The decision that provoked Netanyahu’s reaction… He did not back down
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu shared on his Twitter account about the security meeting held in Aqaba, Jordan, with the participation of Palestine, Israel, Jordan, the United States and Egypt.
Referring to the report in the Israeli press that, as a result of the Aqaba meeting, Israel decided to freeze the construction of new illegal settlements in the West Bank for 4 months, Netanyahu denied the news.
“The construction and arrangement in Judea and Samaria (the Jewish name for the West Bank) will continue according to the original planning and schedule without any changes. There is not and will not be any ice cream.” he used the phrase.
Israel’s far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir had also indirectly denied the news on the issue in an earlier statement.
Ben-Gvir shared on his Twitter account about the Aqaba meeting: “What happens in Jordan will stay in Jordan.” he had used the phrase.
SECURITY MEETING IN AQABA
The Jordanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs released the closing statement of the security meeting in Aqaba.
According to the statement, the Palestinian Authority and the Israeli government confirmed that they were ready to stop the unilateral actions within 3 to 6 months.
It was pointed out that stopping unilateral actions included the Israeli government not discussing the construction of new settlements for 4 months and not approving illegal settlements for 6 months.
The Aqaba meeting is claimed to be the first open meeting between Israel and the Palestinians since 2014, when peace talks broke down.
It is claimed that the meeting is aimed at reducing the tension between Israel and Palestine, which has intensified especially in the last 2 months, due to the proximity of Ramadan.
Negotiations between Palestine and Israel were suspended in April 2014 due to Israel’s rejection of the conditions for the release of former detainees, the cessation of illegal settlement activities, and the establishment of an independent Palestinian state on the 1967 borders.
According to the Palestinian Ministry of Health statement, 63 Palestinians have lost their lives in the occupied territories since the beginning of 2023, as a result of open fire by the Israeli army and Jewish settlers.
ATTACK ON PALESTINIANS ON THE WEST BANK
Tensions rose in the region after 2 Jewish settlers were killed in an armed attack on a vehicle in the Nablus town of Huvara.
Hundreds of Israeli settlers living in illegal Jewish settlements in and around Huwara took to the streets and launched organized attacks against Palestinians.
Settlers carried out Molotov cocktail attacks in the region and set fire to many Palestinian homes, businesses and vehicles. The moments in which flames and smoke rose from many points in the region were reflected in the AA cameras.
According to the statement of the Palestinian Red Crescent, 37-year-old Samih Hamdallah Mahmud Aktaş, who was wounded in the stomach by a live bullet, died as a result of an armed attack by Israeli forces and settlers in the town of Zatera. Nablus.
It was shared that Aktaş, one of the residents of the city of Beyta, voluntarily participated in the search and rescue efforts in Turkey after the earthquake.
During the events, 2 Palestinians were injured, one of whom was attacked with a knife and the other with a stick. The injured were reported to have been taken to the hospital.
It was noted that dozens of Palestinians were affected by the smoke and some by tear gas attacks.
Stone attacks were reportedly made against ambulances and fire trucks operating in the region and the vehicles were damaged.
NETANYAHU’S CALL TO THE SETTLEMENTS
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called on Jewish settlers who participated in organized attacks, asking them not to “enforce the law into their own hands.”
In a statement made by the Israeli Prime Ministry Press Office, Netanyahu, referring to the shooting that killed two Jewish settlers, said: “The Israeli army and security forces are now hunting the killer. We will find. We’ll catch him and we’ll take care of him.” he used the phrases.
Addressing settlers involved in organized attacks on Palestinian civilians in Huwara, Netanyahu said:
“Even if your blood boils, I beg you not to apply the law with your own hands. I request that the Israeli army and security forces be allowed to do their job. I remind you that they have attacked dozens of terrorists and repelled dozens of attacks in recent weeks.
TENSION IS RISING IN NABLUS
The northern occupied West Bank city of Nablus has witnessed intense violence by the Israeli army and Jewish settlements in recent days.
Israeli forces killed 11 Palestinians and wounded more than 100 Palestinians, 6 seriously, in a raid on the city of Nablus on February 22.
Jewish settlers yesterday attacked the houses of Palestinians in Burin village in Nablus and set 2 cars on fire.
A Palestinian farmer working in his field in Er-Ras, west of Selfit, was also attacked by a group of armed Jewish settlers with his family.
Two Jewish settlers were killed today in an armed attack on a vehicle in the town of Huvara.
Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, particularly in Nablus and areas of Nablus such as Huvara and Burin, are frequent targets of fanatical Jewish settlers living in the surrounding illegal settlements.
Jewish settlers, most of whom are heavily armed, engage in violence against Palestinians, including attacks with rocks, sticks and pepper spray, burning houses and vehicles, damaging olive groves and fields, and looting.
According to United Nations (UN) data, Jewish settlers carried out 849 attacks against Palestinians and their property in the West Bank in 2022, of which 228 resulted in injuries and 621 in damage to Palestinian property.
Around 700,000 Jewish settlers live around the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem. Under international law, Jewish settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem are considered illegal. (AA)