Published: 12 July 2022
Last updated: 5 March 2024
New PM promotes Gaza economy; Tel Aviv University may recognise it was built on Palestinian land; Protesters want US embassy moved
Israel must find better ways of dealing with the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip than to submit to endless rounds of violence, Prime Minister Yair Lapid said Sunday evening.
Lapid was speaking at a state ceremony in Jerusalem’s Mount Herzl military cemetery to commemorate the soldiers of the Israel Defence Forces who were killed during Operation Protective Edge in Gaza in 2014.
He said Israel must “make the civilian population in Gaza realise that they can live a different life. To pressure Hamas to stop firing at Israel. To that end, we have increased the number of permits for working in Israel that are issued to the residents of Gaza, and we continue to promote the ‘Economy-for-Security’ plan,” in reference to Israeli efforts to help the Gazan economy in return for security assurances.”
The Israeli Prime Minister also reached out to neighbouring countries in his first week in the job.
He spoke by phone with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Egyptian President Abdel Fatteh el-Sissi on Sunday evening, the Israeli premier’s office said, reflecting the warming ties between Jerusalem and its neighbours.
At a cabinet meeting, Lapid called for normalisation of ties with countries in the region, noting the symbolism of US President Joe Biden’s plan to fly directly from Israel to Saudi Arabia this week.
“From Jerusalem, the president’s plane will fly to Saudi Arabia,” Lapid said. “He will carry with him a message of peace and hope from us. Israel extends its hand to all the countries of the region and calls on them to build ties with us, establish relations with us, and change history for our children.”
Lapid’s statements come as there is increasing recognition of Palestinian settlement prior to the establishment of the State of Israel.
A new master plan for the Tel Aviv University campus may recognise the Palestinian village on which the university was built.
