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| Israel-Palestine-Jordan |
| Settlers rampage in West Bank villages after Israelis killed |
| 2023-02-27 |
| [Jpost] Israeli settlers have attacked Palestinian villages in the northern occupied West Bank, after two settlers were shot dead by a Palestinian gunman. One Palestinian man was killed and more than 100 others were injured in the overnight violence near Nablus, the Palestinian health ministry said. Dozens of cars and houses were also burnt, according to a local official. It followed the killings of the two Israelis - brothers from a nearby settlement - along a highway. The two men were driving through Hawara when a Palestinian man rammed their car and then shot them both several times. The Israeli military said it was continuing to search for the Palestinian who shot Hillel Yaniv, 22, and Yagel Yaniv, 20, and that it had moved in hundreds of extra troops. Earlier on Sunday, Israeli and Palestinian officials had pledged to de-escalate tensions at a summit in Jordan. Videos posted hours after the summit ended showed a large crowd of Israeli settlers entering the village of Hawara, about 4 miles (6km) south of Nablus, lighting fires and throwing stones. A Palestinian official who monitors settlements in the Nablus region, Ghassan Daghlas, told Palestinian Wafa news agency that 30 houses were damaged by stones or burned down in Hawara, and that 15 vehicles were torched. Settlers also set a barn and three vehicles on fire in nearby Burin, as well as a house and a water tank in Asira al-Qabaliyya, he said. The Palestinian health ministry said 37-year-old Sameh Aqtash died after being shot in the stomach during an attack by settlers in Zaatara. iiMr Aqtash's brother, Abdul Moneim, said they had been standing outside a blacksmith's when they were attacked by settlers. "They left the area and then came back with the occupation [Israeli] army," he told AFP news agency. "The army shot my brother, not the settlers." However, the Israeli military said Mr Aqtash was not shot by an Israeli soldier. This part of the West Bank falls under full Israeli control, and Palestinians criticised Israeli security forces for failing to protect them. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said he held the Israeli government fully responsible for what he called "the terrorist acts carried out by Israeli settlers, under the protection of the Israeli occupation forces". Israel's Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, appealed for calm and urged settlers to allow the Israeli military and security forces to focus on finding the gunman who killed the two Israelis. "I ask that when blood is boiling and the spirit is hot, don't take the law into your hands," he said in a video statement. Settlers had called for a march to Hawara in order to "seek revenge" for the deadly attack on the brothers, who lived in the settlement of Har Bracha, which is 1.2 miles south of Nablus. No Palestinian militant group has so far claimed they were behind the attack, but the gunman was reportedly wearing a shirt bearing the insignia of the Nablus-based Lions' Den. |
| Posted by:Skidmark |
| #9 They had a US administration who would have tolerated the incursion. Wish somebody would have the balls to walk away from that. |
| Posted by: Skidmark 2023-02-27 23:18 |
| #8 TW, you seem to have evolved over the years. Or maybe less tolerant? Israel should have taken the west bank at the peak of the Syrian civil war when Hamas and Hezbollah were at their weakest. They had a US administration who would have tolerated the incursion. |
| Posted by: The Walking Unvaxed 2023-02-27 22:57 |
| #7 So the Israelis are no better than the savage Arabs, and aren't capable of behaving like civilized people. The Israelis behaved like civilized people for three generations, for which they got not credit from people like you, Thor Grumble2858. The problem is that responding to vicious barbarism in a civilized way turns out to be counterproductive; it drives more of the bad behaviour instead of reducing it. So the truly civilized response is to respond to barbarity with greater barbarity so that the barbarians finally — after three generations — learn to choose to behave as if they were civilized. Nice to see it admitted out loud for once. Strategy, tactics, the basic approach of the culture — three very different things. |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2023-02-27 21:33 |
| #6 John Wayne quote: "He shot first". |
| Posted by: Canuckistan sniper 2023-02-27 21:10 |
| #5 ^ The definition of civilization does not include instigating a murder. Like the man said..."Don't start nothin' won't be nothin'" |
| Posted by: AlanC 2023-02-27 17:25 |
| #4 So the Isrealis are no better than the savage Arabs, and aren't capable of behaving like civilized people. Nice to see it admitted out loud for once. |
| Posted by: Thor Grumble2858 2023-02-27 16:41 |
| #3 Basic tit-for-tat: Note that it started when a local Palestinian smashed his car into a Jewish one, then got out and killed the two Jews he’d trapped. Palestinian society is communal rather than individualistic, so the Jewish neighbours punished the community the killer came from. |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2023-02-27 15:06 |
| #2 The settler ideology they subscribe to is being brought to its logical conclusion. Surely if this is not the case, they will be punished to the fullest extent of the law. The punishment will be harsh and set an example so that this will never recur. |
| Posted by: Thor Grumble2858 2023-02-27 11:48 |
| #1 Security forces reinforced in West Bank as manhunt for Huwara terrorist continues |
| Posted by: Skidmark 2023-02-27 09:06 |