Two Palestinians killed in West Bank, one by Israeli settler

Jerusalem, Undefined (AFP):

Two Palestinians were killed in the West Bank Friday, one of them by a settler as a surge of Israeli-Palestinian violence shows no letup.

Tensions remained high a day after Pentagon chief Lloyd Austin had, on a visit to Israel, called for de-escalation ahead of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan in March and the Jewish holiday of Passover in April.

But within hours of his appeal, a member of the Palestinian movement Hamas was shot dead by police who accused him of having wounded three men in their 30s outside a Tel Aviv cafe.

On Friday morning, an Israeli settler shot dead a Palestinian at Dorot Illit settlement in the northern West Bank, the army said.

The Palestinian health ministry identified him as Abd al-Karim al-Sheikh, 21.

Occupied by Israel since the Six-Day War of 1967, the West Bank is home to hundreds of thousands of Jewish settlers who live in state-approved settlements considered illegal under international law.

Later on Friday, Israeli troops shot dead a Palestinian teenager in the northern West Bank town of Qalqilya. The health ministry identified him as Amir Odeh, 16.

At a rally Friday in the Gaza Strip, Hamas official Mushir al-Masri, whose group has ruled the territory since winning election in 2006, praised the “swift response in the heart of Tel Aviv to avenge crimes” of Israel in Jenin, a West Bank city that has been the scene of recurring violence.

Austin held talks in Israel hours after three Palestinians were killed in the West Bank and as protesters rallied against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s hard-right government.

Violence intensified last year but has worsened in the West Bank during the tenure of Netanyahu’s government which took office in December, a coalition with ultra-Orthodox Jewish and extreme-right allies.

The government of Netanyahu, who is on trial for corruption, has vowed to continue the expansion of West Bank settlements.

Stalled peace talks

About 230,000 Israelis live in annexed east Jerusalem, along with at least 360,000 Palestinians who want to make the sector the capital of their future state.

But Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations have stalled since 2014.

Austin said Thursday the US commitment to Israel’s security was “iron-clad”.

But the US remained “firmly opposed to any acts that could trigger more insecurity, including settlement expansion and inflammatory rhetoric,” he said, adding: “We are especially disturbed by violence by settlers against Palestinians.”

Since the start of the year, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has claimed the lives of 78 Palestinian adults and children.

Twelve Israeli civilians and one policeman as well as one Ukrainian civilian have been killed over the same period, according to an AFP tally based on official sources from both sides.