Tensions between Israel and Palestine continue to escalate as the country has delayed support measures for Palestine as proposed by the US.
Palestinian protesters protest against the killing of five Palestinians by Israeli soldiers in the eastern Gaza Strip border area, June 19. Photo: THX
Accordingly, US President Joe Biden hopes that Israel will soon adopt measures to support the Palestinian Authority (PA) to resolve conflicts between the two countries.
Washington is particularly concerned and calls on Israel to cancel its decision to withhold $39.6 million in tax revenue collected on behalf of the PA in the occupied territories. The US believes that this money is important for Palestine in helping to strengthen the PA, which is on the verge of financial collapse.
Based on the US proposal, senior Israeli ministers discussed a series of policies drafted by National Security Adviser Tzachi Hanegbi and Ghassan Alian, who coordinates the Israeli government's activities in the Palestinian territories.
Israel's Channel 12 television said the measures to support the PA - which had been planned for a long time, but were only announced last weekend - when public opinion about the attack by a 19-year-old Palestinian youth that killed an Israeli policeman in Tel Aviv may have calmed down.
Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer said at a security cabinet meeting that the measures to support the PA were part of Israel’s commitment to the United States in the context of Israel’s recent push to build settlements in the West Bank. Therefore, the delay in announcing the measures could increase tensions in relations between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government and Washington.
Israeli-Palestinian tensions have been “heating up” in recent days following attacks by extremists on Israeli police. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF), the National Counter-Terrorism Service and the Internal Security Agency (Shin Bet) issued a joint statement confirming the successful dismantling of a terrorist cell and the killing of three suspects in Jenin in the West Bank.
According to the statement, among the three suspects killed was the group's leader, Naif Abu Sawiss, 26. The group had received orders from "terrorist" organizations in the Gaza Strip, but it was not clear which specific organization.
In a related move, the US State Department condemned the attack by Jewish settlers that killed a Palestinian youth as “terrorism”. The statement stated: “We strongly condemn the terrorist attack by an extremist Israeli settler that killed a 19-year-old Palestinian youth”. Previously, the US also protested the incident where hundreds of Jewish settlers and indigenous Palestinians fought in the town of Burqa, near the city of Ramallah, in the West Bank. The result was the death of a Palestinian.
Meanwhile, recent statistics from the United Nations Humanitarian Office (OCHA) show that it has recorded 591 incidents involving Jewish settlers in the occupied Palestinian West Bank in the first 6 months of 2023. The agency also warned that violence there is on the rise, especially attacks by Israeli settlers on Palestinians and their property in the West Bank.
According to OCHA spokesperson Jens Laerke, the average monthly number of incidents was 99, up 39% from the 2022 average of 71 incidents per month. 2022 was also the year with the highest number of incidents causing injuries and damage to both Israeli settlers and Palestinians since OCHA began keeping records in 2006.
The animosity between Israel and Palestine in the West Bank has existed for decades. Recently, tensions have increased as conflicts between the two sides have continuously occurred, which has deepened the conflict, leading to the outbreak of war between Israel and Palestine in the West Bank.
HN synthesis
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