JERUSALEM — Hours after a Palestinian gunman shot dead two Israeli brothers as they drove through an Israeli-occupied West Bank town on Sunday, Jewish settlers raged in the area. area to avenge the killings, stoning and burning of dozens of Palestinian homes. shops and cars.
The shooting happened early Sunday afternoon on a road south of the city of Nablus even as other Israeli, Palestinian and Arab officials were attending the summit in Jordan, along with senior representatives of the United States, to discuss how to reduce rising tensions.
After nightfall, when the summit ended, settlers held rallies in the same area where the shooting occurred and began attacking Palestinians and their property. The Palestinian Health Ministry said a man, Sameh Aqtash, 37, was killed by live ammunition due to Israeli “aggression”.
The ministry said several Palestinians were injured and about 20 people were suffering from smoke and tear gas inhalation.
By evening, Israeli security forces appeared to be still struggling to contain the outbreak of violence. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu urged the settlers to allow security forces to focus on pursuing the Palestinian gunman, who fled the scene of the attack.
“I ask – even if the blood is boiling – not to get your hands on the law,” Netanyahu pleaded in a video statement released Sunday night.
The Israeli military said its soldiers, along with the Israel Fire and Rescue Service, the Border Police and additional Israeli security forces, were handling what it described as “violent riots”. force”. According to Wafa, the official Palestinian news agency, settlers threw stones at a Palestinian fire brigade, injuring two people.
Events on the ground overshadowed the day-long meeting at the Jordanian resort of Aqaba, described by the host as the first of its kind in years. At the conclusion, the Jordanian government and the US State Department issued a joint statement stating that the Israeli and Palestinian sides had reaffirmed their commitment to all prior agreements, as well as the need to prevent further violence.
Attended by senior officials from Israel, the Palestinian Authority, Jordan and Egypt, as well as representatives of the Biden administration, the meeting reflected the pragmatism of Israel’s two-month-old government. , most right-wing and religious. conservative in the country’s history. It also shows Washington’s desire for agreements that can help prevent the situation from spiraling out of control.
Israel-Palestinian violence on the rise
A recent spate of violence in Israel and the West Bank has raised concerns that tensions could escalate further.
But Sunday’s violence merely underscores the challenges, and there is little sign of significant progress – other than the fact that the sides have met. Jordan said the five sides have agreed to meet again next month, in Egypt.
The killing of the Israeli brothers, which the Israeli government describes as a Palestinian terrorist attack, comes four days after an attack. bloody raid by the Israeli army in Nablus. The military said the raid aimed to capture Palestinian gunmen from a local group responsible for the October killing of an Israeli soldier and was planning other attacks.
The two brothers shot dead Sunday were identified by the Israeli military as Hillel Yaniv, 21, and Yagel Yaniv, 20, both residents of Har Bracha, a Jewish settlement in the hills. above Nablus. Hillel Yaniv was a staff sergeant serving in the Israeli Navy and was studying at a religious seminary at the time of his killing. His younger brother, Yagel, is also studying in a religious seminary.
The gunman rammed the brothers’ car at an intersection along the main road leading to Nablus and shot them at close range, according to images from the scene, witnesses and media reported.
The first two months of 2023 were among the deadliest in years for both Palestinians and Israelis, the result of a sharp increase in daytime military attacks as well as from a series of attacks. terrorist attack. Increased violence is what prompted the summit in Jordan ahead of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, which begins in less than four weeks.
In the past, the month of Ramadan was a time of heightened tension and emotions, sometimes leading to broader conflict between Israel and Palestine.
About 60 Palestinians have been killed in the occupied West Bank in the past two months, most of them in raids and gunfights with Israeli troops. Sunday’s attack brought the number of Israelis killed by Palestinians this year to 13. Seven of them were killed in a clash. batch shooting at the end of January, a day after a Israeli army raid 10 Palestinians were killed in the northern West Bank city of Jenin.
Wednesday’s raid in Nablus sparked a four-hour gun battle with Palestinian groups that left eight Palestinian militants and two bystanders dead, according to Palestinian officials. The Palestinian Health Ministry said a third Palestinian civilian, a 66-year-old man, died in hospital hours after inhaling tear gas.
Israeli attacks are often followed by retaliation from lone Palestinian gunmen, and Palestinian attacks on Israelis often lead to a spike in settler violence against the people. Palestine and their property.
Conflict in the region has only intensified since Israel’s new right-wing government came to power in late 2022, also a bloody year, with the rise of local Palestinian armed groups and a wave of attacks. against the Israelites in the spring. The new government ultimately supported the annexation of all of the West Bank and promised a more aggressive approach to Palestinian attackers.
On Sunday, a government-controlled Israeli parliamentary committee introduced a bill calling for Israeli courts to be able to impose the death penalty on people convicted of murder in cases of political violence. against Israeli citizens. The bill is sponsored by Jewish Power, a party in the ruling coalition led by an extreme nationalist, Itamar Ben-Gvir, the national security minister who has previously been convicted of inciting incitement. racist movement against Arabs and in support of a terrorist group, led.
In a statement released on Sunday, Jordan and the United States said that Israel had committed not to discuss the construction of new settlements for a period of four months and not to allow any new settlement outposts for a period of time. period of 6 months. But Mr. Netanyahu’s office announced a week ago that it had notified the United States that it would stop issuing permits to any Jewish settlement outposts in the coming months.
That announcement explicitly excluded 10 outposts that the Israeli government had just a few days earlier said it was working on to license. The government has promised retroactive permits for dozens of outposts erected without government permission in the occupied West Bank, some of which date back decades.
The Israeli government has also pledged to continue building the nearly 10,000 new settlement units that have been approved in recent days. Most countries consider all settlements to be violations of international law.
Islamic militant groups in Gaza have fired several rockets into southern Israeli airspace in recent weeks in response to Palestinian deaths, and Israel has retaliated by hitting targets in Gaza.
Hamas, the group that controls Gaza, described Sunday’s shooting as a “natural response” to Israeli activities, including last week’s raid in Nablus. Islamic Jihad, a smaller militant faction, said the shooting matched its promise of revenge for the killing of its commanders there.
Both groups said they would continue to resist the Israeli occupation regardless of the summit in Jordan.
Myra Noveck reporting donations from Jerusalem, and Gabby Sobelman from Rehovot, Israel Hiba Yazbek reported contributions from Nablus on the West Coast.
