Palestinian UN bid 'greater threat' than Hamas

Steinitz said Israel would "respond" if Palestinians made good on their plan Jerusalem -  Agencies The Palestinian campaign to secure full UN membership presents a greater threat to Israel than that posed by Hamas, the Israeli finance minister said on Wednesday. "This Palestinian initiative represents a more serious threat than that posed by Hamas," Yuval Steinitz told Israel's public radio, referring to Gaza's Islamist rulers whose founding charter calls for the destruction of the Jewish state.
If the Palestinians made good on their plans to seek United Nations membership, Israel would "respond," he promised.
Although Steinitz did not spell out exactly how Israel would retaliate, his remarks were made shortly after Haaretz newspaper published a report saying the minister had blocked the payment of 380 million shekels ($106 million, 73 million euros) in tax revenues to the Palestinian Authority.
Officials in the West Bank city of Ramallah were not immediately available to comment on the report.
The minister, who belongs to the ruling Likud party of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, said he believed it would be impossible to stop the bid which is to take place when the UN General Assembly meets in New York next month.
Infrastructure Minister Uzi Landau, who was also interviewed on public radio, said that if the Palestinian went ahead with their bid it would signal the end of all agreements signed with Israel.
"In this case, it is clear that our agreements with the Palestinians would be null and void," said Landau, who belongs to the ultra-nationalist Yisrael Beitenu party.
"We should then impose our sovereignty on territories over which there is consensus -- that is, in the Jordan Valley and the major settlement blocs, and even more," he said, reiterating a proposal raised by right-wing elements that Israel annex Palestinian land in response to the UN bid.
The Palestinians are to formally submit their request for membership on September 20 when world leaders begin gathering in New York for the 66th session of the General Assembly.
The decision comes after direct peace talks with Israel ran aground late last year in an intractable dispute over Jewish settlement construction on occupied Palestinian land.
Israel implacably opposes such a statehood move, saying negotiations are the only way to resolve the conflict and establish a Palestinian state, in a position backed by the United States.
The Israeli army has said it is training Jewish settlers in the West Bank to repel violent protest.
The move comes ahead of anticipated protests by Palestinians when they make a bid for separate statehood at the United Nations in September.
The campaign for recognition is opposed by Israel and officials fear the bid could revive violence.
Settler officials denied a newspaper report that suggested settlers would be equipped with tear gas.
Haaretz said the military had been training settlement security chiefs and their teams and giving them tear gas and stun grenades.
In a written statement, the Israeli army said it was "devoting great efforts to training local forces and preparing them to deal with any possible scenario".
Drills among dozens of civil defence teams have reportedly been stepped up and the Israeli military is being prepared for possible violent protests too.
According to Reuters, scenarios include protesters reaching the gates of settlements and possible confrontations.
Israel has long permitted settlers to carry weapons but Jewish settler groups have insisted any use of firearms would be for defensive purposes only.
"Certainly during a period of tension, with intelligence reports of possible threats, of course readiness crews are being trained," Danny Dayan, chairman of the settlers' Yesha Council told Reuters in a telephone interview.
He said that armed settlers operated under Israeli army orders to avoid killing civilians.
Palestinians and human rights groups say settlers have used weapons to attack Palestinians and that Israel has been lax in investigating such incidents.
The President of the Palestinian Authority, Mahmoud Abbas, has said that September's debate on Palestinian statehood at the UN General Assembly will put pressure on Israel to negotiate a final peace deal, but Israel says it will have the opposite effect.
Direct talks between the Palestinians and Israelis are currently stalled over the Palestinian refusal to take part while the Israeli government continues to build settlements in the West Bank.
The settlements are considered illegal under international law, though Israel disputes this. Israel has occupied the West Bank since 1967, and annexed East Jerusalem, a move not recognised by the international community.
More than 500,000 Jewish settlers live in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, among a Palestinian population of about 2.5 million.