WEST BANK (Dispatches) – The Zionist regime’s control of the West Bank is closer than ever to being seen as apartheid, a senior official with the occupying regime has told Haaretz.
The official, described as being privy to talks regarding the makeup and responsibilities of the new ruling Zionist coalition, said the perception of apartheid was now “closer and more real than ever”.
The talks resulted on Thursday in a deal with Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party that gives the far-right Religious Zionism party three ministerial portfolios.
The party, led by Bezalel Smotrich, is to take control of the ministry of finance in rotation, the ministry of aliyah and integration, and a new ministry responsible for “national missions”.
A source of contention - and the impetus for the senior official’s apartheid comments - has been Smotrich’s demands for some of the powers of the civil administration, the Zionist regime’s governing body that presides over more than 60 percent of the West Bank.
Senior White House officials have, according to Haaretz, warned that transferring responsibility for the civil administration away from the war minister could hurt U.S.-Zionist relations, including military ties.
U.S. officials are said to be following the regime’s coalition talks with interest and are concerned by the influence the pro-settler right-wing will have on the situation in the West Bank.
It seems that Smotrich, who is expected to take the finance portfolio, has to some extent got his way when it comes to the West Bank.
Officials have warned that the U.S. and other countries would interpret a change in policy towards the West Bank population as unilateral annexation.