MIDEAST-ISRAEL/VIOLENCE-REAX Israel blames Palestinian Authority, Hamas for surge in violence

Record ID: 398766

  • Title: MIDEAST-ISRAEL/VIOLENCE-REAX Israel blames Palestinian Authority, Hamas for surge in violence
  • Date: 11th November 2014
  • Summary: CROWD WAIVING FLAGS PICTURE OF LATE PALESTINIAN PRESIDENT YASSER ARAFAT
  • Embargoed: 26th November 2014 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: West bank
  • City:
  • Country: Palestinian Territories
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVAAPHZWITWNRY1S8E9VJERAIVHA
  • Story Text: Israel on Tuesday (November 11), blamed incitement generated by the Palestinian Authority and Hamas for a recent surge of violence, following a series of fatal incidents in the region.
    Israeli Defence Minister Moshe Yaalon said that the Palestinian Authority had provoked the situation.
    "This is a result of incitement, I believe , starting with education. Nowadays, the incitement generated by those who claim that we are challenging the status quo in the Temple Mount, which is a lie. It's actually a manipulation and propaganda. And for this incitement, a couple of elements who are responsible - several Islamic movements which include Hamas and unfortunately even the Palestinian Authority led by Mahmoud Abbas, Abu Mazen, is responsible for this propaganda., false propaganda," Yaalon told reporters in the Israeli settlement of Alon Shvut.
    He added it was too soon to tell whether the surge in violence would lead to an Intifada, or Palestinian revolt.
    "As we see, it become a phenomena. Terrorists not organised without any organisation behind them, decide to go either to use the cars to kill the Israelis, or to use knives to kill and stab Israelis. This is a way for violence in which we are engaged now. It's why we decided to deploy more troops here in the region, And of course to try to meet the challenge in a way that will calm the situation as soon as possible," Yaalon added.
    His comments followed the death of a Palestinian man, shot dead by Israeli troops in the occupied West Bank earlier on Tuesday.
    The military said soldiers killed a 21-year-old Palestinian man at a refugee camp after coming under attack by a crowd hurling petrol bombs and stones. Residents said he was on his roof, away from the clashes when he was shot.
    The clashes came a day after Palestinian assailants fatally stabbed an Israeli soldier and a woman in attacks that raised fears of a new uprising.
    The last Palestinian revolt, which began more than a decade ago and died down in 2005, brought a surge in suicide bombings in Israel and crushing military operations in Palestinian cities.
    The new bloodshed has been fuelled by tension over Israeli-controlled access to Jerusalem's holiest site, revered by Muslims as Noble Sanctuary, where al-Aqsa mosque stands, and by Jews as the mount where Biblical Temples once stood.
    "We ask you (Israel) to keep settlers and extremists far away from al-Aqsa mosque and our holy places," Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said on Tuesday, following recent visits to the site by far-right legislators.
    "Keep them away from us and we'll stay away from them."
    Last week, a Palestinian rammed his car into pedestrians in central Jerusalem, the second such incident at a light railway station in as many weeks.
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