Palestinian activist’s killers will be brought to justice: PM
Egypt’s president supports efforts to reach a fair and permanent solution between Israelis and Palestinians; activist’s killers will be brought to justice, vows Palestinian PM; setlers agree to leave West Bank outpost
Egypt’s President Abdel Fatah Al Sisi told Israel’s new leader on Monday it was important to follow through on Egypt-backed efforts to rebuild the Gaza Strip following last month’s fighting there, the Egyptian presidency said.
In his first phone call with Natali Bennet since Bennet took office two weeks ago, Sisi stressed Egypt’s support for efforts to reach a fair and permanent solution between the Palestinians and Israelis, Egypt’s presidency said.
Sisi stressed the importance of supporting an Egyptian drive to help rebuild the Gaza Strip ater last month’s fighting between Israel and the Hamas Islamist group which controls it.
A statement from Bennet’s office said the Israeli leader had thanked Egypt for its role in brokering the ceasefire that ended the fighting, and its mediation in helping find Israelis missing or captured in Gaza.
The two leaders would work towards meeting soon.
Egypt and Qatar have pledged $500 million each for reconstruction in the Palestinian enclave, where two-thirds of 2 million residents rely on aid.
The Gaza government says 2,200 homes were destroyed and 37,000 damaged by Israeli shelling during 11 days of cross-border exchanges. Israel and Egypt jointly maintain a security blockade, restricting imports and exports from Gaza.
Dozens of Palestinian journalists rallied outside a UN building in Ramallah on Monday to demand press freedom following violent clashes with the Palestinian police sparked by an activist’s death in custody.
Nizar Banat, a 43-year-old from Hebron known for social media videos deploring alleged corruption within the Palestinian Authority (PA), died last week shortly ater security forces stormed his home and violently arrested him, his family said.
Days of clashes between protesters and police have let several journalists injured.
Reporters Without Borders said on Monday that during weekend unrest in the occupied West Bank 12 Palestinian journalists, including five women, had been assaulted by Palestinian police.
Naila Khalil, a reporter with The New Arab media outlet, said Palestinian reporters had submited a leter to the UN urging the world body
“to take necessary and immediate measures” to protect media freedom.
Mohammed Gharafi of the Ultra Palestine news site said he had been harassed by Palestinian security forces who threatened to confiscate his phone if he did not stop filming the protests.
Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammed Shtayyeh said on Monday that those responsible for Banat’s death “will be held accountable,” according to the official WAFA news agency.
According to an autopsy, Banat had been beaten on the head, chest, neck, legs and hands, with less than an hour elapsing between his arrest and his death.
Banat had registered as a candidate in Palestinian parliamentary elections, which had been set for May until Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas postponed them indefinitely.
Meanwhile, in a separate development Jewish setlers agreed on Monday to leave a new outpost in the occupied West Bank that has stirred weeks of Palestinian protests following a deal with Israel’s government, officials said.
Under the agreement, confirmed by setler leaders and the interior ministry, the setlers will leave the Eviatar outpost within days but their mobile homes will remain and Israeli troops will establish a base in the area.
According to a statement from regional settler leader Yossi Dagan, the defence ministry has agreed to study land claims to assess the prospect of a future recognised setlement.
Dagan said the agreement had been approved by Prime Minister Natali Bennet, Defence Minister Benny Gantz and Interior Minister Ayelet Shaked.
Shaked’s office confirmed the deal, but spokespersons for Bennet and Gantz were not immediately available to comment.
About 50 Jewish families moved to Eviatar last month, erecting huts, tents and caravans - in defiance of international and Israeli law -- on land near Nablus in the occupied West Bank, which Palestinians claim for a future state.
Palestinians in the nearby community of Beitar responded with nightime protests, flashing horns, burning tyres and shining laser beams to keep the setlers awake.