US Ambassador’s Criticism Of Israel Is Strong. It Is Also Right

Israeli forces yesterday hunted for a Palestinian suspect accused of breaking into a West Bank home and stabbing a Jewish woman to death, further boosting tensions after months of violence.

On Monday, a Palestinian teenager squeezed through a hole in a fence and stabbed and wounded a pregnant Israeli woman at a warehouse in the Tekoa settlement south of Jerusalem.

The ban was implemented after a Palestinian suspect knifed Dafna Meir, a mother of six, to death in her home in the West Bank settlement of Otniel, located near the city of Hebron.

It also added that Israel is taking “practical steps to bolster the Palestinian economy”, along with the worldwide community.

The two stabbing attacks, both of which were carried out by teenage assailants, came in the wake of the release of a Palestinian Authority incitement index by the Israeli Ministry of Strategic Affairs and Public Diplomacy.

Over the past four months, Palestinian attacks have taken the lives of 25 Israelis and an American student, while the Israeli military has killed at least 146 Palestinians.

“Too much vigilantism goes unchecked”, the ambassador said, stressing that “at times there seem to be two standards of adherence to the rule of law [in the West Bank]: one for Israelis and another for Palestinians”.

On a related note on Monday, the United States’ ambassador to Israel, Dan Shapiro, criticized Israel’s settlement policies and its ramifications on a possibility to achieve peace in the future with the Palestinians, in accordance with the two-state solution. “Palestinian workers have been instructed to leave (Gush Etzion) communities”, an army statement said.

It was “an important demonstration of Israel’s commitment to prosecute acts of terrorism, regardless of their source, but too many attacks on Palestinians lack a vigorous investigation or response by Israeli authorities”, he said.

Companies operating in Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank contribute to “an inherently unlawful and abusive system” violating Palestinian rights and should halt activity there, Human Rights Watch said Tuesday.

Her funeral in Jerusalem on Monday was attended by hundreds, including Israeli politicians and Jewish settlers carrying rifles.

“Settlement businesses depend on and benefit from Israel’s unlawful confiscation of Palestinian land and other resources, and facilitate the functioning and growth of settlements”. Israel says 101 of them have been attackers while the rest have been killed in clashes with Israeli troops.

“This government and previous Israeli governments have repeatedly expressed support for a negotiated settlement that would involve mutual recognition and separation”.