Violence rocks West Bank as mounting tensions boil over
A SPATE OF DEADLY ATTACKS LAST WEEK WAS FOLLOWED BY LOCKDOWN AND MASS ARRESTS
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Israeli occupation forces kept up a manhunt yesterday for a Palestinian who shot dead two soldiers in the occupied West Bank, as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu faced right wing pressure for a strong response.
Thursday’s shooting was the latest incident shattering months of relative calm in the West Bank, where 400,000 Israelis live in colonies alongside more than 2.5 million Palestinians.
It was the third deadly attack by Palestinian gunmen in the West Bank in two months and set off demonstrations by colonist groups against Netanyahu, whose right wing government depends on their support.
New uprising?
Israeli media speculated yesterday about the possibility of a new Palestinian “intifada,” or uprising, against Israel’s occupation of the West Bank.
In Thursday’s attack, a gunman got out of his car and opened fire on soldiers and others outside a colony in the central West Bank, killing two and seriously injuring another two Israelis before fleeing.
Israeli occupation forces then locked down the city of Ramallah while calling in reinforcements.
Clashes between Palestinians and Israeli occupation forces erupted in different parts of the ■ West Bank, including inside Ramallah during army raids.
Colonists threw stones at Palestinian vehicles, while a Palestinian bus driver was beaten by colonists.
In overnight raids, the Israeli army said it arrested 40 Palestinians but did not say it had made arrests linked directly to the latest attack.
Israel has controlled the West Bank since seizing and occupying it in the 1967 war.
Right wing Jewish protesters in Occupied Jerusalem late Thursday booed Netanyahu.
Hugh Lovatt, an analyst at the European Council on Foreign Relations, said the situation was reminiscent to the build-up to the 2014 Gaza war.
“What adds further danger is that we are heading into elections in Israel in 2019, so Netanyahu will have to take a more forceful hand,” Lovatt told AFP.
“He has long run on his security credentials, saying he keeps Israel safe, and his only real challenge comes from the right.”
Netanyahu, whose Likud bloc heads the government, responded Thursday by announcing new measures to support colonies, but Yediot Aharonot newspaper said he would need to respond forcefully.