Palestinian gunman kills three Israelis at settlement
Har Adar, Palestinian Territories - 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 relaunching the Middle East peace process, drew condemnation from Israeli officials.
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from Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas, adding that the gunman’s home would be demolished and Israeli work permits withdrawn from his extended family.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 labourers are required to undergo security checks, had been shattered by the shooting. Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld told AFP that the gunman, who had a permit to work in the settlement, had concealed himself among other Palestinian labourers.
“He hesitated and then all of a sudden, several metres before a security check, pulled out a 9mm 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 at a border police officer. And another two officers, that were standing approximately where we are at the moment, responded, opened fire and shot and killed that terrorist.”
Work permits under review
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’.
Netanyahu said, “I expect (Abbas) to condemn the attack and not try to justify it.” Hamas, which rules Gaza, hailed the attack as ‘revenge for the crime of occupation against our people’.
The UN envoy to the Middle East Nickolay Mladenov condemned both the attack and the Hamas reaction.
‘Reception for US envoy’
Deputy Foreign Minister Tzipi Hotovely said the Palestinian leadership needed to take action or there would be no point in following up on the US initiative to relaunch peace talks.
“The terrible attack at Har Adar is the Palestinian reception for US envoy Jason Greenblatt,” she said.
Hotovely renewed the Israeli government's call for the Palestinian Authority to stop paying allowances to the families of those who lost their lives carrying out attacks.
The UN envoy on Monday told the Security Council that Israel continues to build settlements ‘at a high rate’, in defiance of Security Council demands for an end to their expansion.