ISRAEL TO BUILD MORE HOMES AMID VIOLENCE
Defence minister says expansion of settlements is best answer to terrorism
ISRAEL is to build hundreds of new homes in a settlement in the occupied West Bank where a Palestinian stabbed three Israelis, one fatally, said Defence Minister Avigdor Lieberman.
The announcement came as two Palestinians, including a child, were shot in the head by Israeli soldiers in separate incidents in the southern Gaza Strip, said the Hamas-run territory’s Health Ministry.
“The best answer to terrorism is the expansion of settlements,” said Lieberman on Twitter, announcing 400 new housing units in the Adam settlement north of Jerusalem a day after the stabbing.
Israel rejects the widely held view that settlement expansion is one of the greatest obstacles to peace with the Palestinians, while attacks against Israelis in the West Bank are supported by many Palestinians as pushing back against settlement growth.
The teenage assailant sneaked into Adam on Thursday by climbing a fence, Israeli media reported.
He stabbed three people seemingly at random before being shot dead, said the army, naming the dead Israeli as Yotam Ovadia, 31. Israeli media said he had two young children.
The attacker was later identified as Mohammed Dar Youssef, 17, from the village of Kobar.
The army said it had raided the village, questioned a number of his family members and suspended their work permits.
During the raid on Friday morning, clashes broke out between young Palestinians and soldiers firing tear gas.
The clashes were over by midmorning Friday, said a photographer, though the army had established a checkpoint at the edge of the village.