(Reuters)
RAMALLAH, July 25 – Israeli forces arrested dozens of Palestinians in the occupied West Bank on Saturday, after at least four Palestinians and two Israeli soldiers were killed in a shootout when armed Israeli settlers approached a Palestinian village.
Palestinian authorities in the West Bank said Friday’s shootings were provoked by the settlers who aimed to attack villagers in Tal, southwest of Nablus. The Israeli military initially described the Israeli civilians involved in the incident as hikers, but later acknowledged some were armed and said both sides had opened fire before troops intervened.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to take “powerful action” in response to the incident, including demolishing the home of the family of one of the Palestinians involved. Netanyahu’s office said he would accelerate the approval of construction of more Israeli settlements in the area.
Walid Zidan, the mayor of Tal, said around 70 people from the village had been detained and questioned at a field interrogation centre set up in a house in the village. Around 10 to 12 had been released so far, he told Reuters by telephone.
“House raids are continuing, army patrols are driving through the streets, and there is no movement of people in the streets,” he said.
Hundreds of thousands of Israeli settlers live among millions of Palestinians in the West Bank, which Israel captured in a war in 1967. Nearly all countries and UN bodies consider such settlements illegal under international law. Israel disputes this, citing biblical and historical ties to the land.
Recent months have seen a sharp increase in attacks by Israeli settlers on Palestinian villages.
Friday’s incident took place in the so-called “area A” of the West Bank, where Palestinian authorities have administrative control and Israeli civilians are barred under Israeli law from entering. Area A comprises less than a fifth of the West Bank.
Footage circulating on social media of the incident that led to Friday’s shootout appeared to show a confused standoff between a crowd of villagers and a large group of Israelis, at least some of them armed, with soldiers also visible.
