RAMALLAH: Cracks widened between Israeli security services and the government on Sunday over violence in the occupied West Bank.
Israel’s security minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir, rebuked the police for what he called “collective punishment” of Jewish settlers.
His reaction came as a surge of violence in the West Bank, including by Israeli settlers in Palestinian towns and villages, drew international condemnation.
A Palestinian woman sits outside her torched home in the West Bank town of Turmus Ayya. It was set on fire by Jewish settlers who stormed the town. (AP)
In a joint statement on Saturday, Israel Defense Forces Chief of Staff Gen. Herzi Halevy, Shin Bet Chief Ronen Bar and Inspector General of Police Kobi Shabtai said the settlers’ actions amounted to “nationalist terrorism” which they pledged to fight.
They added recent attacks by Israeli citizens against Palestinians contravened Jewish values.
BACKGROUND
International human rights groups have said some punitive actions by Israel against Palestinians constitute collective punishment, which is considered a war crime under humanitarian law.
“They are national (terrorists) in every sense, and we are committed to confronting them. This violence increases Palestinian terrorism, harms the state of Israel and the international legitimacy of the security forces in their fight against Palestinian terrorism, and causes the security forces to deviate from their primary mission in confronting Palestinian terrorism,” the statement said.
It added that the IDF, Shin Bet and the Israeli Police are committed to working to maintain law and order in the West Bank.
The joint statement emphasized that the IDF will transfer forces and provide reinforcements to prevent incidents of this kind in Judea and Samaria.
The Shin Bet will also expand detentions, including administrative detentions, against security breaches who act violently and extremists in Palestinian villages.
It appealed to local leaders, educators, and community leaders to publicly condemn these acts of violence.
The statement does not indicate a change in the IDF’s policy of dealing with settlers, Israeli military expert Eyal Alima told Arab News.
“The statement is denunciation … and does not represent a fundamental change in how the Israeli security services deal with the settlers’ security threat,” Alina said.
“They and the government are restricted regarding the methods they can practise against the settlers.”
The settlers enjoy great support in Israel, especially from the government, which considers them integral to it as it represents the far right, he said.
Alima said the joint statement reflected the security services’ concern about the danger of continued settler attacks and assaults against the Palestinians, which could lead to a significant escalation in the West Bank.
“The fact is that the defense minister refrained from issuing orders to evacuate seven illegal settlement points established during the last week indicates the discrepancy in the way this government deals with this phenomenon and in the way the army deals with it,” said Alima.
The Palestinian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates on Sunday said in response to the statement: “Finally, and in light of the atrocity of settler crimes that organized and armed groups of settlers are still committing in more than one place in the occupied West Bank, the leaders of the occupation army and agencies, including the Shin Bet and the police, were forced to admit the enormity of these crimes to the extent that they were described as terrorism for many years.
It added it was “an explicit, clear, and public recognition of the existence of nationalist terrorism committed by thousands of settlers, while they carry weapons and enjoy public protection from the occupation army and political cover from ministers in the Israeli government.”
The ministry also said that Israel “must be held accountable because it does not carry out its duties to protect the civilian population under its occupation but instead intimidates them and provides protection to those who attack them, which was documented by audio and video cameras, reflecting complicity and coordination at the highest levels between the army and the settlers in every attack, they commit against the Palestinian territories.”
The ministry called on all countries to put settler groups and organizations that commit crimes against Palestinian civilians on their terrorist lists, prosecute their members and prevent them from entering their lands.
The statement came as the IDF announced the arrest of one of its soldiers on Sunday, who took part in settlement attacks against the village of Umm Safa, burning homes and cars and shooting at citizens, on Saturday.
Also on Sunday, US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan called his Israeli counterpart, Tzachi Hanegbi, and called for the prosecution of “rioters and terrorists” in Palestinian villages.
Hanegbi stated that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had condemned acts of “terrorism and rioting” by settlers inside the Palestinian territories and that Tel Aviv was in the process of identifying those responsible for violating the law and bringing them to justice.
Israeli political analyst Yoni Ben Menachem told Arab News that Netanyahu was under US pressure to denounce settler attacks against the Palestinians.
Ben Menachem expected the Israeli security services to take several measures against the settlers, such as administrative detention.
Former Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz previously described settler attacks as terrorism.
On Sunday, settlers wrote racist slogans calling for the killing of Arabs on the walls of greenhouses near the Shufa military checkpoint, southeast of Tulkarm.
They also burned crops in the village of Turmusaya, north of Ramallah.
The difficult economic situation for the Palestinians and the continued army and settler attacks were reflected in the Palestinians’ preparations for Eid Al-Adha this week.
Celebrations are being reduced to give more time for visiting relatives and families of martyrs, wounded people and prisoners.
“The Palestinian people are a people of patience and defiance, as they resist no matter how difficult the circumstances are, no matter how targeted the settlers and the Israeli army are,” clerk Taleb Silwadi, a mosque speaker in Ramallah, told Arab News.
“The manifestations of celebration and joy are absent from the atmosphere of this holiday — Eid Al-Adha — due to the difficult conditions that our people and our country are going through,” he said.
“Our religion demands that we not show sadness.”
