Jerusalem clashes threaten Israeli coalition with Arab party's mulled move

JERUSALEM－Israel's governing coalition faced a new split on Sunday when the Islamic party of Ra'am said it was "suspending" its support after violence around a flashpoint Jerusalem holy site that wounded over 170 people over the weekend.

The government－a mix of left-wing, hard-line Jewish nationalist and religious parties, as well as Ra'am－had already lost its razor-thin majority this month when a religious Jewish member quit in a dispute over leavened bread distribution at hospitals.

Since then, days of violence around Jerusalem's Al-Aqsa Mosque compound, sacred to both Muslims and Jews, put Ra'am under pressure to quit too.

On Sunday evening, Ra'am, or the United Arab List－which has four seats in Bennett's coalition－said it was "suspending" its support, Agence France-Presse reported.

"If the government continues its steps against the people of Jerusalem … we will resign as a bloc," said Ra'am in a statement.

Ra'am, the first party drawn from the country's 21 percent Arab minority to join an Israeli government, said it was suspending its government membership over Israel's handling of the Al-Aqsa violence and would consider officially resigning if things did not change.

Some political commentators said the announcement was a symbolic gesture to take pressure off party leaders during the crisis and it could be resolved by the time parliament reconvenes next month, Reuters reported.

The declaration came hours after more than 20 Palestinians and Israelis were wounded in incidents in and around the mosque, known to Jews as Temple Mount.

The latest clashes take the number of wounded since Friday to more than 170, at a tense time when the Jewish Passover festival coincides with the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan. They also follow deadly violence in Israel and the occupied West Bank starting in late March, in which 36 people have been killed.

Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett took office last June after painstaking efforts to cobble together a coalition to replace Israel's longest-serving premier Benjamin Netanyahu, creating a razor-thin majority of 61 seats in the 120-seat Knesset.

Majority lost

But the government lost that majority earlier this month when a hard-right Knesset member quit over a government decision to authorize the distribution of leavened bread in hospitals during Passover, in line with a recent supreme court ruling reversing years of prohibition.

The party's withdrawal from Bennett's administration will not immediately impact the government, as the Knesset is in recess until May 5.

Sources told AFP that Bennett would seek to calm the situation.

Bennett's coalition can rule with 60 seats, though passing new legislation will be difficult.

But if another member leaves the coalition, the Knesset could hold a vote of no confidence and lead Israel back to the polls for a fifth parliamentary election in four years.

Agencies - Xinhua