Gunman kills three Israelis
Palestinian worker shot dead after attack on officers at West Bank security checkpoint
APALESTINIAN opened fire at Israeli security personnel at the entrance to a West Bank settlement yesterday, 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 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 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from Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas, adding that the gunman’s home would be demolished and Israeli work permits withdrawn from his extended family.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 said 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,” Rosenfeld said.
“He also opened fire on a border police officer.
“Another two officers responded, opened fire and killed that terrorist.”
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 in 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.
Netanyahu called on the Palestinian president to condemn the attack. “I expect [Abbas] to condemn the attack and not try to justify it,” he said.
Palestinian Islamist movement 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.
“It is deplorable that Hamas and others continue to glorify such attacks, which undermine the possibility of a peaceful future for both Palestinians and Israelis,” he said.