Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
West Bank gunfire kills Israeli motorist
HAWARA, West Bank — Palestinian gunmen Monday shot and killed an Israeli motorist in the occupied West Bank, the latest bloodshed in a fresh wave of fighting that showed no signs of slowing.
The killing occurred a day after two Israelis were killed by a Palestinian gunman in the northern West Bank, triggering a rampage in which Israeli settlers torched dozens of cars and homes in a Palestinian town. It was the worst such violence in decades.
The Israeli army said Monday’s attackers opened fire at an Israeli car near the Palestinian city of Jericho, hitting the motorist.
The assailants, traveling in one vehicle, then drove farther and fired again, the army said. The attackers set their own vehicle afire and fled, setting off a manhunt.
The 27-year-old Israeli motorist was transferred from the scene to Hadassah Medical Center, where he later died of his injuries, according to a statement by hospital spokeswoman Hadar Elboim. The man was not immediately identified.
Earlier, Israel sent hundreds more troops to the northern West Bank to restore calm after Sunday’s violence.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government, the most right-wing in Israel’s history, came under criticism for its failure to halt a surge in violence and for sending what some saw as mixed messages. As Netanyahu appealed for calm, a member of his ruling coalition praised the rampage as deterrence against Palestinian attacks.
The Israeli army also came under criticism for its failure to move quickly to stop the rioting, the worst such violence in decades.
“The government needs to decide what it is,” veteran columnist Nahum Barnea wrote in the Yediot Ahronot newspaper. “Is it resolved to enforce law and order on Arabs and Jews alike? Or is it a fig leaf for the hilltop youth, who do as they please in the territories? That same question also applies to the army, which has thus far failed to deal effectively with either Palestinian terrorism or Jewish terrorism.”
The events also underscored the limitations of the traditional U.S. approach to the long-running Israeli-Palestinian conflict: Washington has been trying to prevent escalation while staying away from the politically costly task of pushing for a resolution of the core disputes.
As the violence raged in the West Bank, such an attempt at conflict management was taking place Sunday in Jordan, with the U.S. bringing together Israeli and Palestinian officials to work out a plan for de-escalation.
Sunday’s events kicked off when a Palestinian gunman shot and killed brothers Hillel and Yagel Yaniv, ages 21 and 19, from the Jewish settlement of Har Bracha, in a shooting ambush in the Palestinian town of Hawara in the northern West Bank. The gunman fled and remained on the loose late Monday. The brothers were buried in Jerusalem.
Late Sunday, a 37-year-old Palestinian was shot and killed by Israeli fire, two Palestinians were shot and wounded and another was beaten with an iron bar, Palestinian health officials said. Some 95 Palestinians were being treated for tear gas inhalation, according to medics.
On Monday morning, the Hawara thoroughfare was lined with rows of burned-out cars and smoke-blackened buildings.
Normally bustling shops remained shuttered. Palestinian media said some 30 homes and cars were torched.
At the scene of the shooting, Defense Minister Yoav Galant told reporters that Israel “cannot allow a situation in which citizens take the law into their hands,” but stopped short of outright condemning the violence.
Shahar Glick, a reporter for Israel’s army radio station who was in Hawara, said security forces blocked the roads into town, but were caught off guard when 200 to 300 settlers entered on foot.
He said only a handful of police and soldiers were there, even after activists had publicized the march on social media. The West Bank is home to a number of hard-line settlements — several of them in the immediate vicinity of Hawara — whose residents frequently vandalize Palestinian land and property.
Lt. Col. Richard Hecht, an Israeli military spokesman, said the army deployed hundreds of additional troops to the area with the aim of de-escalation. Two battalions were sent late Sunday and two more on Monday, with several hundred soldiers each. The situation remained quiet late Monday.
Israeli police spokesman Dean Elsdunne said eight Israelis were detained in connection with Sunday’s rioting, and that six had already been released.