United States condemns Israel expanding West Bank settlement bloc

Also today, Israel returned the bodies of four Palestinians killed on Thursday during two attacks in the southern West Bank.

The resolution, which had 126 signatories and accused Israel of limiting Palestinian academic freedom, was rejected by a vote of 111 to 50, AHA executive director James Grossman confirmed, according to The Times of Israel.

The Commission of Prisoners’ Affairs (CPA) said 6,830 Palestinians were detained by Israeli troops in the occupied Palestinian Territory since the beginning of the year 2015, marking the highest rate of daily arrests in five years.

On Thursday, Israeli soldiers killed three Palestinians who tried to stab them outside a Jewish settlement near Jerusalem.

Relations between Israelis and Palestinians remain tense amid a wave of attacks on Israelis by Palestinians and some Israeli Arabs which have killed 22 Israelis since the beginning of October.

The current violence also left 25 Israelis dead over the same period.

“I hand them over, their photos and phone numbers directly to the Palestinian Authority security service”, Ezra Nawi, a prominent left-wing activist said as he was secretly taped.

Tension between Palestinians and Israelis has risen in recent months with a series of violent incidents.

The Local Committee stated that many Israeli soldiers hid behind Palestinian olive trees in an attempt to abduct protesters, but the residents managed to uncover their hideout and foiled their attempts.

Palestinians are angry at increasing violence by Israeli settlers at the al-Aqsa Mosque compound and their attacks on Palestinian properties, saying that the Tel Aviv regime seeks to change the status quo of the compound.

Israel says home demolitions, which have come under global criticism, are a way of discouraging Palestinian attacks. Mohannad Halabi, a 19-year-old law student from the West Bank, stabbed to death two Israelis in Jerusalem’s Old City in early October before he was shot dead by police.