accords, in place since the 1990s.

"We will eliminate the idea of an Arab terror state," far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said at an event organized by his Religious Zionism Party late on Feb. 17.

"We will finally, formally, and in practical terms nullify the cursed Oslo Accords and embark on a path toward sovereignty, while encouraging emigration from both Gaza and Judea and Samaria," he said, using the Biblical term for the West Bank.

"There is no other long-term solution," added Smotrich, who himself lives in a settlement in the West Bank.

Smotrich was speaking at a vineyard near Ramallah, the seat of the Palestinian Authority, where he presented what he called "Colonization 2030,” a campaign initiative ahead of national elections scheduled for later this year.

In addition to the finance portfolio, Smotrich serves on Israel's security cabinet, which takes key decisions regarding the West Bank, making him a central figure in efforts to expand settlements there.

The recently approved measures include launching a process to register land in the West Bank as "state property" and allowing Jewish Israelis to purchase land directly.

Until now, land acquisitions for settlers were typically carried out through intermediary companies.

The new measures repeal a decades-old law that barred Jews from directly purchasing land in the West Bank.

"This will allow Jews to purchase land in Judea and Samaria exactly as they do in Tel Aviv or Jerusalem," Smotrich said last week.

The steps are also set to increase Israel's control in parts of the West Bank where the Palestinian Authority currently exercises power.