Palestinian nation does not exist, says far-right Israeli finance minister

An Israeli minister has claimed there is “no such thing” as a Palestinian people as Israel’s new coalition government, its most hardline ever, ploughs ahead with part of its plan to overhaul the judiciary.

Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition said it was pushing a key part of the overhaul – which would give the government control over who becomes a judge – before parliament takes a month’s break next week.

The development came after an Israeli and Palestinian delegation at a meeting in Egypt, mediated by Egyptian, Jordanian and US officials, pledged to take steps to lower tensions in the region.

joint communique, the Israeli finance minister, Bezalel Smotrich, delivered a speech in Paris saying the notion of a Palestinian people was artificial.

“There is no such thing as a Palestinian nation. There is no Palestinian history. There is no Palestinian language,” he said late on Sunday. He spoke at a lectern draped with what appeared to be a map of Israel that included the occupied West Bank and parts of Jordan.

The Palestinian prime minister, Mohammad Shtayyeh, said Smotrich’s remarks were “conclusive evidence of the extremist, racist Zionist ideology that governs the parties of the current Israeli government”.

A far-right settler leader who opposes Palestinian statehood, Smotrich has a history of making offensive statements against the Palestinians. Last month, he called for the Palestinian town of Hawara in the West Bank to be “erased” after radical Jewish settlers rampaged in response to a shooting attack that killed two Israelis. Smotrich later apologised after an international uproar.

During Sunday’s talks in Egypt, a Palestinian gunman carried out another shooting attack in Hawara, seriously wounding an Israeli man.

The latest violence, along with Smotrich’s comments, illustrated the challenges that lie ahead in soothing tensions after a year of deadly violence. More than 200 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, and more than 40 Israelis or foreigners have been killed in Palestinian attacks during that time.

Sunday’s summit was held before the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, which begins this week. The Jewish festival of Passover is due to take place in April.

The forthcoming period is sensitive because large numbers of Jewish and Muslim faithful are expected to pour into Jerusalem’s Old City. Large numbers of Jews are also expected to visit the Jerusalem holy site known to Muslims as the Noble Sanctuary and to Jews as the Temple Mount – an act Palestinians view as a provocation. Clashes at the site in 2021 helped trigger an 11-day war between Israel and Hamas, which rules the Gaza Strip.

The heightened tensions with the Palestinians coincide with mass demonstrations inside Israel against Netanyahu’s plans to overhaul the judicial system. Opponents of the measure have carried out disruptive protests, and the debate has embroiled the country’s military, where some reservists are refusing to show up for military service.

Netanyahu has rejected a compromise by Israel’s figurehead president.