Palestinian kills 3 Israelis in settlement

Takes place ahead of arrival of US envoy, Mideast peace talks

A Palestinian opened fire at Israeli security personnel at the entrance to a West Bank settlement on Tuesday, killing three and wounding another before being shot dead, police said.

The attack, which came as US envoy Jason Greenblatt was due in Jerusalem for talks on re-launching the moribund Middle East peace process, drew condemnation from Israeli officials who called for action from the Palestinian leadership.

It also occurred in the middle of the Jewish high holiday period, when Israeli-Palestinian violence has erupted in the past, and led police to order reinforcements to prevent further unrest.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu demanded a clear condemnation of the attack from Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas, adding that the gunman’s home would be demolished and Israeli work permits withdrawn from his extended family.

The target of the attack was Har Adar, a well-to-do settlement northwest of Jerusalem, high in the hills close to the Green Line that separates the occupied West Bank from Israel.

The windows of the guard booth at its northern entrance, where Palestinian day laborers are required to undergo security checks, had been shattered by the shooting, an AFP correspondent reported.

Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld told AFP that the gunman, who had a permit to work in the settlement, had concealed himself among other Palestinian laborers.

“He hesitated and then all of a sudden, several meters before a security check, pulled out a nine millimeter weapon and opened fire directly at the two private security guards, who were shot and killed directly at the scene,” Rosenfeld said.

“He also opened fire to a border police officer that was also located here.”

Israel’s Shin Bet internal security service identified the gunman as Nimer Aljamal, a 37-year-old father of four from the nearby Palestinian village of Beit Surik with no previous “security background.”

Rosenfeld described Aljamal’s profile as “very unusual” by comparison with others who have carried out lone-wolf attacks during a wave of unrest that has hit Israel and the Palestinian territories over the past two years.