United Nations warns of Israel-Palestinian ‘catastrophe’

October 29, 2015- A Palestinian stabbed an Israeli soldier in the West Bank on Thursday and was shot dead by security forces, Israeli authorities said, as a six-week wave of violence continued.

The latest assaults, like other recent stabbings, took place in Hebron, a city in the West Bank, signalling that violence was shifting to that territory from Israel and Jerusalem, where police have set up roadblocks in Palestinian neighbourhoods that were home to numerous alleged assailants. The city, where several hundred nationalist Israeli settlers live in fortified enclaves amid tens of thousands of Palestinians, is a frequent flashpoint of unrest.

A flurry of diplomatic initiatives seem to have caught the Palestinian leadership off-guard, just as the recent wave of violence appears to be subsiding.

Human rights groups have strongly condemned Israel’s policy of extrajudicial execution of Palestinians on the merest suspicion that they might be carrying a weapon or be about to engage in an attack.

A local activist, Imad Abu Shamsieh, told Ma’an that “Israeli soldiers opened fire at a youth in the Tel Rumeida area where Hammam Said was killed on Tuesday”. At the time, Israeli politicians described the Israeli’s actions as “terrorism” and said he should be treated like any other attacker.

Palestinians denounce the Chilean ambassador’s comments that they “incite violence” by protesting against Israeli events in the country.

Seventeen Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since 1 October.

Mr Abbas is caught between his desire to maintain order in the Palestinian Authority and his reluctance to appear out of step with the Palestinian public, which is generally supportive of the recent violence against Israel.

On Friday, video captured a knife-wielding Israeli settler attacking Rabbi Arik Ascherman of the group Rabbis for Human Rights. On Monday, an IDF soldier was stabbed and seriously injured in a stabbing attack in the city.

At the weekend Israel and Jordan – the holy site’s custodian – agreed to allow surveillance cameras at Al-Aqsa, but this has run into trouble as the two locked horns over the installation.

Maliki called the plan “a trap”, alleging Israel would use the footage to arrest Muslim worshippers it accuses of “incitement”.

As tensions continue to rise, rights groups have slammed Israel for its harsh measures as it continues to crack down on Palestinians.

More than 6,500 Palestinians are now languishing in detention facilities throughout Israel, according to figures from the Palestinian Ministry of Prisoners’ Affairs. An Israeli airstrike kills a pregnant Palestinian woman and child.