Speaking to the annual conference of the Institute for National Security Studies, a top Israeli think tank, he said Israel’s continued expansion of settlements raises questions about Israel’s intentions and its stated commitment to establishing an independent Palestinian state.
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Israel is hoping that in any final agreement with the Palestinians it will be able to keep large settlement blocs close to Jerusalem and the Israeli border, as well as in the Jordan Valley, for security and agricultural purposes.
In a fierce attack on the government’s failure to stop the violence, education minister Naftali Bennett, leader of right-wing Jewish Home, criticised a “deadlock in creative thinking” on security.
The U.S. ambassador to Israel slammed the Israeli legal system in the West Bank, saying, “Too much Israeli vigilantism in the West Bank goes on unchecked”.
The suspect, 16, was arrested overnight on Monday in a Palestinian village near the scene of the attack, where he was hiding out, the IDF said. It says indictments were served against suspects in just 75 of these cases.
The comment came after Shapiro praised Israel’s progress in an investigation regarding a recent West Bank “Jewish terror” attack that resulted in a Palestinian infant being burned to death.
On Sunday, a mother-of-six was killed in her home at the settlement of Otniel, while a pregnant woman was wounded in Tekoa on Monday.
The plans were revealed earlier in the day by Israeli Army Radio, which said the land was located north of the illegal Israeli settlement of Almog and had been used by settlers over the past 20 years. “The onus for the stalemate in the diplomatic process is the Palestinian Authority, which continues to incite and refuses negotiations”. In the same period, at least 148 Palestinians have been killed, 94 of whom Israel has described as assailants.
According to the Palestinian Health Ministry, the total number of Palestinians killed by Israeli forces since October 1 stands at 162, including 30 minors and seven women.
“Settlement businesses unavoidably contribute to Israeli policies that dispossess and harshly discriminate against Palestinians, while profiting from Israel’s theft of Palestinian land and other resources”, Arvind Ganesan, HRW’s director of the business and human rights division, said in a statement.
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Between villifying Israel and praising itself on the Iran nuclear deal, the Obama Administration hasn’t a moment to spare for the innocent.
