Violence Escalates in West Bank as Settler Attacks Claim Lives
Recent Incidents and Ongoing Tensions in the West Bank
By Ali Sawafta
HAJJA, West Bank, Sept 7 (Reuters) - Violence in the occupied West Bank flared on Monday as Israeli troops shot dead a Palestinian during a village raid by settlers from a nearby outpost and killed another Palestinian who entered an outpost and stabbed a settler, officials said.
It was the latest violence involving dozens of Israeli settler outposts across the West Bank, where attacks by militant settlers on Palestinians have drawn international condemnation and a rare order by Israel's leader to dismantle some of them.
Reuters reported on Sunday that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu made the order after pressure from Washington, whose envoy to Israel made a visit this weekend to a Palestinian town that has faced settler attacks and is home to many American citizens.
Israeli Troops Kill Palestinian After Settler Raid
Confrontation in Hajja Village
Overnight, Palestinians in Hajja in the northern West Bank gathered on the village's eastern edge to confront around nine armed settlers who had raided the village, residents said. They came from an outpost around two kilometres from the village, along a dirt road, they said.
Residents said Israeli troops then approached the area from the opposite side, trapping the Palestinians between the soldiers and the settlers.
Both the settlers and the troops opened fire, they said. A 19-year-old Palestinian was killed and three others were wounded, they added.
Military Response and Local Accounts
In a statement, the Israeli military said that troops deployed to Hajja after receiving a report that Israelis had entered the village.
It said Palestinians threw stones toward the troops, who "carried out arrest procedures, including firing warning shots into the air, followed by fire toward key instigators. Hits were identified."
Ziad Batta, a Hajja resident, said he and more than 100 other villagers had rushed to the area to confront the settlers.
"The settlers started firing tear gas and stun grenades. There were also three army vehicles coming from the outpost, and they started firing tear gas, live ammunition and stun grenades. The young men ran away," he said.
Palestinian Stabs Israeli Settler, Military Says
Attack Near Qusra Village
In a separate incident, a Palestinian entered a settler outpost near Qusra village, where a siege by settlers last month drew an international outcry, and stabbed a 20-year-old Israeli, critically wounding him, the Israeli military and medics said.
Troops threw up road blocks in the area and located the man near a village to the west, the military said in a statement. The man then attempted to stab soldiers, and was shot and killed by a military commander, it added.
The Palestinian Authority health ministry confirmed the death of a 34-year-old, without providing details.
Official Reactions and Political Context
Netanyahu said he wished "a complete recovery to the (Israeli) farm owner who was wounded in the attack" and that Israel "will continue to eliminate terrorists, hunt down those who dispatch them, and destroy the terrorist infrastructure in Judea and Samaria," using the biblical term for the West Bank.
The Israeli leader's office did not immediately respond to a request for comment on whether he had ordered some outposts to be dismantled.
Netanyahu has frequently said that his government, the most right-wing in Israeli history, has supported the establishment of dozens of outposts, which often consist of prefabricated caravans set up without formal government approval.
His government has given retroactive legal status to many of them.
International Law and Settlement Status
U.N. bodies and most government deem all settlements on territory Israel occupied in the 1967 Middle East war illegal under international law. Israel rejects this, viewing the territory as disputed rather than occupied.
(Reporting by Ali Sawafta and Alexander Cornwell; editing by Rami Ayyub and Ros Russell)
