News
IDF beefs up West Bank presence; armed Palestinian killed in Hebron clash
As violence continued in the West Bank yesterday, the IDF deployed a number of back-up battalions to the area in order to quell the unrest.
Some of yesterday’s most serious clashes took place near Hebron. An IDF unit was targeted by a group of around 200 Palestinians in El-Arroub, hurling rocks at the soldiers, who initially responded with tear gas and rubber bullets. However, the riot failed to disperse and when 22-year-old Imad Jawabreh brandished an improvised weapon, the troops used live rounds, killing Jawabreh.
Meanwhile, around 150 Palestinian demonstrators hurled rocks and Molotov cocktails at IDF soldiers at Dura, also near Hebron. One Palestinian was taken to hospital as a result of the clash. At Sinjil, near Ramallah, a smaller group threw rocks and firebombs at traffic before Israeli forces intervened. Maariv reports that in total, around 60 incidents were recorded yesterday.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu presided over a security cabinet meeting yesterday and decided on what Yediot Ahronot described as a policy of “containment.” Extra backup units are being sent to the West Bank, including a Golani infantry unit. IDF Chief of Staff Benny Gantz said that troops will be tasked with calming the situation, but are ready for an escalation of violence should it occur. Netanyahu also recommended that the homes of terrorists should be destroyed and the families of stone-throwing youths fined in an attempt to discourage violent acts.
This morning, it was discovered that a mosque near Ramallah had been burned. Local Palestinians claim it was a so-called “Price Tag” attack, acts of vandalism against Palestinian and Arab property by those opposed to curbs on settlement building. Israel Radio reports that an 18th century synagogue in the northern Arab town of Shfaram was attacked overnight with a Molotov cocktail.
Meanwhile, US Secretary of State John Kerry is scheduled to arrive in Jordan’s capital Amman today, to meet with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas in order to discuss the current unrest.