Israel approves 560 new homes in West Bank settlement

Also on Monday, the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) confirmed that the Israeli authorities demolished two homes in Qalandia Refugee Camp in the occupied West Bank in the middle of Saturday night.

The Quartet suggest that each side must “independently demonstrate, through policies and actions, a genuine commitment to the two-state solution” and to “refrain from unilateral steps that prejudice the outcome of the final negotiations.” the United Nations said in a press release.

The Quartet on Friday released a long-awaited report on the peace process, which, for the first time in a major global forum, cited Palestinian incitement against Israel as a major obstacle to ending the conflict.

Israel’s decision on Sunday to advance several hundred new settlement units in East Jerusalem and the West Bank threatens the viability of the two-state solution and calls into question Israel’s commitment to a negotiated agreement with the Palestinians.

The settlement, established in 1975, already has a population of 37,000.

The report, published on 1 July, sharply criticised Palestinian groups for glorifying individuals who carry out deadly attacks and called on Palestinian leaders to “cease incitement to violence”.

The Israeli government has approved the construction of 800 housing units in illegal Israeli settlements in East Jerusalem, according to Israel Channel 10.

The 20-year-old assailant was shot dead in the following police operation.

She was a relative of the Kiryat Arba attacker.

A day after Thursday’s attack, 48-year-old Israeli Michael Mark was killed after his auto was sacked on by a suspected Palestinian gunman south of Hebron.

Israel on Friday announced a lockdown in Hebron as it searched for the gunmen and a reduction in monthly tax payments to the Palestinian Authority after the attacks.

The amount is to be cut by the equivalent of the fiscal support paid to militants’ families, Netanyahu’s office said.

In course of the raids Sunday, six Palestinians, including the sister of the attacker, were arrested by Israeli forces. We are using many different measures, including resolute ones we have not used in the past.

The Israeli military’s occupation of Hebron has seen the closure of Shuhada Street, the main thoroughfare and business center for Palestinians in the city, and checkpoints in the center of the city severely restricting the movement of Palestinians.

The West Bank city has always been a flashpoint, with hundreds of Jewish settlers living in Hebron illegally according to worldwide law, under heavy military guard in the heart of the city among some 200,000 Palestinians.

The increase in violence has led to the deaths of 234 Palestinians, 34 Israelis and four foreigners since October past year.

“We were hoping that the Palestinian leadership would issue a pacifying and restrained statement, but unfortunately it does the opposite”, the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT) said in a statement.

Four Palestinians were slightly injured in the clashes, according to a local journalist, cited in Israeli media.