Israeli settlers go berserk after Palestinian gunman kills 2

Jerusalem (AP) – Dozens of Israeli settlers went on a rampage in the northern West Bank on Sunday, burning dozens of cars and homes after two settlers were killed by a Palestinian gunman. Palestinian doctors said one man was killed and four others were seriously injured in what appeared to be the worst outbreak of settler violence in decades.

The deadly shooting, followed by the overnight storm, immediately called into question Jordan’s claim that Israeli and Palestinian officials were busy calming a year-long wave of violence.

Palestinian media reported that around 30 houses and cars were set on fire. Photos and videos on social media show huge fires burning in the town of Hawara – the site of the fatal shooting earlier in the day – lighting up the sky.

In one video, a crowd of Jewish settlers stood in prayer as they watched a burning building. And earlier, a senior Israeli cabinet minister and settler leader called on Israel to strike “mercilessly”.

On Sunday evening, the Palestinian Ministry of Health said a 37-year-old man had been shot and killed by Israeli fire. The Palestinian Red Crescent Medical Service said two more people were shot and wounded, a third person was stabbed and a fourth was beaten with an iron rod. Another 95 were being treated for tear gas inhalation.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas condemned what he called “terrorist acts committed by settlers under the protection of the occupation forces this evening”.

“We hold the Israeli government fully responsible,” he added.

The European Union said it was “alarmed by today’s violence” in Huwara and said “authorities on all sides must step in now to stop this endless cycle of violence”. Britain’s ambassador to Israel, Neil Wigan, said that “Israel should fight settler violence, with those responsible brought to justice.”

When videos of the violence appeared on the evening news, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called for calm and urged against judicial violence. “I ask that when blood boils and spirits are hot, do not take the law into your own hands,” Netanyahu said in a video statement.

The Israeli military said the chief of staff, General Herzl Halevi, rushed to the scene. He said troops were being reinforced in the area as they worked to restore order and search for the killer.

Ghassan Douglas, a Palestinian official who monitors Israeli settlements in the Nablus region. He said settlers burned at least six houses and dozens of cars in Hawara and reported attacks on other nearby Palestinian villages. He estimated that about 400 Jewish settlers took part in the attack.

“I have never seen an attack like this,” he said.

The outcome came shortly after the Jordanian government, which hosted talks in the Red Sea resort of Aqaba on Sunday, said the sides had agreed to take steps to reduce tensions and would meet again next month before Muslim saint of Ramadan.

“They reaffirmed the need to commit to de-escalation on the ground and to prevent further violence,” the Jordanian foreign ministry said.

After nearly a year of fighting that has killed more than 200 Palestinians and more than 40 Israelis in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, the Jordanian announcement marked a small sign of progress. But the situation on the ground immediately cast doubt on these commitments.

The Palestinians claim the West Bank, East Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip – areas captured by Israel in the 1967 Middle East war – for a future state. About 700,000 Israeli settlers live in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. The international community overwhelmingly views the settlements as illegal and obstacles to peace.

The West Bank is home to a number of harsh settlements whose residents often vandalize Palestinian land and property. But the violence is rarely so widespread.

Prominent members of Israel’s far-right government have called for tough measures against the Palestinians.

Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, a settler leader who lives in the area and has been in charge of much of Israel’s policy in the West Bank, called for “a merciless attack on the cities of terror and its instigators, with tanks and helicopters. “

Using a phrase that calls for a tougher response, he said Israel should act “in a way that conveys that the owner has gone mad.”

Late Sunday, however, Smotrich appealed to his fellow settlers to let the military and government do their job. “It is forbidden to take the law into your own hands and create a dangerous lawlessness that could get out of hand and cost lives,” he said.

Earlier, Israel’s ministerial committee gave its first approval to a bill that would impose the death penalty on Palestinians convicted of deadly attacks. The measure has been sent to lawmakers for further debate.

There were also different interpretations of what exactly was agreed at Aqaba between the Palestinians and the Israelis.

The Jordanian Foreign Ministry said the representatives agreed to work for a “just and lasting peace” and pledged to preserve the status quo in the disputed holy site of Jerusalem.

Tensions at sites revered by Jews such as the Temple Mount and by Muslims such as the Haram al-Sharif have often escalated into violence and sparked an 11-day war between Israel and the militant group Hamas during Ramadan two years ago.

Officials in the Israeli government, the most far-right in Israel’s history, played down Sunday’s meeting.

A senior official, speaking on condition of anonymity in line with government guidelines, said only that the Jordanian sides had agreed to set up a committee to work on renewing security ties with the Palestinians. The Palestinians severed ties last month after a deadly Israeli military raid in the West Bank.

Netanyahu’s national security adviser, Tzachi Hanegbi, who led the Israeli delegation, said there had been “no change” in Israeli policies and plans to build thousands of new settlement homes approved last week would not be affected. .

He said “there is no settlement freeze” and “there is no restriction on military activity.”

The Jordanian announcement said Israel pledged not to legalize any outposts for six months and not to approve any new construction in existing settlements for four months.

The Palestinians, meanwhile, said they had filed a long list of grievances, including an end to Israeli settlement construction on occupied land and an end to Israeli military incursions into Palestinian towns.

Sunday’s battle in Hawara came just days after an Israeli military raid killed 10 Palestinians in the nearby city of Nablus. The shooting took place on a major highway that serves both Palestinians and Israeli settlers. The two men killed were identified as brothers, aged 21 and 19, from the Jewish settlement of Har Bracha.

Hanegbi was joined by the head of Israel’s internal security agency, the Shin Bet, who attended the talks in neighboring Jordan. The head of Palestinian intelligence joined as did advisers to President Mahmoud Abbas.

Jordan’s King Abdullah II, who has close ties to the Palestinians, led the talks, while Egypt, another mediator, and the United States also participated.

In Washington, US national security adviser Jake Sullivan welcomed the meeting. “We recognize that this meeting was a starting point,” he said, adding that implementation would be key.

It was a rare high-level meeting between the sides, illustrating the severity of the crisis and concerns about escalating violence as Ramadan approaches at the end of March.

In Gaza, Hamas, an Islamic militant group that seeks Israel’s destruction, criticized Sunday’s meeting and called the shooting a “natural reaction” to Israeli incursions into the West Bank.

Israel withdrew from Gaza in 2005. The militant group Hamas later took control of the territory, and Israel and Egypt maintain a blockade on the territory.

AP correspondent Omar Akour contributed a report from Amman, Jordan.