Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
Fast Forward

Israel Minister Denounces ‘Shameful’ Treatment of Palestinians at Checkpoints

A far-right Israeli minister spoke out against “shameful” conditions Palestinians experience at Israeli checkpoints in the West Bank.

Agriculture Minister Uri Ariel, a member of the Jewish Home party who advocates for Jews having greater access to the Temple Mount, said Friday that the current conditions are a “disgrace to the State of Israel and to the security establishment,” the Times of Israel reported.

A former leader with the Yesha Council, the primary advocacy group for Jewish settlers in the West Bank, Ariel has been a longtime supporter of settlement construction and in 2012 settler group Matot Arim named him the second-most right wing member of the Knesset.

In an interview on Tel Aviv Radio Friday morning, Ariel said checkpoints inside the West Bank morning that Israel must do more to improve the well-being of Palestinians both in the West Bank and Gaza.

He said Gaza Palestinians are hurt by Israel not allowing the coastal enclave to have an international port, and West Bank Palestinians are often forced to wait at checkpoints for hours without shade, water or other shelter from harsh weather conditions. “Why can’t we fix this?” he said.

“Why shouldn’t they have a port?” he asked, saying it could be created with “100 percent security.”

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines.
You must comply with the following:

  • Credit the Forward
  • Retain our pixel
  • Preserve our canonical link in Google search
  • Add a noindex tag in Google search

See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.