Unity of the Palestinian people against new Israeli aggressions
Palestinians struggling against Israeli troops in the last days. Source: The Jerusalem Post
In the last days there is new military actions in the occupied West Bank: a Palestinian gunman attacked a gas station on Tuesday 20th of June, killing four Israeli settlers, near of the illegal settlement of Eli. Also yesterday the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) claimed the elimination of an alleged “terrorist cell”, by a drone bombing strike. There has been no such strike against Palestinian activists in the West Bank since 2006. After the last attacks on Palestine, Netanyahu has announced an agreement with Finance Minister, Bezalel Smotrich, to accelerate the settlement process, and the authorization for building 1.000 new houses in the illegal settlement of Eli, West Bank. There is no unanimous report by local media about these houses and if they are part of the already approved plan for building 4.560 new houses, or if there is a new plan. We have reported on this struggle before.
According to a new poll done by Palestinian media, 71% of Palestinians support the local guerrilla groups located in Nablus or Jenin; 86% of the population is against the arrest of members of these groups by the National Authority of Palestine; 58% expected such groups to multiply and spread in the West Bank. Even more than a half of interviewed people want a third armed Intifada to break out of the current situation.
Meanwhile, Israeli settlers have increased their attacks against territory controlled by the Palestinian Authority. The consequences of these attacks are one murdered and another ten injured Palestinian people. Palestinian witnesses described the attacks: “They vandalized whatever houses and stores they could find (…) They burned cars in front of houses and a lot of wheat fields.” The settlers also set fire to a Red Crescent ambulance and attacked other civilian targets with fire and gunfire.
The State of Israel is collaborating with the settlers on the attacks against the Palestinian population. According to several local witnesses, a murdered Palestinian, Omar Abu Katan, suffered ten bullet injuries, some of them from soldiers, others from settlers. After these attacks, the Israeli police tried to enter in the affected areas, and also fired tear gas and shot rubber bullets, but was finally pushed back by the Palestinian people.
