He said attackers “continue to draw encouragement from a climate of incitement, and in this respect there’s no question that the P.A.’s behavior is a contributing factor”. Hundreds of Israeli soldiers are stationed in Hebron to protect the Israelis living there, and Palestinians are not allowed to use streets near the Jewish enclaves.
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The extremist settlers “believe that they are the lords of the land”, he added.
In October, Abbas falsely claimed in a speech that Israeli forces killed a 13-year-old Palestinian who had attempted a stabbing.
The sole exception was The Boston Globe, which while noting Abbas’ appearance and the subsequent Israeli Foreign Ministry condemnation of the Palestinian leader’s statements, failed to detail just what he said (“Palestinian leader asks for UN’s help”, October 29). Initially the wave of violence and terrorism focused on the Temple Mount and east Jerusalem and later spread throughout Jerusalem and to other sites inside Israel and various hotspots in Judea and Samaria (especially the region around Hebron).
A senior leader of the Palestinian resistance movement Hamas has called for a unified leadership by all Palestinian groups in the face of a recent surge in Israeli violence against Palestinians. Israel has demanded that United Nations secretary finally denounce the violent Palestinian campaign of terror and lies waged against Israel for more than a month.
On Monday, the Palestinian Centre for Development and Media Freedoms (Mada) said it “condemns the ongoing violence against Palestinian journalists by the Israeli occupying forces”.
The Palestinian leadership, including the Palestinian Authority, may refer to peace and co-existence on a few diplomatic occasions, but they preach and practice non-stop hatred and violence against Israelis and Jews. “People here are concerned that the attack might happen again”.
Israel says the barrier, which stretches inside the West Bank, is necessary for security, while Palestinians brand it an “apartheid wall”. They have sent hundreds of extra soldiers to Hebron, with a total of four divisions now in the West Bank.
Abu Qtaish said there is a “double standard at play”, arguing that Israelis, including settlers and children, “throw rocks at Palestinians and other people” without being arrested at similar rates.
Eid, a former director of the Palestinian Human Rights Monitoring Group (PHRMG), said Palestinians are “fed up and hopeless”, and have lost trust in the Palestinian Authority (PA).
A recent study of the 1,026 crime reports filed over the last decade, 940 were closed without indictments, mostly because police were unable to find a culprit.
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There are more than 6,500 Palestinians now languishing in detention facilities throughout Israel, according to official Palestinian figures. “I have never seen anyone wanting to throwaway a laptop, because they want to boycott Israel”, Edelstein said. In September, a 64-year-old motorist died after Palestinians hit his vehicle with rocks in East Jerusalem and he veered off the road.
