BICOM

The shooting of a Palestinian teenager who appeared to attack Israeli soldiers in Hebron yesterday added to simmering tension in the West Bank following a number of recent violent incidents.

Riots ensued in Hebron following the death of 17-year-old Muhammad al-Salaymeh. A Border Police spokesperson said that troops asked to check al-Salaymeh’s identification, at which point “he pulled out a gun and pointed it at the head of one of the soldiers.” The gun later turned out to be a fake weapon.  A female Border Police officer at the checkpoint fired at al-Salaymeh and critically wounded him. The incident prompted violent protests by Palestinians in the city, but no injuries or arrests were reported. However, further disturbances are possible following al-Salaymeh’s funeral today.

Yesterday’s incident follows a noticeable upsurge in unrest and violent confrontations in the West Bank over the past few weeks.  Early last week, a Palestinian man was shot dead by Israeli security forces after he crashed his car into an Israeli army vehicle in the Tulkarm area before charging at troops with an axe. Last month a 60-year-old Israeli woman in the Gush Etzion region of the West Bank was seriously injured after Palestinians hurled rocks at her car.

Meanwhile, the IDF is investigating two separate West Bank incidents that occurred last weekend in Hebron and Kfar Kaddum, in which Israeli troops came under attack by large Palestinian crowds. In the Kfar Kaddum incident, Israeli troops chose to retreat from a rock-throwing crowd rather to open fire, while in Hebron, Israeli soldiers were confronted by a crowd including Palestinian police. IDF Central Command officers have called on forces to increase awareness on all levels, following the rise in the number of violent disturbances in the West Bank in recent weeks.

In the Israeli media this morning, commentators in Maariv and Yediot Ahronot express concern that the surge in West Bank violence could spiral out of control.  The area has been largely calm over the last few years, in part due to significant cooperation between Israel and Palestinian Authority security forces.