A top United Nations human rights official said on Friday that Israel’s cancellation of entry permits for Palestinians, imposed following a deadly attack in a fashionable area of Tel Aviv on Wednesday, could amount to collective punishment which is illegal under worldwide law.
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THE West Bank will be closed off until the end of the Jewish holiday of Shavuot tomorrow, the Israeli military said yesterday, citing security concerns following a Palestinian attack in which four civilians were shot dead.
Spokeswoman Ravina Shamdasani said Israel had an “obligation” to bring those responsible to account, but said some measures punish “thousands of innocent Palestinians” and could constitute “collective punishment”. She said that the closure would remain in force until midnight Sunday.
Thousands of Palestinians from the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem marched to the Al-Aqsa Mosque today to perform the first Friday prayer of the Ramadan holy month.
In addition, Reuters reports, Israel suspended 204 work permits held by individuals in the extended families of the alleged attackers, and Israeli security forces sealed off their entire hometown of Yatta.
In a further step likely to raise tensions, newly appointed far-right Defence Minister Avigdor Lieberman ordered that the return of the bodies of Palestinians killed in the violence to their relatives be halted.
Ayrault told a news conference later he plans to set up working groups to see what incentives can be offered to the Israelis and Palestinians to come back to the negotiating table.
A spokesman for the Jerusalem District Police was quoted as saying that the preparations for an increased security had been made before the Wednesday night’s incident in Tel Aviv, and that police didn’t have any information on a specific terrorism warnings in the capital.
Israel is also sending two additional battalions into the West Bank.
Israel last closed its crossings for two days in May during its remembrance day and independence day commemorations.
At least 207 Palestinians, 32 Israelis, two Americans, an Eritrean and a Sudanese have been killed since October. Others were killed in clashes with security forces or by Israeli air strikes in the Gaza Strip.
Israeli soldiers argue with a Palestinian at a checkpoint near the West Bank city of Nablus, Friday, June 10, 2016, after a Palestinian attempted a stabbing attack. Most of the Palestinians were carrying out knife, gun or car-ramming attacks, according to Israeli authorities.
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The violence had declined in recent weeks before Wednesday’s shooting.
