France ruled on Monday “unacceptable» the violence against Palestinian civilians in the occupied West Bank, following reprisals by Israeli settlers targeting a town where two Israelis had been killed. “France strongly condemns the attack which claimed the lives of two Israelis on February 26. Violence against Palestinian civilians is unacceptable“, said the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs in a press release. Paris “follows with the utmost concern the ongoing violence in the West Bank, particularly in Huwara, which threatens to escalate out of control“, insists the Quai d’Orsay. “France calls on all parties to avoid fueling this violence and contribute to de-escalation.” And “calls on the Israeli government, as part of its responsibility as the occupying power, to protect Palestinian civilians and prosecute the perpetrators of the violence“.
The Palestinian town of Huwara in the occupied West Bank was attacked Sunday evening by dozens of Israeli settlers after two of them were killed by Palestinian gunfire, in what the government called “Palestinian terrorist attack“. They threw stones at Palestinian homes, set fire to buildings, garbage cans and cars, noted an AFP journalist. The Israeli authorities called on the settlers to calm down after this new episode of violence. The conflict is sharply escalating and officials on both sides pledged, at a Sunday meeting in Jordan, to “prevent further violence“.
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Berlin considers it “urgent” to avoid an escalation in a “tense” situation
The German government said on Mondayurgent“to avoid an escalation in a situation”tensein the West Bank. “It is urgent that the agreements to avoid an escalation are respected and that everyone now commits not to inflame an already very tense situationsaid Christofer Burger, spokesperson for the German Foreign Ministry, during a regular press briefing.
Condemning “with the utmost firmness the attack against two young Israelis in the occupied territories of the West Bank“, this spokesperson also judged”totally unacceptable» retaliatory settler operations in the Palestinian town of Huwara in the occupied West Bank. Christopher Burger hailed the calls for calm from the Israeli authorities against the settlers.
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“Let the security forces accomplish their mission”
“I ask you, even if the blood is still hot and the spirits heated, not to take justice into your own hands, but to let the security forces accomplish their mission.Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu said in a video released by his office. In a statement released on Monday, settlement mayors called on their residents to leave the Israeli army “defeat“. “We don’t do justice to ourselves“, they wrote, calling on the authorities to carry out”a deterrent military operation“.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas accused Israel of “protect terrorist acts perpetrated by settlers” in this area of the West Bank, Palestinian territory occupied by the Jewish state since 1967. The army has multiplied for almost a year in the north of the West Bank the operations presented as “counter-terrorism“. On Wednesday, eleven Palestinians were killed in Nablus in the Israeli army’s deadliest military incursion into the West Bank since at least 2005. Since the beginning of the year, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has claimed the lives of 63 Palestinians (including members of armed groups and civilians including minors) and eleven civilians (including three minors and settlers) and one policeman Israelis and a Ukrainian, according to an AFP count compiled from official Israeli and Palestinian sources.
At a Sunday meeting in Aqaba, Jordan, senior Israeli and Palestinian security officials “reaffirmed the need to engage in de-escalation on the ground and prevent further violence“. US National Security Advisor to the White House, Jake Sullivan, welcomed the Aqaba meeting while emphasizing “that there would be a lot of work to do in the weeks and months to come, in order to build a stable and prosperous future for Israelis and Palestinians alike“.
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