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☆ Palestinian gunmen kill four Israelis in West Bank
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-20 | by ( Ammar Awad | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

REUTERS/Ammar AwadNEAR ELI SETTLEMENT, West Bank, June 20 (Reuters) - Palestinian gunmen shot dead four Israelis near a Jewish settlement in the occupied West Bank on Tuesday in an attack the militant Hamas group said was a response to a raid by Israeli forces in the flashpoint city of Jenin. The Israeli military said it was boosting forces in the West Bank after the attack. Police minister Itamar Ben-Gvir called for a full-scale military operation in the West Bank and urged Jewish settlers in the area to carry a weapon. U.S.-brokered peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians, aimed at establishing a state in the West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem, collapsed in 2014 and show no sign of revival. Israel's government is set on expanding settlements in the West Bank and includes members who rule out a Palestinian state.

Persons: Ammar Awad, Eli, Morel Nicker, Benjamin Netanyahu, Bezalel Smotrich, Itamar Ben, Gvir, Huwara, Israel Tom Nides, Maayan Lubell, Rami Amichay, Nidal, Ali Sawafta, James Mackenzie, Alex Richardson, Angus MacSwan, Cynthia Osterman Organizations: West Bank, REUTERS, Hamas, Bezalel Smotrich ., West, Thomson Locations: Eli, ELI, West, Jenin, Gaza, Palestinian, Israel, U.S, West Bank, East Jerusalem

☆ Israeli troops, backed by helicopter, kill 3 Palestinians in clash
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-19 | by ( Ali Sawafta | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

JENIN, West Bank, June 19 (Reuters) - Israeli commandos killed three Palestinians, including a teenager, during an unusually fierce clash in the occupied West Bank on Monday in which a troop transport was disabled by a bomb and a military helicopter carried out a rare strike. Video obtained by Reuters showed an explosion enveloping an armoured troop transport as shots ring out. Other clips showed a military helicopter launching a missile and releasing flares. [1/2] Smoke is seen rising into the air during an Israeli raid in Jenin, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank June 19, 2023. REUTERS/Raneen SawaftaA military spokesperson said an Apache helicopter fired on an open area in order to drive back gunmen as casualties were extricated from the troop transport.

Persons: peacemaking, Jihad, Dan Williams, Nidal, Gareth Jones, Ed Osmond Organizations: West Bank, Seven, U.S, Reuters, REUTERS, Apache, Palestinian, Thomson Locations: JENIN, West, Jenin, Israel

☆ Israeli construction in West Bank no bar to peace, Netanyahu says
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-09 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

JERUSALEM, June 9 (Reuters) - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank were not an obstacle to peace with the Palestinians in an interview published Friday, testing ties between Washington and its main Middle East ally. The expansion of settlements in the West Bank has been among the most contentious issues between Israel, the Palestinians and the international community for decades. I think that's the obstacle to peace," said Netanyahu. The West Bank is among territories Israel occupied in a 1967 Middle East war where Palestinians exercise limited self-governance under decades of Israeli military rule. According to a report by the U.N. Human Rights Committee, just under 700,000 settlers live in 279 settlements across the West Bank and East Jerusalem, up from 520,000 in 2012.

Persons: Benjamin Netanyahu, Netanyahu, Biden, Israel, Nabil Abu Rudeineh, Mahmoud Abbas, Henriette Chacar, Ali Sawafta, Nick Macfie Organizations: West Bank, Sky News, The West Bank, Human Rights, Reuters, Thomson Locations: Washington, Israel, United States, East Jerusalem, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Tehran

☆ Israeli army mounts rare raid into Palestinian city of Ramallah, clashes ensue
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-07 | by ( Ali Sawafta | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/3] A Palestinians throws stones as the Israeli army raids Ramallah, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, June 8, 2023. REUTERS/Mohammed TorokmanRAMALLAH, West Bank, June 8 (Reuters) - Clashes erupted after Israeli forces mounted a rare raid into the Palestinian city of Ramallah in the occupied West Bank early on Thursday, in what the military said was an operation to demolish the house of an assailant. Some Palestinian youth hurled stones at the Israeli forces, who fired live bullets, stun grenades and tear gas at the crowd, the witness said. Violence in the West Bank, among territories where Palestinians seek statehood, has risen during the past year. Israel's foreign ministry said 20 Israelis and two foreign nationals have been killed in Palestinian attacks in the same period.

Persons: Mohammed Torokman, Abdel Fattah Dola, Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah, Hady Amr, Hussein Al, Ali Sawafta, Henriette Chacar, Grant McCool Organizations: West Bank, REUTERS, Reuters, Palestinian, Thomson Locations: Ramallah, Mohammed Torokman RAMALLAH, West, Palestinian, Jerusalem, Israel, U.S

☆ Israeli forces kill Palestinian officer in clashes, WAFA says
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-29 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

[1/3] Israeli settlers walk past structures that were erected for a new Jewish seminary school, in the settler outpost of Homesh in the Israeli-occupied West Bank May 29, 2023. REUTERS/Ronen ZvulunJENIN, West Bank, May 29 (Reuters) - Israeli forces killed a Palestinian security officer during clashes in the occupied West Bank flashpoint city of Jenin on Monday, the official Palestinian news agency Wafa said. In another part of the West Bank on Monday, Jewish settlers inaugurated a seminary in an area that has been a focus of U.S. scrutiny, drawing Palestinian condemnation. "With God's help ... there will be many more new settlements in northern Samaria," he said, referring to the West Bank by its biblical name. "Statements of condemnation are no longer enough in the face of the (Israeli) extremist right-wing government," said his spokesman Nabil Abu Rudeineh.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu alluded to Israel's calculations at work in dealing with Hamas in Gaza. "The gap between Hamas and Islamic Jihad is rooted in the fact that Hamas has a political programme and governing authority, whereas the Jihad has neither," he said. However, Israeli officials say Islamic Jihad would not be able to fire rockets without approval from Hamas. An Islamic Jihad official offered a similar line. "That's why they (Hamas) focus their attacks in the West Bank," the regional diplomat said.

Islamic Jihad also confirmed the agreement. Israel launched the latest round of airstrikes in the early hours of Tuesday, announcing that it was targeting Islamic Jihad commanders who had planned attacks in Israel. During the five days of the campaign, Israel killed six senior Islamic Jihad commanders and destroyed a number of military installations. At least 10 civilians, including women and children, were also killed in Gaza during the fighting, and two people - an Israeli woman and a Palestinian labourer - were killed by Palestinian rocket fire in Israel. Islamic Jihad spurns coexistence with Israel and preaches its destruction.

☆ Israel demolishes Palestinian West Bank school
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-07 | by ( Emily Rose | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

[1/6] Israeli troops take position during clashes between Palestinians and Israeli troops after Israeli machinery demolish a school near Bethlehem in the Israeli-occupied West Bank May 7, 2023. REUTERS/Mussa QawasmaJERUSALEM, May 7 (Reuters) - Israeli authorities demolished a Palestinian school in the occupied West Bank on Sunday, drawing harsh condemnation from the European Union. "We got ready to come to school and when we arrived we didn't find the school," student Mohammed Ibrahim told Reuters. Israel has often cited a lack of building permits, which Palestinians and rights groups say are nearly impossible to obtain, in destroying Palestinian structures in the West Bank, an area it captured in the 1967 Middle East war. The Gush Etzion Regional Council, which represents a nearby block of Jewish settlers in the West Bank, welcomed the demolition.

☆ Israel publishes tenders for new West Bank settlement units
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-07 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

JERUSALEM, May 7 (Reuters) - Israel has published tenders for more than 1,000 new housing units in settlements in the occupied West Bank, despite a commitment it made in U.S.-backed talks in February that discussion of new settlement units would be halted for the next four months. Since the meeting in Jordan, attended by U.S., Egyptian, Jordanian, Palestinian and Israeli officials, the Israel Land Authority has published on its website separate tenders for 1,248 new housing units in West Bank settlements. The settlements include Beitar Illit, Efrat, Kiryat Arba, Ma'ale Efraim and Karnei Shomron in addition to 89 units in the East Jerusalem settlement of Gilo. The expansion of settlements in the West Bank has been among the most contentious issues between Israel and the Palestinians and the international community for decades. Israel disputes that and cites biblical, historical and political ties to the West Bank, as well as security interests.

"We have seen things we had never seen before. Sudan has long been a popular destination for Palestinian students, attracted by relatively low tuition fees and the ease of obtaining a visa. "My son told me he and his friends had to walk out of the place in the dark and they saw bodies scattered in the streets," Moussa told Reuters. Speaking by phone aboard the bus leaving Khartoum on Tuesday, his son Mohammad told Reuters his future was in jeopardy. "To be able to finish my studies, war has to stop," said Mohammad, who was in the final year of his course.

☆ Two more die as Israel-Palestinian unrest simmers, political faultlines widen
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-10 | by ( Mohamad Torokman | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

[1/5] Relatives react during the funeral of a Palestinian who was killed during an Israeli raid, near Jericho in the Israeli-Occupied West Bank, April 10, 2023. In a sign of Israel's fracturing political faultlines, thousands of Israelis marched towards Evyatar, an evacuated outpost in the West Bank, in support of the expansion of settlements. "I had just left my house when I saw military forces and people throwing stones," said Fayez Balhan, the teen's father. Israeli forces are still trying to track the assailant down. Palestinians want an independent state in the West Bank and Gaza with East Jerusalem as its capital - territories Israel captured in a 1967 war.

☆ Israeli police attack worshippers in Jerusalem's Al Aqsa
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-05 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/4] Israeli border policemen set up a fence near Al-Aqsa compound also known to Jews as the Temple Mount, while tension arises during clashes with Palestinians in Jerusalem's Old City, April 5, 2023. REUTERS/Ammar AwadJERUSALEM, April 5 (Reuters) - Israeli police attacked dozens of worshippers in Jerusalem's Al-Aqsa Mosque compound before dawn on Wednesday, witnesses said, in what Israeli police said was a response to rioting. It said in a statement that Israeli forces were preventing its medics from reaching the mosque. Friction at the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound, known to Jews as the Temple Mount, has set off violence in recent years. Videos circulating on social media, which Reuters could not immediately verify, showed fireworks going off and police beating people inside the mosque.

☆ Israeli forces kill two Palestinian gunmen in West Bank arrest raid
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-03 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

[1/2] Mourners react in a hospital, after Palestinians were killed by Israeli troops during a raid, in Nablus, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank April 3,2023. REUTERS/Raneen SawaftaRAMALLAH, West Bank, April 3 (Reuters) - Israeli forces killed two Palestinian gunmen during a clash in the occupied West Bank on Monday, militant factions and medics said, and the army said it launched the incursion to detain suspects in connection with a drive-by ambush last month. The Lion's Den, a coalition of Palestinian gunmen active in Nablus and elsewhere in the northern West Bank, said one of its members was killed while battling the troops. The Israeli military said it arrested two people in Nablus suspected of assisting a Palestinian who carried out a March 25 drive-by shooting in the West Bank that wounded two soldiers. Around 90 Palestinians, including gunmen and civilians, have been killed by Israeli forces in 2023, the Palestinian health ministry said.

☆ Palestinians accuse settlers of arson, Israel says electrical fire
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-26 | by ( Ali Sawafta | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/2] Firefighters work at a Palestinian house which Palestinians say was attacked by Israeli settlers near Ramallah in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, March 26, 2023. A Sinjel resident who requested anonymity told Reuters he saw cars whose occupants he recognised as Jewish settlers nearby minutes before the incident. Most countries deem the settlements, which take up land Palestinians seek for a state, illegal. That sparked a revenge rampage by settlers in which a Palestinian was killed and properties torched. In overnight West Bank raids, Israeli forces arrested three suspected militants, the army said on Sunday.

JERUSALEM, March 24 (Reuters) - Tens of thousands of Muslim worshippers flocked to Jerusalem's Al-Aqsa Mosque on the first Friday of Ramadan for noon prayers, which passed peacefully amid tight security imposed after months of escalating tension and violence. "I cannot describe to you how happy I am to pray at Al-Aqsa Mosque. I'm 50 years old and they only recently removed the security ban that had prevented me from coming here," said Nasser Abu Saleh, a resident of the West Bank city of Hebron. The Muslim Waqf, custodians who manage the site which houses the Al-Aqsa Mosque, said around 100,000 people had visited for the first Friday prayers of Ramadan. [1/5] Palestinians make their way through an Israeli checkpoint to attend the first Friday prayers of Ramadan in Jerusalem's Al-Aqsa mosque, in Bethlehem in the Israeli-occupied West Bank March 24, 2023.

☆ Israeli government lifts ban on return to West Bank settlements
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-21 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

JERUSALEM, March 21 (Reuters) - The Israeli parliament on Tuesday paved the way for Jewish settlers' return to four settlements in the occupied West Bank by amending a 2005 law that ordered their evacuation, a move condemned by the Palestinian Authority and the European Union. The repeal of certain clauses in a previous disengagement law would allow Jewish residents to return to four West Bank settlements they were ordered to vacate in 2005 on condition of approval by the Israeli military. Since the 1967 war, Israel has established around 140 settlements on land Palestinians see as the core of a future state, where more than 500,000 settlers now live. Besides the authorized settlements, groups of settlers have built scores of outposts without government permission. "We call on Israel to revoke this law and take actions that contribute to de-escalation of an already very tense situation," an EU spokesperson said in a statement.

☆ Israeli minister says "no such thing" as Palestinian people
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-20 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

JERUSALEM, March 20 (Reuters) - An Israeli minister with responsibility for the administration of the occupied West Bank drew condemnation on Monday after he said there was no Palestinian history or culture and no such thing as a Palestinian people. Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh condemned Smotrich's remarks, saying they amounted to incitement to violence. After two Jewish settlers were killed by a Palestinian gunman near the West Bank town of Huwara last month, and settlers responded by torching homes and cars there, killing one Palestinian, Smotrich said Huwara should be "erased". The West Bank has seen a surge of confrontations over the past year, with near-daily Israeli military raids and escalating violence by Jewish settlers, amid a spate of attacks by Palestinians. Palestinians seek to establish a state in the West Bank, East Jerusalem and Gaza, areas Israel captured in a 1967 war.

☆ One man wounded in 'shooting incident' in West Bank flashpoint
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-19 | by ( Raneen Sawafta | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/5] Israeli troops stand guard at the scene of a shooting, in Huwara, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, March 19, 2023. REUTERS/Mohamad TorokmanHUWARA, West Bank, March 19 (Reuters) - A Palestinian gunman opened fire on Sunday on an Israeli couple in their car, wounding the man, in a West Bank town where a similar shooting last month prompted Israeli settlers to go on a violent rampage. Israeli officials said the wounded Israeli and soldiers at the scene returned fire, wounding the gunman, who was pursued by troops and captured. The incident occurred as Israeli and Palestinian officials held U.S.-backed talks in Egypt aimed at calming months of violence. The West Bank has seen a surge of confrontations, with near-daily military raids and escalating settler violence amid a spate of attacks by Palestinians.

JERICHO, West Bank, March 14 (Reuters) - Before a group of young men from Aqabat Jabr refugee camp mounted a botched attack on a restaurant in Jericho popular with Israeli settlers in January, they declared allegiance to Hamas. Often with just a handful of fighters, the militant groups springing up across the West Bank over the past year have only loose ties to factions such as Hamas, Fatah or Islamic Jihad. A few days after the attack, which failed when a gun jammed, the young men in the group were killed in an Israeli raid. "All the signs are that the intifada is coming," said the Hamas cadre, who declined to be named for fear of Israeli reprisals. The rally was a classic display of force, with some 250 fighters from various factions parading in a courtyard, its walls plastered with pictures of their dead, posing with guns and the cropped hairstyles popular among young West Bank men.

☆ Three Palestinians killed by Israeli forces in West Bank
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-09 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/4] People look at a damaged car where three Palestinian militants were killed during an Israeli operation, near Jenin, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, March 9, 2023. REUTERS/Raneen SawaftaJERUSALEM, March 9 (Reuters) - Israeli forces killed three Palestinians near a village close to the volatile West Bank city of Jenin on Thursday, the Palestinian Health Ministry said, without giving details. Hamas radio said the Israeli forces targeted a group it called the Jaba Brigade and killed its leader. The operation came days after Israeli forces raided a refugee camp in Jenin and killed six Palestinian militant fighters, including the Hamas gunman suspected of killing two Jewish settlers in the West Bank on Feb. 26. Israeli forces have conducted near daily raids across the West Bank for months, making thousands of arrests and killing more than 200 Palestinians, including both fighters and civilians.

☆ Israeli settlers attack Palestinians in flashpoint West Bank town
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-07 | by ( Ali Sawafta | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

[1/3] Palestinian Omar Khalifa, 27, points to the bullet hole in his car, which was attached by Israeli settlers while he was in it with his family, in Huwara, the Israeli-occupied West Bank, March 7, 2023. REUTERS/Raneen SawaftaHUWARA, March 7 (Reuters) - Israeli settlers attacked Palestinians in the West Bank village of Huwara overnight on Monday, the scene of a violent rampage last week by dozens of settlers seeking revenge for the shooting of two Israelis sitting in their car at a nearby checkpoint. Huwara, a Palestinian village near a major road junction where settlers and Palestinians have frequently clashed, has become the latest flashpoint between after months of worsening violence in the occupied West Bank. Other footage appeared to show Israeli soldiers dancing together with Jewish settlers in the town on what was the Jewish festival of Purim. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken overnight reiterated calls for both sides to de-escalate tensions in the West Bank and the violence is also expected to be raised by Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin when he visits this week.

[1/5] Israeli troops aim their weapons as they clash with Palestinians during a raid in Jericho in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, March 1, 2023. The head of a pro-settler party in Netanyahu's nationalist-religious coalition, Smotrich made the comments at a conference on Wednesday amid a spate of deadly Palestinian attacks and Israeli settler violence in the occupied West Bank. Asked about a weekend settler rampage through the Palestinian village of Huwara, which an Israeli general on Tuesday described as a "pogrom," Smotrich said: "I think that Huwara needs to be erased". Israeli forces killed one Palestinian and arrested six in the West Bank. One Palestinian was killed and scores were hurt as dozens of houses and cars were torched in what one Israeli commander described as a "pogrom".

☆ Israel sees 'difficult days ahead' after West Bank attacks, riot
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-27 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

HAWARA, West Bank, Feb 27 (Reuters) - Israel on Monday deployed extra troops in the occupied West Bank after a Palestinian gunman shot dead two Israelis and a Palestinian was killed when Jewish settlers rampaged through a village, setting fire to houses and cars. "We expect difficult days ahead of us," Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant said as he toured the largely empty streets of the village of Hawara with a heavy security detail. In fresh violence on Monday, the Israeli military said Palestinians carried out a series of drive-by shootings on a highway outside the West Bank town of Jericho before fleeing. [1/5] Israeli settlers stand next to an Israeli member of the military, in the aftermath of an incident where a Palestinian gunman killed two Israeli settlers, near Hawara in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, February 27, 2023. The Israeli army said it was still hunting down the Palestinian gunman and would send two extra battalions to the area to thwart fresh attacks and prevent rioting.

☆ Analysis: Netanyahu's balancing act got harder after post-summit violence
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-27 | by ( Maayan Lubell | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

On Monday, another suspected Palestinian shooting attack in the West Bank critically wounded one person, emergency services said. "It's now in his interest to show that he is clamping down on this kind of settler violence." "The U.S administration, which fosters this government, must end all these crimes," said the spokesman for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. "One can see the Aqaba summit as a parable: the Americans announce that Israel has promised to freeze settlement construction, which Netanyahu then denies. "On the eve of the election Netanyahu was pondering the legacy he will have when he is reelected prime minister.

☆ Israeli pro-settler minister formally gains West Bank powers
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-23 | by ( Dan Williams | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

JERUSALEM, Feb 23 (Reuters) - A far-right Israeli cabinet minister formally gained responsibilities over Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank on Thursday that he said included bringing their legal status closer to that of communities within Israel. Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich wields a supervisory role for settlers in the Defence Ministry as part of his coalition deal with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, prompting increased U.S. focus on Israel's West Bank policies. Asked to elaborate, a Smotrich spokesperson said: "Equal application of relevant laws - on labour, the environment, et cetera - that are legislated in Lesser Israel." "Lesser Israel" is a term used by ultranationalists like Smotrich - himself a settler - who seek annexation of the West Bank, a biblical and strategic area captured in a 1967 war. Smotrich said he would now also have "total responsibility" over zoning, surveys and sales of West Bank lands for settlers, who number around a half-million among 3.1 million Palestinians.

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