New attack in the West Bank
Israel and Palestinians want to curb violence
03/19/2023, 10:14 p.m
Overshadowed by a new bloody attack on an Israeli in the West Bank, Israel and the Palestinian Authority in Egypt agree on a mechanism to contain the violence. The declaration comes just before the start of Ramadan.
According to paramedics, an Israeli was seriously injured in a suspected Palestinian attack in the West Bank. The Magen David Adom emergency services said his wife was in shock. Israeli media reported that three children were also in the vehicle. The attacker fired around 20 shots at the car. Israeli security forces were able to locate and incapacitate the suspect after a brief pursuit.
According to the army, the vehicle was fired upon in the small Palestinian town of Huwara – not far from where two Israeli brothers were killed in an attack by a Palestinian in the town of Huwara last month. Then, on February 26, Israeli settlers rioted there, setting houses, shops and cars on fire. Scores of Palestinian residents were injured. The extreme right-wing Israeli finance minister, Bezalel Smotrich, who is also responsible for expanding settlements in the West Bank, called for the state to “wipe out” Huwara. He later distanced himself from these statements. A central road runs through Huwara and is used daily by many Israeli settlers in the northern West Bank.
Agreement in Sharm el Sheikh
The new attack came as officials from both sides met in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, to discuss curbing the violence. The last attack also happened during such a meeting in the Jordanian port city of Aqaba. Representatives of the Palestinians and Israel now agreed to create a basis for direct negotiations with regular meetings. The goal is a “comprehensive, just and lasting peace,” said a joint statement in Sharm el-Sheikh. A new mechanism is intended to help “contain and counteract violence, incitement and inflammatory statements and actions”.
Results should therefore be available at the next meeting in April, which is also to take place in Sharm el Sheikh. High-ranking representatives from the USA, Jordan and Egypt also took part in the deliberations. It took place a few days before the start of the Muslim month of fasting, Ramadan. In recent years, tensions between Israelis and Palestinians have mostly increased during this period. A meeting in the same format a few weeks ago in Akaba, Jordan, was presumably the first direct meeting of this kind in the conflict between Israelis and Palestinians in years.
Commitment to building settlements
In the statement released by the Foreign Ministry in Cairo, Israelis and Palestinians again pledged to suspend “unilateral action” for three to six months. As before, they did not give any details. Israel again pledged not to hold discussions about building new settlements in the West Bank for four months and not to approve new settlement outposts for six months.
The security situation in Israel and the Palestinian territories has been tense for a long time. Since the beginning of the year, 13 Israelis and one Ukrainian have been killed in Palestinian attacks. In the same period, 85 Palestinians lost their lives – for example in confrontations with the Israeli army or in their own attacks.